Maybe it's the fact that I've had a really crazy week, month and year, but I find myself looking forward to tomorrow with unusual anticipation. I am approaching tomorrow as an opportunity to really celebrate what we have, and I feel very blessed to have everything that we need and much more.
Yes, I know that is the point of Thanksgiving, but I think this may be the first time I've actually started thinking about it that way. It has always been about being with family and having good food, and our gratitude was saved for the 5 minutes spent as we went around the table saying what we were grateful for.
I think I really just came to these thoughts as I was doing some preparation tonight. I considered whether or not to pull out the china. At first I decided to because, "it's a special occasion," but then, as I thought about it more, I realized that the beautiful things we have could easily become, for me, a symbol of the blessings we have been given. It's at that point that I started pulling out the best pieces of everything we have.
So, I guess you could say I've found the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Tomorrow, as we prepare and attempt to eat a week's worth of delicious food, I will pour out my heart in gratitude for my cup as overflowing as the table.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Being a Better Person
One of the things I like about my church is that it makes me a better person. When I mentioned this to my wife, she said, "you're already a good person." Not being a member of my church, I think at least some of that comment from her is an opinion that I don't need the church. Having been a member my whole life, it is a little hard for me to speculate what I would be like without it. However, when the ultimate goal is to be like Christ, being what others perceive as a good person is not enough.
It would be easy for me, if I did not believe the way I do, to justify many of my - shall we say 'un-Christ-like' - behaviors by claiming they do not hurt anyone, or even that nobody would ever know. However, because I truly believe we are accountable to God for our thoughts, words and deeds, and also that I have been taught His will as being opposed to certain behaviors, I cannot justify myself with regard to those behaviors. I must try to do better.
I am grateful for these beliefs, as I want to be more like Christ. Without my faith in these principles and in the divinity of Christ himself, my reasons to stretch myself and try to be better would go away. I am already a good person. I am happy with my life. I do what I can to help those around me. The natural inclination is to say, "surely, this is good enough. Nobody is perfect," and leave it at that. However, I have been given the gift of a perfect standard which, although unattainable in this life, provides direction and motivation for going beyond good enough.
I was considering listing some of the areas where I trip up, which are incongruous with my goals of being more Christ-like. However, I fear that would be more distracting than helpful to readers. Let's just say I am nowhere near being worthy of comparing myself to Him. It takes daily effort to put these failings behind me and use the forgiveness available through His Atonement, and to look forward.
I will note one thing, which is I am inclined toward laziness, a fairly common human trait. When not combated with something to motivate me, I would slip into bad habits and vices even more than I do now - because they would be comfortable. It is uncomfortable to strive for daily change for the better. I would not do it without the motivation given by my faith.
This motivation to be better is something I cannot provide for myself. I need direction and reminders I get in church. I need the opportunity to serve. I need the encouragement I get from seeing the other members also trying to be better. I need my church. I need my Savior.
It would be easy for me, if I did not believe the way I do, to justify many of my - shall we say 'un-Christ-like' - behaviors by claiming they do not hurt anyone, or even that nobody would ever know. However, because I truly believe we are accountable to God for our thoughts, words and deeds, and also that I have been taught His will as being opposed to certain behaviors, I cannot justify myself with regard to those behaviors. I must try to do better.
I am grateful for these beliefs, as I want to be more like Christ. Without my faith in these principles and in the divinity of Christ himself, my reasons to stretch myself and try to be better would go away. I am already a good person. I am happy with my life. I do what I can to help those around me. The natural inclination is to say, "surely, this is good enough. Nobody is perfect," and leave it at that. However, I have been given the gift of a perfect standard which, although unattainable in this life, provides direction and motivation for going beyond good enough.
I was considering listing some of the areas where I trip up, which are incongruous with my goals of being more Christ-like. However, I fear that would be more distracting than helpful to readers. Let's just say I am nowhere near being worthy of comparing myself to Him. It takes daily effort to put these failings behind me and use the forgiveness available through His Atonement, and to look forward.
I will note one thing, which is I am inclined toward laziness, a fairly common human trait. When not combated with something to motivate me, I would slip into bad habits and vices even more than I do now - because they would be comfortable. It is uncomfortable to strive for daily change for the better. I would not do it without the motivation given by my faith.
This motivation to be better is something I cannot provide for myself. I need direction and reminders I get in church. I need the opportunity to serve. I need the encouragement I get from seeing the other members also trying to be better. I need my church. I need my Savior.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Safety for the Soul
I really don't intend for this blog to be all about my religion. However, it is an important part of my life and has been a good guide to happiness in many ways.
The LDS church recently had General Conference which is broadcast worldwide from the headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the final session, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles used his time to testify of the Book of Mormon. As I listened to him speak, I thought it was the most powerful witness for the BoM that I have heard in modern times.
Safety for the Soul
Amen!
The LDS church recently had General Conference which is broadcast worldwide from the headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the final session, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles used his time to testify of the Book of Mormon. As I listened to him speak, I thought it was the most powerful witness for the BoM that I have heard in modern times.
Safety for the Soul
Amen!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Always thinking...
I can't help it, I'm always thinking. Often, I come up with ideas and think, "someone (or I) should do that." Usually, they are ideas far too big for me to realistically accomplish.
This time, despite my lack of time to work on something like this, the idea just won't leave me alone. So, I'm tentatively investigating the possibilities.
For this project, I am interested in networking with bloggers, photographers, videographers, and other such people, amateur or professional in Peabody, MA. I might extend the search out to the immediate surrounding communities, but for now, I'm focusing only on Peabody. Even if it is just a blog about your cat or kid.
If you are or know anyone or any sites like the above, please add a comment below with the information.
Thanks!
This time, despite my lack of time to work on something like this, the idea just won't leave me alone. So, I'm tentatively investigating the possibilities.
For this project, I am interested in networking with bloggers, photographers, videographers, and other such people, amateur or professional in Peabody, MA. I might extend the search out to the immediate surrounding communities, but for now, I'm focusing only on Peabody. Even if it is just a blog about your cat or kid.
If you are or know anyone or any sites like the above, please add a comment below with the information.
Thanks!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Experiment: Mom's Rolls
So, one of the great things about Thanksgiving when we were growing up was that Mom would make the family roll recipe. We could never get enough. I think she made at least 4 dozen every year, and we were lucky to have leftovers for a few days after. They never lasted a week. She would make about 2/3 of them into standard dinner rolls, but the rest she would make into cinnamon knots. Mmm...
I don't know if she still makes them every year, but whenever she has a child home for Thanksgiving, or sometimes even Christmas or Easter, if we're lucky, she will make a big double batch.
Now, Rebecca's family doesn't really do home-made anything. So, if I want something home-made, it's up to me. Alas, I rarely have time for much of anything, so I depend heavily on mixes and pre-made stuff. For instance, I had recently purchased a loaf of frozen bread dough to keep on hand for when I decided it would be nice to have some freshly baked bread. On the back of the package it mentioned it could be used to make pizza crust or... rolls.
So, I'm trying an experiment. I have used the store-bought dough, but have used my mom's techniques in assembling the rolls. They are currently sitting out to rise.
If they produce anything comparable to Mom's Rolls, I will consider it a great success, as the time investment was about 30 minutes of prep. I will let you know how they turn out!
Experiment Results:
I don't know if she still makes them every year, but whenever she has a child home for Thanksgiving, or sometimes even Christmas or Easter, if we're lucky, she will make a big double batch.
Now, Rebecca's family doesn't really do home-made anything. So, if I want something home-made, it's up to me. Alas, I rarely have time for much of anything, so I depend heavily on mixes and pre-made stuff. For instance, I had recently purchased a loaf of frozen bread dough to keep on hand for when I decided it would be nice to have some freshly baked bread. On the back of the package it mentioned it could be used to make pizza crust or... rolls.
So, I'm trying an experiment. I have used the store-bought dough, but have used my mom's techniques in assembling the rolls. They are currently sitting out to rise.
If they produce anything comparable to Mom's Rolls, I will consider it a great success, as the time investment was about 30 minutes of prep. I will let you know how they turn out!
Experiment Results:
'Unbiased' opinion results indicate a strong success. These taste-testers have not been previously biased by tasting Mom's Rolls.
Biased (my) opinion results conclude that they are a very good option if you want Mom's Rolls, but don't have the time. They did not turn out as soft or flaky, and were obviously not Mom's Rolls. But they were still tasty. :-)
Friday, September 26, 2008
Theodorable!
For those of you who don't know already, we have a new bundle of joy, Theodore (aka 'Our Potato'). We have set up his own blog at theodore.hains.net.(I figured out how to get blogger to post the blog directly to our web site, so I may end up moving this blog there at some point, too...)
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Why "Member Missionary Work" Fails
As members of the LDS Church, we are frequently encouraged to be more actively engaged in "member missionary work." Interestingly, although "member referrals" are the largest source of converts for the church (yes, the church does track this - rather carefully, actually), and we have one of the largest missionary populations of any religion, we, as members, are still not very good at being missionaries in our daily lives.
The problem IMHO, it that there is a perceived conflict of interests between being a friend to someone and trying to proselytize to them. It is very difficult to, say, ask a friend if they want to listen to missionaries from the church without it coming off a little weird or forced. Depending on the relationship, some people might even take offense. Obviously, we want to avoid offending or even sounding weird to our friends. However, without such an invitation, a friend is not likely to ask if you wouldn't mind sending missionaries over to their house.
The church leaders have recognized this issue, and for many years have focused on encouraging members to 'prepare' your friends to hear the gospel. This is, exactly what needs to happen. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to determine what you need to do to 'prepare' your friends for this type of thing. So, naturally, the church (as it has done with many other things) has prepared a curriculum, of sorts: a list of things you can do to prepare someone to hear the gospel, one of these tools is known as the 'set a date' program.
The merits of 'set a date' program and other lists of suggestions aside, I have never known this type of planned approach to be successful except anecdotally. The reason is because it does not address the issue BEHIND the perceived conflict of interest.
What is that issue, you ask? It is that it is extremely difficult to integrate a perceived 'normal' external appearance with our beliefs as members of the church. Our beliefs just don't 'fit in' to the regular hubbub of modern society - especially when you are speaking to people who are not members of the church.
I'm not talking about devotion or balance or anything about how we live as active members of the church. Most of us are very good at being religious in that sense. It's more about how we integrate the gospel into the fabric of our inter-personal relationships, about making our beliefs known to others, not because of any agenda we have to 'be an example' or 'share the gospel', but because it is an important part of who we are.
I started to recognize when I was in college, that I didn't really have any really close friends. Most of my friends were of other religions or no religion at all, and I did not have any daily contact with any other members. I realized that part of the reason I did not have any close friends was that because the gospel was such an important part of my life and my identity, and I treated it as something 'special' to be shared only in certain circumstances, that nobody really understood me well enough to be a truly close friend.
As I realized this, I made steps to correct it. It's not like I had been hiding my religious beliefs before. On the contrary, I would gladly talk to people about the church, and even made a lot of effort to give away a number of Books of Mormon. However, I started to approach my sharing of my beliefs not as a duty or as a missionary tool, but as a way to help people get to know me, and as a way to try to relate to the world and the beliefs of others.
By the end of my college years I had gained two very close friends. Both are not Mormon to this day. However, I was able to talk openly about the church with both of them and invited them to do a number of things that they would not have been likely to do otherwise, and which did not affect our relationship negatively in any way. On the contrary, it is because I was "spiritually intimate" (for lack of a better phrase) with them that we became so close. Inviting them to church or to read the Book of Mormon was just another part of our relationship.
Now, I'm not saying that we need to become best friends with people before we can invite them to listen to the missionaries or to church. What I'm saying is that if you create your relationships from the beginning on a foundation of openness about your own beliefs, it is much easier to open your mouth, when you suddenly feel prompted to say, "you know, I think you might enjoy coming to [such-and-such activity] with me," or "this reminds me of a scripture from the Book of Mormon where..." or "why don't you come to church with me Sunday?"
I often think of gospel parallels and insights when speaking to others that I often ignore. Even when speaking with other members, there is a tendency to filter out anything that might not be in-line with standard doctrine. It is important for all of us to learn to communicate openly about all of our beliefs. Often we have similar questions to those around us, and someone may be able to help us work out answers to those questions, or we can help someone through our insights. However, if we do not open our mouths and say what we think, feel and believe, we isolate ourselves a little more from those around us.
It's really more about being comfortable being a 'peculiar people.' We need to embrace our beliefs and have the courage to be a lone voice for anything we believe to be true.
The problem IMHO, it that there is a perceived conflict of interests between being a friend to someone and trying to proselytize to them. It is very difficult to, say, ask a friend if they want to listen to missionaries from the church without it coming off a little weird or forced. Depending on the relationship, some people might even take offense. Obviously, we want to avoid offending or even sounding weird to our friends. However, without such an invitation, a friend is not likely to ask if you wouldn't mind sending missionaries over to their house.
The church leaders have recognized this issue, and for many years have focused on encouraging members to 'prepare' your friends to hear the gospel. This is, exactly what needs to happen. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to determine what you need to do to 'prepare' your friends for this type of thing. So, naturally, the church (as it has done with many other things) has prepared a curriculum, of sorts: a list of things you can do to prepare someone to hear the gospel, one of these tools is known as the 'set a date' program.
The merits of 'set a date' program and other lists of suggestions aside, I have never known this type of planned approach to be successful except anecdotally. The reason is because it does not address the issue BEHIND the perceived conflict of interest.
What is that issue, you ask? It is that it is extremely difficult to integrate a perceived 'normal' external appearance with our beliefs as members of the church. Our beliefs just don't 'fit in' to the regular hubbub of modern society - especially when you are speaking to people who are not members of the church.
I'm not talking about devotion or balance or anything about how we live as active members of the church. Most of us are very good at being religious in that sense. It's more about how we integrate the gospel into the fabric of our inter-personal relationships, about making our beliefs known to others, not because of any agenda we have to 'be an example' or 'share the gospel', but because it is an important part of who we are.
I started to recognize when I was in college, that I didn't really have any really close friends. Most of my friends were of other religions or no religion at all, and I did not have any daily contact with any other members. I realized that part of the reason I did not have any close friends was that because the gospel was such an important part of my life and my identity, and I treated it as something 'special' to be shared only in certain circumstances, that nobody really understood me well enough to be a truly close friend.
As I realized this, I made steps to correct it. It's not like I had been hiding my religious beliefs before. On the contrary, I would gladly talk to people about the church, and even made a lot of effort to give away a number of Books of Mormon. However, I started to approach my sharing of my beliefs not as a duty or as a missionary tool, but as a way to help people get to know me, and as a way to try to relate to the world and the beliefs of others.
By the end of my college years I had gained two very close friends. Both are not Mormon to this day. However, I was able to talk openly about the church with both of them and invited them to do a number of things that they would not have been likely to do otherwise, and which did not affect our relationship negatively in any way. On the contrary, it is because I was "spiritually intimate" (for lack of a better phrase) with them that we became so close. Inviting them to church or to read the Book of Mormon was just another part of our relationship.
Now, I'm not saying that we need to become best friends with people before we can invite them to listen to the missionaries or to church. What I'm saying is that if you create your relationships from the beginning on a foundation of openness about your own beliefs, it is much easier to open your mouth, when you suddenly feel prompted to say, "you know, I think you might enjoy coming to [such-and-such activity] with me," or "this reminds me of a scripture from the Book of Mormon where..." or "why don't you come to church with me Sunday?"
I often think of gospel parallels and insights when speaking to others that I often ignore. Even when speaking with other members, there is a tendency to filter out anything that might not be in-line with standard doctrine. It is important for all of us to learn to communicate openly about all of our beliefs. Often we have similar questions to those around us, and someone may be able to help us work out answers to those questions, or we can help someone through our insights. However, if we do not open our mouths and say what we think, feel and believe, we isolate ourselves a little more from those around us.
It's really more about being comfortable being a 'peculiar people.' We need to embrace our beliefs and have the courage to be a lone voice for anything we believe to be true.
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