I just got home from watching Rogue One. I won't give anything away, but I will say it was inspiring. I love movies that remind me I have a cause worth fighting for. It's easy to get caught up in the routine of life and forget that I am in the middle of a raging war against "principalities and rulers of darkness" (Eph 6:12). It made me ask myself how I am doing about giving my all to His Cause. Do I wake up in the morning with a desire in my heart to give it my all? Or do I procrastinate and put my cause on hold for less important things? What am I willing to sacrifice?
I also watched Moana last week so after the movie Bill asked me which one I liked better. Strangely enough, this was kind of a thought provoking question for me. I realized that I loved how Moana made me feel - free, joyful and excited about life, but I think that the message was a little more self-centered than the one in Rogue One. In Rogue One people did what was right with no thought about how it would benefit them - simply because they knew there was a cause higher than themselves to fight for. In Moana, she did what was right partly because she believed in a cause higher than herself, but also because she was trying to figure out what she needed in order to feel fulfilled.
Both messages are true (fulfillment does come from following the Spirit and doing what is right), but the message of Rogue One seemed more focused on the best reasons.
I also loved how both movies highlighted the true principle that God will protect us and help us do what we are meant to do until it is time for us to come home to Him. No need to fear. We just move forward, step by step, with trust.
Anyway, those are just my rambling thoughts tonight after watching two great movies, but I got on here to catch up on my pictures because my phone is getting pretty full and it's been a couple of weeks since I have blogged. Here are some highlights from the last 2 1/2 weeks...
Here is a slide show I put together for the Anne of Green Gables cast party. I love their expressions - they act well!
Here are some pictures from choir concerts and after-concert fun...
Since we are basically living with the Packs, we are doing a lot of Christmas things together... service projects, making tree ornaments (both of us have our Christmas decorations stored away in pods and we are sharing a tree), Christmas books and movies. Here we are watching "A Muppet's Christmas Carol."
Last week, Vince Newmeyer was kind enough to take us on a field trip to the Natural History Museum at Thanksgiving Point. He knows so much! I could listen to him teach science all day. He put on two different hats to represent different scientific perspectives looking at the same evidence. Absolutely fascinating!
We had an early Christmas celebration with my brother before he took off to Arizona for Christmas. There was a cool Christmas Musial that night and a beautiful Hispanic Christmas presentation the at Temple Square the night before. It reminded me how family-centered and joyous my heritage is. I am grateful for it.
One cool thing about living in where we do is that there's hikes just minutes away. The mountains are so beautiful in the winter! It's sometimes hard to talk people into going out in the cold, but since I'm more leery about hiking by myself in the snow than I am in other seasons, I am glad I usually get one or more takers.
We are having a pretty great time. It will actually be really hard to move. I think we will all look back on these times with happiness and great memories :-)
Last week I wrote about 3 damming (not necessarily damning) lies that some of us LDS People believe. I mentioned that I would get to #3 this week and I thought of a bonus #4 . ;-)
Lie #3
Most of us know that this one is not true doctrine, but when we see ourselves repenting, and committing to do better, about the same thing over and over, year after year, we start to think that we are reaching our limit and we are hopelessly flawed. That "hopelessly flawed" feeling comes from Satan, and if we start to believe it, we begin to loose faith in ourselves and ultimately in God's ability to help us.
Lie #3 There is a limit to how often I can repent for the same thing.
The truth is some weaknesses will only go away in the next life because we need them in this life to remind us to turn to God. Those weaknesses make us strong in our relationship to God. Anytime we turn to God, we learn something - even if we are turning to Him after the 10,011th time we have failed at keeping a resolution we made to Him. We learn about ourselves, how much we need God, what works and doesn't work in our goals, and how infinitely He loves us.
I am always amazed at how quickly the Spirit returns to me after repenting and making a resolution to do better, even if I've made that resolution hundreds of times about the same thing and I'm having a hard time trusting myself that "this is really it." But he does. He forgives me every time. And every time I am astounded at His endless mercy, how much I need Him and how good He is. I love Him even more.
None of us are hopelessly flawed. We all need God. And until we are perfected in the next life, we are simply asked to follow Him, repent, and try again. And again. And again. That's how we reach our potential, grow close to God, and develop humility, faith, and charity.
Galatians 6: 9,8
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Lie #4
This one is related to lie #1 I think. It's important to understand that God wants us to seek Him so he is not going to hand us all the answers on a silver platter.
Lie #4: Darwinian Evolution fits with the gospel
Anyone who studies this seriously will know that the two paradigms fundamentally oppose each other. All of us have made the choice to not understand some things because they don't seem to fit together. We decide that things will eventually make sense and we move on. This is what got me through science classes at school. This is good, it shows humility and trust. But questions also lead to answers and if we want things to make sense, it's okay to ask questions. In science classes, I did develop a sense that I didn't really like science and that it didn't make sense.
I have since learned that there is evidence for both God and Darwinian Evolution, depending on how you view the data. And, though Darwinian Evolution has some major holes, schools will teach the theory as if were undeniable fact because they can't teach an alternative theory (it implies there is a God).
So, if you are sending your kids to learn science at a government school, it would be wise to teach them the holes in Darwinian Evolution and the evidence for Intelligent Design and even Biblical creation at home (there's a ton!) If we parents simply answer with, "just have faith" to our child's science questions, but the teachers have scientific answers to their science questions - the child will start to think that teachers have answers while parents don't.
If they have a strong testimony, they may be able to weather it, but - as I heard said at a Science presentation by Vince Newmeyer - the heart may not entertain what the mind refuses to believe.
It is now my experience that science makes sense, is wonderfully exciting, is full of the Spirit of truth, seeking and light, and testifies of Christ. It's exciting and inspiring. It fills me with reverence. Too bad our kids have to sit through the many dry pseudo-theories taught at school, but at least there is some good science taught there too. And we can teach them more at home.
This documentary is eye opening. It was recommended to me so many times, but I finally got around to watching it today. I recommend it now as well (my kids were worried that it started out in black and white, but that's only for the intro, just fyi):
I am reading a couple of science books right now that have been a refreshing breath of fresh air to a place in my heart I thought was dead.
One is "The Universal Model." Absolutely fascinating and sure to be mocked by the mainstream science community. At least at first, but truth has a way of coming forth regardless. If this book speaks some truth, and I think it does, it will certainly revolutionize science once truth seeking people start to read it. I don't know how long that will take. Many of us have a distaste for science for similar reasons to the ones I mentioned I had. But I hope it's sooner than later. Here is an introductory video to the book:
And here is a summary of our week (at least the moments I took pictures of 😊)
Evening hike with Cassia...
This is the shortest way to get to it. It looks illegalish, but I've been getting to it this way since high school.
It was dark by the time we got to the waterfall
I loved it up there at night, but the hike back was kind of scary with the big dark pine trees all around us. I realized how grateful I am for light and company in this life. Without those two things, life gets pretty scary. I had to try to focus on the good things and not on what critters or scary people might be up there at night (the grafitti didnt help). In a small way, it was a similar feeling to the glimpses I have experienced of anxiety and depression . It's a momentary darkness. But I find comfort in the knowlege that the light always returns. And some company and a little flashlight helps until then.
Saturday the girls and I went on a nice walk through old main street, had some Greek food and went to Fiddler on the Roof at Northridge High.
I really like that play. To me, it's an interesting commentary on tradition - it's limitations and it's protection and uniting force. The family draws farther apart as they depart from tradition. Some of that was good, some of it had sad consequences. It was also makes you think about the effects of governmental force versus allowing choice.
Plus the actors were awesome. Several of them were in our South Weber ward, including "Tevye" who was played by the incredibly talented Jack Bell - it was worth the money just to watch him act and hear him sing. And the sweet girls in the picture above were also a joy to watch!
Today we went to see our house in progress. It looks almost the same as it did last week, but I hope they are just doing work that isn't very visible :)
It looks like it has a ways to go. At least we get to hang out with some incredible people while we wait :-) I sure love them all.
