When Church History Gets Weird

Sometimes LDS church history gets really weird. I know more people that have left the church because of church history than any other reason. It’s a big deal. But perhaps it’s also like a pebble.

If you put a pebble right in front of your eye it becomes a boulder. If you pull it away from your eye you see it for what it is, a mere pebble.

Reading the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, will start to pull that weird church history “boulder” away from your eye so you can see it for the pebble that it is.  

Have you read the story about Lot and his daughters from the book of Genesis?

“And [Lot] dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the ^afirstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.” (Genesis 19:30-36).

Gross.

Have you read the story about Moses coming down from the mountain with the 10 commandments?

“As soon as he [Moses] came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it . . . Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side . . . and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men,” (Exodus 32:19-28).

Yikes.

Weird, uncomfortable, strange stuff happens in the Bible with God’s chosen people. So if I am going to continue believing in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I’ve got to resist the urge to make a boulder out of stories like these while figuring out my faith in Jesus Christ.

Weird, uncomfortable, strange, stuff happens in LDS church history. So if I am going to believe in the restoration of Jesus Christ’s gospel through Joseph Smith in 1830, I’m going to have to resist the urge to make a boulder out of those stories while figuring out my faith in Jesus Christ.

Latter-day history is as strange as former-day history. Stephen Colbert elaborates on this point: “Mormons believed Joseph Smith received golden plates from an angel on a hill, when everybody knows that Moses got stone tablets from a burning bush on a mountain.”[1]  It’s all strange.

When it seems like the Lord is or has done weird stuff it’s important to remember Isaiah 55:8, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” When people are the culprit for strange stuff it’s important to remember that sometimes people . . . are just weird.   

Read the Bible. Learn the history. See the pebble.

 

 

 

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[1] http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/394360/august-10-2011/yaweh-or-no-way----mormons---god-s-poll-numbers I suggest clicking this and watching this.

Cent 2 for New Moms

I see my dog-owning neighbors out walking their dogs multiple times a day. They know it’s important for their dogs’ overall health to get out and exercise. Children need to be outside just as badly. When they’re out they get their dose of vitamin D from Mr. Sun, and they can jump off of things, throw things, they can run, romp, yell at the top of their lungs, get dirty, and cause ruckus. All the things we tell them not to do in the house, they are free to do outside. Give them sunshine, give them the opportunity to get their wiggles out, and you won’t be disappointed. 

                The Golden Rule should apply to our children. When I am in the middle of reading a book I HATE it when someone comes in and demands I stop reading right now! because it’s time to go get in the car. I HATE it! I usually yell, “Don’t tell me what to do!” because I’m in the middle of something, come on. Similarly, my kids hate it when they’re in the middle of playing the coolest game on their bunk bed using blankets that make a dungeon, and I come in demanding they stop because it’s time to go get in the car. They hate it! They cry and complain and refuse, because they were right in the middle of something!  Attempting to be courteous, we wait or politely get the attention of the adult we wish to communicate with. We are following the Golden Rule. In situations with my kids, they cooperate better when I give them a heads up if we’re going to change activities, it’s what I would want. I give them a little respect, they give me some cooperation.   

                Have them earn their “screen time.” Depending on the kid and the age, you can help them accomplish something to earn screen time: get dressed for the day, brush teeth, pick up toys, comb hair, eat breakfast, do homework. I try to have the time they want to spend in front of a screen, match the time they spend playing outside. This one’s a struggle because the screen is pretty much the nanny I can’t afford. I can get so much DONE when I have them in front of a screen. But it helps teach balance.

The most important thing I’ve learned that I have to offer, the shiniest twinkle you’ll see on my 2 cents is that the Lord can help you because He knows your child. My first child and I did not get along for a while. I did not understand her. I was struggling to figure out how to take care of her. At the end of most days I’d put her down to sleep and then cry as I reflected on the day we had together and felt like a failure. As the day’s events quickly ran through my head I felt so guilty at how badly I had gone about taking care of her. One night I found myself kneeling next to my bed with tears falling into my hands because I couldn’t do it. I was so bad at being a mom. But then I asked for help, I pleaded for help, and He gave it to me. During the next weeks and months He started giving me thoughts and ideas about what to do and what to try. I learned that year that the Lord knew my little girl, and He wanted to help me take care of her.

Since then I have asked almost daily for help to know how to take care of my kids, and He helps. Sometimes it’s with thoughts and ideas like before, but He has also helped me by blessing me with a friend that has the advice I needed. I have asked for help and then that day while waiting for the doctor I picked up a magazine and read the advice I needed. He will whisper answers, and He will direct us to answers.     

Motherhood is a process. “That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved,” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Good luck ladies!

2 Cents for a Mom with Young Kids: Cent 1

When I first became a mom I felt completely lost as to how to take care of babies and young children. I’d ask my mom questions and she would squint her face like she was trying to catch a memory inside her head, but would always respond with, “I don’t remember.” I can’t say that I blame her after 9 kids, but it made me feel pretty hopeless.

7 years and 4 kids later I feel like I have two cents I can spare for any new moms that need it. No one threw me a bone, so catch this one if you want it ladies.

Lower your expectations of your kids, keep your resolve to teach them very high. Kids are not adults, don’t expect them to act like one. Expect your grown-up friends to act like adults - not your 0-6 year olds. Your job is to pound social norms, taboos, and acceptable behavior into their tiny minds (to teach them, that is).

An adult leaves the house with the destination of going to the car, point A to point B. That adult will walk as straight as possible with next to no distractions; can take less than 1 minute. A child, in that same point A to point B scenario, will want to slowly descend the apartment steps making space ship noises pretending to be a spaceship flying above the bushes, they want to jump from shadow to shadow, they want to lay down flat on the side walk to get a good look at a crawling bug, they want to pick up the world’s best stick they just spotted 10 feet away, they want to run in circles around you chasing someone or nothing. The adult’s point B (the car) is like a kids point Z (if it even exists to them). To avoid yelling and getting frustrated at your inquisitive kid, add extra time to the time you need to get from your point A’s to point B’s. I plan on 10 minutes to get to my car, seriously. When we make it to the car in less time I’m ecstatic, when it takes the full 10 minutes everyone’s still happy because there’s no rushing. The kids got to explore, I got to the car in time so we won’t be late. Don’t expect your kid’s time table to reflect that of an adult’s, if you do, frustration and screams ensue.

Lower your expectations for your child, keep your resolve to teach them very high. I expect my 1 year old to splash and play in the toilet, to stuff his blankie into the toilet, to throw our X-box controllers into the toilet. I expect him to throw toys, underwear, blankets, fingernail polish, sippy-cups, and more over the balcony of our 3^rd story apartment. I expect him to rip out the pages of my scriptures and every other book in the house. I expect him to push the power buttons that turn off my computer and T.V. while I’m using them. I expect to find my 3 year old on top of the counters sneaking treats, and dipping toilet paper rolls into a sink full of water. I expect my 4 year old to (somehow) accidentally smear poop onto the toilet, I expect him to cry next to my leg all day because all he wants to do is play video games. I expect my 6 year old to hate going to school every day and refuse to do homework.      When I expect all of these behaviors (instead of mature, conditioned behavior) I can be on top of my game. I expect it. That way I’m not dumbfounded into screaming, slapping fits, or shocked into sudden rages of anger. I expect it. That way I can level headedly discipline.

The root word of discipline is disciple. One definition of Disciple is to teach and train (punishment is entirely different). After I come across my kid acting like a not-adult, I attempt to teach them what they should do instead.

The teaching we give little children doesn’t always seem to sink in, but we keep at it because it’s our duty. Teach them the rules at your house, the rules at the park, the rules at other people’s houses, the rules of being outside; and when they don’t follow the rules, treat it like sports, They’re Out. Time-out or whatever you use should consistently happen when they don’t follow the rules. It’s a struggle for both parties, but it’s what they need in order to best understand appropriate behavior and inappropriate behavior.  

                Ultimatums are no bueno. “If you don’t come here right now we’re never coming to the park again!” No good. Avoid ultimatums always, always, always, when trying to discipline. Ultimatums teach young ones that their parents pretty much never follow through with punishments. Kids are learning their limits by how their parents react to them. They’re figuring out what sorts of behaviors they can do without getting mom to spank them, or send them to time-out, or take away they’re privileges. Don’t underestimate their intelligence.

  KIDS FIRST LANGUAGE IS PHYSICAL. They learn best when you physically do something instead of telling them five times. When my 3 year old won’t stop hitting the metal spoon against the oven door he will let the words, “Parker! Stop that right now or you’ll go to time out,” go in and out. It’s when I walk over and physically remove him from the situation that he starts to pay attention. Parker will let me yell at him to get off the table all day because words don’t mean as much to him as going over and pulling him down off the table. And cuz he’s a brat. Young children are learning about the world; words are second in their learning process.

                Next week: Cent 2. 

 

On Inequality in the Church

I’ve been watching the debating and arguing over the ordain women, girls go to priesthood session, and things, from the sidelines. I know I’m not the only one watching, so I wrote this for those still trying to decide what they think on the matter.

 The more I watch, the more I’m reminded of some Book of Mormon stories.   

In 3 Nephi 27:3-5 Jesus Christ finds His disciples disputing about something. The disciples ask Christ, “Lord, we will that thou wouldst tell us the name whereby we shall call this church; for there are disputations among the people concerning this matter.” Jesus answered, “Why is it that the people should murmur and dispute because of this thing? Have they not read the scriptures?”

In 1 Nephi 15:6-8 Nephi finds his brothers Laman and Lemuel disputing a topic. Nephi speaks to his “brethren, desiring to know of them the cause of their disputations. And they said: Behold, we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken concerning the natural branches of the olive-tree, and also concerning the Gentiles. And [Nephi] said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?”

In Moroni 8:5-7 people have been disputing over the practice of baptizing little children. Mormon writes a letter to his son Moroni saying, “There have been disputations among you concerning the baptism of your little children . . . immediately after I had learned these things of you I inquired of the Lord concerning the matter. And the word of the Lord came to me by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

In each of these situations people are disputing over something that is unclear and uncertain within the church. The disciples of Christ dispute because they are uncertain as to what they should name the church. Nephi’s brother’s dispute because they are unclear about doctrine taught by their father. The group of people with Moroni dispute because they aren’t sure at what age to baptize. Each of these groups is concerned about something they don’t have the answers to, just like the people right now who are disputing women’s equality in the church and what women should have or should not have. We can find answers on this matter in the same way the disputing people in the Book of Mormon were counseled to find answers.  

Over the subject being disputed, Christ asks His disciples, “Have they not read the scriptures?” Just as we should ask ourselves when uncertain about a doctrine. Through critical thinking, reading comprehension skills, and the Holy Ghost we can find answers for modern questions from their ancient text.

To his disputing brothers, Nephi asks, “have ye inquired of the Lord?” Mormon, not knowing the answer about the doctrine being disputed, “immediately . . . inquired of the Lord concerning the matter.” These stories teach us that when we aren’t clear about something we need to inquire (ask) of the Lord, and get answers. Jesus taught, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22).

If women holding the priesthood and women feeling unequal is important to you, find the answers to your questions. Ask, and further your spiritual progression toward knowing God.

When Lorenzo Snow was uncertain about a doctrine, he sought the Lord for the answer and received it through personal revelation. After receiving this “sacred communication,” he guarded it carefully, and “did not teach the doctrine publicly until he knew that the Prophet Joseph Smith had taught it” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church Lorenzo Snow, pg. 83). The Lord will tell us the answers to our questions, and when He does there is a high standard as to how we care for the revelations we receive, as shown by Lorenzo Snow.  

General Conference is this weekend. If you have questions about women and the priesthood, women and inequality in the church, take them to the Lord. Listen to the speakers, read your scriptures with intent, and ask Heavenly Father for the answers you are seeking. When a doctrinal question arises that seems unanswered, we will do well to accept personal responsibility for our own spiritual growth and understanding, and find the answers. Because, “If any of [us] lack wisdom, let [us] ask of God, that giveth to all [His children] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given [us]” (James 1:5), right?

Obama Obsession: To Anyone Who Doesn't Know

                 In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government.                                                                 –James Madison, The Federalist Papers, No. 51

Madison and the like set up our nation with the intent that we, as the governed, are the primary control on the government, but that only works if we keep the government depending on us. The government won’t depend on us if we’re unaware of how we “control” them. The way we control the government has very little to do with the President of the United States, and more to do with the Congress. The Obama Obsession (watching and criticizing his every move) distracts us from our responsibility to control the government because it keeps us from participating where we can make the most influence: Congress.  

Everyone has been SO concerned over Obama’s opinions and words about gun control, same-sex marriage, abortion, and war. They’ve been blaming him for our problems, and prophesying him as the Hitler of WWIII, but he-isn’t-the-one-making-those-decisions. Congress is. His powers have little to do with us little people, check it:

commander in chief

may ask each executive department for their opinion

can grant reprieves or pardons

            can make treaties with other countries 

            can choose people to fill positions while the Senate is not in session

           
            Compare these powers of the President to that of the Congress (and let me phrase it like my The United States Constitution Study Guide phrased it):

“Congress has all lawmaking powers for the nation”

As in GUN CONTROL, ABORTION, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, DECLARING WAR, the hot stuff! Obama may have a lot to say about these things, but he’s mostly just the pretty face of our government. As far as the laws of our country goes it’s primarily up to CONGRESS.

Who makes up the Congress? you ask. Men and women elected by you and me. We elect the people that represent us in D.C. Members of the House are elected by us for 2 year terms, and members of the Senate are elected by us for 6 year terms.

If you really want your opinion to influence law making, vote for members of Congress. If you’re concerned about the laws of your society take it up with your Senators and Representatives, they’re the big wigs making the decisions. People with Obama Obsession aren’t going anywhere. People voting for members of Congress are. We will be the primary control on our government if we inform ourselves and make our opinion count by voting for members of Congress.

If I was a member of Congress reading memes on Facebook, I’d be laughing at everyone. Go Google your state’s Congress Members, or Bing it like me and get free stuff. Learn about ‘em, vote for ‘em in November 2014.

                

                

Confused at Feminism

Once upon a time I was a self-proclaimed feminist. I wore an internal badge of honor with pride because the feminist movement in America did such awesome things for women. Most of which, allowing women into a man's world. I felt like a pretty lucky gal.

            But one day I got confused at Modern Feminist Women.

            I started to feel like girls with attitudes would flash a Feminist Wild Card, then say horribly rude things; and if someone pointed out their crudeness, that someone became lumped with "woman suppresser's."

I like to respect people so I had a problem with that.

            I started to feel like being a Feminist was like joining a club. If I wanted to be a member I was required to make certain decisions, like Don't get married at 19. Don't have kids right away. NEVER postpone school. Do NOT stay at home with your kids. And, most importantly, wish and desire to be something better than just a mom.

I don't like being put in a box so I had a problem with this. (Kind of like those women from decades ago that fought to not-be-put-in-a-box.)  

            I started to feel like my fellow self-proclaimers didn't think things through very far. I would see ladies not changing their last name when they get married. I hear the roar: "We will not be owned by a man! We will not brand ourselves with his name!"

            Ok, but to those that kept their dad's name. . .?

            Cuz all I hear after the roar is, "Sorry person I'm about to marry, I'm a Woman that is too strong willed and too independent! to be swallowed up by a Man's name, so I'm going to keep the Man name my DAD gave me!"

            If I was going to show people I wasn't owned by men I would drop any and all names given to me by a man and take my own. Which means I can't keep my maiden name (it's my dad's), I can't take my mothers maiden name (it's my grandfather's), I can't choose the last name WOMAN either because MAN is represented: woMAN. Kind of like HEr, sHE, huMAN, MANkind. If MAN is going to have nothing to do with me and my name, the last name Woman still doesn't cut it.

            If I really wanted to represent and keep boys out, I would pick something as obvious as the signs from my childhood: "No Boys Allowed."  

            "First name?"

            "Meagan."

            "Last name?"

            "I Want My Own Last Name."

            "Excuse me?"

            "I get that a lot, don't worry. My last name is I-Want-My-Own-Last-Name, all separate words."

            Another self-proclaimer was telling a soon-to-be-mom-friend that becoming a mom is really hard because you lose your independence. She explained how it's so hard for her to be a mom because she misses the independence she had as a working woman (which was elementary school math teacher).

            I was like, Whaaaaaaat? Slow down and hode on.

            I get it, as a mom you need to start doing things for others instead of yourself, you should put their needs before yours, but as an elementary school math teacher, it is MANDTORY you work 5 days a week, 10 hours a day, with small children. You have restraints and restrictions on how you can and can not touch or speak to them. You must obey your boss’s rules or he/she will FIRE you. That’s the independence that’s missed? Cuz it sounds like following orders to me.

            No need to glorify the demands of motherhood, but to think you ARE independent when you have a job, but are NOT once you become a mother is ridiculous. Independence is a frame of mind. It's making a decision and then doing your absolute best while running out that decision. A woman's mind, abilities, decisions, and hard work is what makes her independent.

            I’m a fan of intelligence so I had a problem with these things.

            And then some Religious Feminist straw broke my feminist back. I understand that some religious women are feeling oppressed, suppressed, and incorrectly dressed; and I strongly believe they should work towards a life that doesn’t feel that way and hope they can find it. The end.

            Originally, I thought associating myself with Feminism felt liberating. It felt intelligent. But then it started to feel like there were Feminist Task Masters yelling, "Feminism is X,Y,Z, and if you're not X,Y,Z then you're against us! And you shame the name of Feminism!" So I decided to nix the word because really, in 2013 Western America, what’s a Feminist? I’ll not answer that, but instead stick with associating myself with words like:

            Respect

            Box Free

            Intelligent

            Independent

            Liberating the oppressed and suppressed

And I lived happily ever after.

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!

Murmuring. Something I've been told not to do all my life. You know, the idea that comes from John 6:43: "Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves."  But it's so hard not to murmur!! Griping, complaining, moaning, whining, it's what I do. I'd read about people in the scriptures who didn't murmur and I'd always just figured, "Welp, they're better than I'll ever be. I don't know how not to murmur. Can't figure this one out."

            The most famous murmurers are the children of Israel right? Constantly murmuring! Sometimes I get so annoyed at them, it’s always one thing after another and then another and then another. I want to yell at them in their graves, "Seriously guys?!" But then I realized, if there was a book written from the objective prospective about my life, it too would be FILLED with my constant murmurings (aka whinings, complainings, gripings, etc.)  I do it a lot, it's hard not to.

            So I thought to myself, "There's got to be a way. If the Scripture People can do it, so can I. But how?" Here are my thoughts:

            We have the poster child(ren) of Israel that have just witnessed seven miraculous events in Egypt (Exodus 7-10), run across the dry bottom of an entire sea between two walls of water! (Exodus 14:22), are given manna from heaven which will spoil if too much is gathered unless it's on the 6th day of the week (Exodus 17:2-3), aaaaaaaaand they start murmuring.

"And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Where fore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"(Exodus 17:3). If I were Moses I think my response would have been something like, "Geeeeeese, everything that's been done for you and you're still going to complain about survival? I can't believe I have to put up with this kind of immaturity." But of course that would be murmuring and that is NOT what Moses did.

            "And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people?" (Exodus 17:4). Instead of griping, Moses went-to-the-Lord with constructive communication. THAT is the difference. When I'm put out about something and I have a thing or two to say about it, instead of huffing and puffing to myself, I can close my eyes and in the form of prayer, communicate my concerns to God. By opening up the communication we give our Father in Heaven a chance to point something out, or encourage, comfort, or teach. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it,that the people may drink. And Moses did so.” Moses was productive because instead of murmuring he went to the Lord with constructive communication about a problem he had. I may never retrieve water from a rock, but I might be able to keep the murmurin’ on the DL.

Thank you Moses for, once again, showing the way.

Summer Time

Summer has come, it's time for fun.
Food, fireworks, and heat,
Blogs get in the backseat.
Ain't comin' back til we're all done.
So HEY, enjoy your summer, Jack.

Love in Politics

             When the Beatles sang "All You Need is Love" in 1967 their message of love reached around the world. Using music's peculiar ability to connect people, Lennon let nations hear the word love 41 times. The word, with it's now-unforgettable tune, entered into minds everywhere.

            A new song about love has been written this year, and has begun it's way into the ears of millions. It's called Same Love by Macklemore. Like the Beatles, this song is to promote love, but unlike the Beatles it is specific about how to love.

            It addresses stereotypes, and how untruthful and hurtful they can be.  

            It addresses cowardly, hateful words that fill the internet, "We become so numb to what we're saying [. . .] call each other [names] behind the keys of a message board," and how damaging these words are.

            It offers the idea, "Whatever god you believe in, we come from the same one," promoting brotherly love for family, friends, and strangers alike. The Golden Rule says: do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Jesus said: love your neighbor as yourself. These idea's are simple, but when they're on a persons mind it helps them act more appropriately to those around them, which creates more smiles and less tears.

            It also addresses love in the specific form of same sex attraction. This subject has become a subject of politics, and if he wants to talk politics to the world, so do I.

            In reference to same sex attraction the song addresses the Bible by saying, "We paraphrase a book written thirty-five hundred years ago," implying that it is outdated. So when, then, do we decide written texts are no longer of importance? After how many years? The Constitution is 200 years old. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 speech "I Have a Dream Speech" is now 50 years old. I was always under the impression that ancient writings like Plato and Aristotle, and the more modern Shakespeare, still exist because the topics they wrote about stood the test of time. Meaning, they are still around because they remain pertinent to the human race. Degrading the Bible for it's age is counterproductive, whether or not it is actually 3500 years old.

            In reference to same sex attraction the beat of the chorus sings, "And I can't change, Even if I tried, Even if I wanted to." Call me an Idealist in any of it's definitions because that is the heaviest bunch of chains I've ever heard a person put on themselves. The best things that have ever happened to me came when I decided to change, and I mean real, ugly, filthy, hard, CHANGE. If people never changed the world would be full of adults wearing diapers. 

            At the end of the song, the politics of love is openly labeled with lyrics like, "Till the day that my uncles can be united by law," and "No freedom till we're equal."

            No freedom until we're all equal in marriage? What about everybody else that wants equal marriage?

            I love my children, and I decided that the kind of love we share is deserving of a legal marriage. And not just to one of them, but to all of them. And, I'm in love with four men. These four men and I have decided our love deserves a lawful marriage, so that's what we want. Plus, I have an undying love for my dog Poco. He passed away 4 years ago and my love hasn't faded, so I know this is true love. We deserve to be together in a legal marriage. And I, literally, cannot live without chocolate and I don't want to be kept apart from it anymore, so we deserve to marry just like everyone else that's in love gets to marry.

            Some people are against incest, some aren't.

            Some people are against under-age marriage, some aren't.

            Some people are against polyandry, some aren't.

            Some people are against bestiality, some aren't.

            Some people are against having a relationship with deceased or inanimate objects, some aren't.

            The idea of equal marriage for All is a tidal wave. The current defenses for same sex marriage are the same defenses used by the Mormons to defend polygamy in the 1800s, but the U.S. ruled it an unconstitutional practice, not fit for a legal marriage. If same sex marriage is allowed now, they will have to overturn a long standing legal precedent, which could easily open the doors for other forms of abnormal marriages.

            From a certain angle everyone is being oppressed by a law. People like Warren Jeffs and Brian David Mitchell feel oppressed, but laws are not for making everyone happy. If they were, we wouldn't have prisons. Laws are for the functioning of America's communities, and there is a responsibility for American's to help create and obey those laws.

             If those fighting for equal marriage rights really mean equal marriage rights, then that includes equal rights for those who wish to practice incest, under-age marriage, polygamy, polyandry, and whatever else they want. The modern family of tomorrow will be a lot less funny then people think it is today.

An Ode to Depression

            Jack Johnson's melancholic lyrics, "We're all as lonely as we wanted to be, we're just as lonely as we wanted to be," used to leave me confused. But after mulling it over for a long time, I finally realized something about myself. When I was depressed, I told myself I was constantly. When something went wrong, when I couldn't handle the day's events, when I experienced a break down, I would tell myself how lonely and depressed I was. In the depressed moments, I would even tell myself of the things I was struggling with, like food, body image, relationships, and social life. Almost like I was proving to myself that I was suffering.

            I would cry to myself on the couch, in bed, in the shower, in the corners of rooms, in the car. Always telling myself I was lonely and depressed. So as far as Jack Johnson's theory goes, I was as lonely as I was telling myself I was.

            Reflecting on Johnson's words I decided to stop telling myself I was depressed, and started telling the Savior I felt depressed. I had heard stories about people feeling crushed and broken, and that it was the kind of situation the Savior was good at fixing. So, I started telling Him aaaaaaaaaall my problems. I would cry to Him when I was on the couch, in bed, in the shower, in the corners of rooms, and in the car.

            And suddenly, my lonely life started feeling less lonely.

            I met a woman that goes to Lowe's to buy withering, dying plants at a discount price, then takes them home where she revives them into beautiful, blooming plants. When I saw her colorful, surviving plants I realized: this is what Jesus Christ's Atonement does for the withering soul. His divine nurturing brings souls back to life, like that woman's nurturing brings those plants back to life. Somehow, His divine power reaches souls, like the sunshine reaches those plants. Somehow, His divine power feeds souls back to health, like the rich soil feeds those plants back to health.

            I can sit in an airplane, buckle my seat belt, and enjoy an air conditioned flight across the world without knowing a thing about how the captain made it happen. I've done it several times. Just like I can communicate with the Savior in thought and prayer, and have my soul enjoy the healing power of His Atonement without knowing a thing about how He makes it happen. I've done it a lot.

            When I was lying on the couch aching to curl up and cry, I started crying to the Savior. Like others have asked for His help, I asked for His help. "Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Hide not thy face far from me [. . .] leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation," (Psalm 27:7-9).

            When I was staring at the computer searching through cyber depths for things it couldn't offer me, I decided to search instead, through thoughts, for the companionship of the Savior. "Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee," (Psalm 28:1-2).

            As a Redeemer, He's promised peace for the troubled heart (John 14:27). I experienced that peace when I decided to trust in His ability to heal, even though I didn't understand it, and when I searched for Him with my thoughts and prayers. Now, I claim what others have claimed:

"Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth" (Psalm 28:6-7)

and

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see."

Beauty Culture

            

            

Do you look into the scale on your bathroom floor like the Queen in Snow White looked into her magic mirror? Do you wait for those numbers to tell you whether or not you're beautiful, like the Queen waited for the mirror to tell her? Do you depend on those numbers in your scale to determine how you feel about yourself?

            And if those magic numbers appear "telling" you you aren't beautiful, do you react like the Queen? She was told by her mirror that she wasn't the fairest in the land, and so she went to GREAT lengths in order to make herself the fairest one again. But then looking haggard and old, the Queen died in the pursuit.

            To what end do we find ourselves if the magic numbers on the scale "tell" us we aren't beautiful? Under-eating, over-eating? Both? Depressed, jealous? Both? Complete discontentment with ourselves?

            American Beauty Culture is saying, "DON'T be fat." While American Glutton Culture is saying, "DO eat deliciously and often and lots of it." 

            This mixed message is manifesting itself in thousands of bathrooms, resulting in eating disorders and mental disorders. 

            Don't be confused into thinking that beauty is determined by the numbers on a scale, or the numbers written on the inside of a pair of jeans. Wikipedia describes beauty, "as being in balance with nature." Health nuts are always telling us this, with their breathy voices, closed eyes, and clasped hands over heart, "Balance." Beauty is not tied to numbers on a scale or numbers inside your jeans.

            One time, while still a slave to Beauty=Numbers, I was trying to be healthy-beautiful, so I decided to find out my BMI. I am unashamed to say that the BMI's results for me are that I am "Slightly Obese." All that did for me was ruin my week, and give my husband something to tease me about when I eat too many cookies (or all of them). Health is important, but it's not what makes a person beautiful. So what is it then?

            How bout we get a French poet from the 13th Century in the house to tell us what makes a person beautiful. Come Jean de Meun, come sir, and whisper sweet french nothings into our ears.

                       

                        

"Certainly, if the truth be told, women give great shame to God [...] they do not consider themselves rewarded with the beauty that God gives them. Each one has on her head a crown of flowers, of gold, or of silk. She preens herself and primps as she goes through the town showing herself off, and thus [...] to increase or perfect her beauty, she wants to draw onto her head an object lower and more base than she. Thus she goes around despising God because she considers him inadequate, and in her foolish heart she thinks to herself that God did her a great outrage in that, when he proportioned the beauty in her, he acquitted himself very negligently. Therefore she searches for beauty in creations that God made with much worse appearance, things like metals or flowers or other strange things."

           

            Do we search for beauty in eye liners and hair dyes? In blush and lipstick? In hot dresses and skinny jeans? Do we search for beauty in piercings and hair styles? 

            Beauty is not found in these things, or in numbers, or in BMI's. Beauty isn't found in ribbons or tags. It isn't found in packages, boxes or bags. Beauty doesn't come from a store. Beauty, is about something more... it's about you. God created you, and your beauty is great in His eyes.

Armageddon

           There are two large groups in the world that have a similar prediction. This prediction is that the earth has an expiration date.

            The first large group refers to this potentially catastrophic

event as "Global Warming" because the earth is getting hotter

 and the ice caps are melting, and if it continues to get worse

 it could be dangerous.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                      

The second group refers to it with names such as Armageddon, Apocalypse, and Second Coming, with beliefs that the earth will be destroyed by fire.

 

            A Global Warming Activist's cause is to help the earth from getting too hot and unbalanced for our survival. Here's some wisdom from an article called "How to Take Action to Reduce Global Warming" provided by wikiHow, "Global warming already disrupts millions of lives daily in the forms of destructive weather patterns and loss of habitat. What is already happening is only the tip of the melting iceberg, for it is our children and grandchildren who may suffer most from the effects of global warming. Hundreds of millions of people may be exposed to famine, water shortages, extreme weather conditions and a 20 - 30% loss of animal and plant species if we do not reduce the rate of global warming." It's getting hotter, and that's no bueno, so the game plan relies on Preventative Action Tactics. There are lists of tactics one can follow in order to help prevent global warming in order to help planet earth. Most lists include things like:

                                                Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

                                                Use less air conditioning and heating
                                                Drive less, and drive smart
                                                Use Energy-Efficient products (aka expensive)
                                                Use "Off" switch for electricity and water
                                                Eat less meat
                                                Plant a tree

            These are ways to help keep the earth from getting tooooo hot, help us to stop just thinking about Number One, and stop being so wasteful (similar things my mom's been trying to teach me since I was a kid). So when you Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, when you're planting that tree, and when you're turning that switch "off," remember you're helping the earth from getting toooo hot.

            Now, as far as Armageddon, Apocalypse, and the Second Coming are concerned the idea here is to repent or be burned with the earth, "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 4:1). So, generally speaking, don't be proud or wicked. Burning up with the earth is a bad idea no matter how you look at it. There are lots of things one can learn to do in order to help themselves not burn. Specifically, there is something that our man Isaiah taught, according to our good friend King James, that teaches us how not to act in order to save our souls.

            Isaiah explains that naughty females will be a certain way, and that specifically, they will be "making a tinkling with their feet," (Isaiah 3:16) and that "the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet" (Isaiah 3:18).

            I immediately thought of Elf Shoes and their traditional little bells,  

but since those are usually just for costumes I didn't think anyone was in real danger.

            But seriously, we should all try to avoid such things when making aesthetic decisions for ourselves OR for our daughters. This is such a clear description of something to avoid! Recently, shoe designers are getting creative, to say the least, and who knows what is up and coming next season. We've seen shoes that light up, why not shoes that make a tinkling?

            If you find yourself becoming complacent about this sort of thing, consider the results of not listening to his counsel. Here are some results: "instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent [or as some suggest here "rags"]; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth [imagine something good, and then something bad]; and burning instead of beauty"! (Isaiah 3:24), "the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion"! (Isaiah 3:17), and then, of course, there's the burning. Yikes. I'm thinkin it's worth it to avoid making a "tinkling" with our feet because that all sounds really awful.

            Under the surface these two groups have more in common than most people are willing to admit. In the one group we've got advocates pushing people to help prevent the planet from it's doom by warmth. And in the other group we've got people giving advice so as to avoid being burned up with the earth when it burns. They have similar predictions that the planet has an expiration date, and they've got very similar death sentence's. Looks like somethin's gonna go down with our Mother.  

         

          

America the Beautiful

           We all get forgotten at some point. Like me, for instance, I was forgotten on a family vacation at a gas station in Mexico. Not really a "Meagan Sure Is Special" moment, but, hey, it happens to everyone and we can all move on.  

            It seems like America has got to be forgetting something. She's been through a lot lately. The financial crisis, the housing market crash, the bail outs, the unemployment, the seemingly constant, and painful shootings and bombings.  

            I feel like asking her, "Beautiful America, with spacious skies, and amber waves of grain, oh, beautiful, beautiful America, with purple mountain majesties above your fruited plain, what are you forgetting?"

            But as poetic and dramatic and fuzzy as that question feels, it's not productive. So I wonder, what are we, as Americans, forgetting? (I don't think it's God, yet. Whether people are for or against God, He gets brought up all the time.)

            As a professional American, I feel confident I can name two things that Americans must be forgetting: Wisdom and Innocence.  The recession, the housing market crash, bail outs, fiscal cliffs, unemployment, "Americans! Where's our wisdom?" Devastating shootings, shocking bombings, "Americans! Where did our innocence go?"

            Maybe the answer to those questions is that we, as Americans, are forgetting our Wise and Innocent.

                                   

                                    Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."

                                    Said the little old man, "I do that too."
                                    The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."
                                    "I do that too," laughed the little old man.
                                    Said the little boy, "I often cry."
                                    The old man nodded, "So do I."
                                    "But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems
                                    Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
                                    And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
                                    "I know what you mean," said the little old man.
                                                                                        -Shel Silverstein

           

            Are we, American Grown-ups, spending too much time with ourselves and spending too little time, or even forgetting to spend time, with our Wise and Innocent? Are these easy-to-forget people stashed away somewhere "safe," while we go on about our more exciting lives? Because the reality is, American Grown-ups are running the show we call America, and if America is having problems, then it's the Grown-up Americans that need to do some introspect.

            Where's our wisdom? Well, are the Elderly in our lives? Little old men and little old women are our superior in time and experience; wrapped in some loveable nuttiness, they are living wisdom. Are American Grown-ups spending time with them, in order to hear their wiseness, and see their wise, wrinkled faces?

            Where's our innocence? Well, are there children in our lives? Little boys and little girls are the absolute essence of innocence. Are American Grown-ups spending time with children, in order to hear their innocent laughter and see their innocent eyes?

            If America needs more wisdom and innocence, then the ones running America (all Grown-ups, we live in a democracy here) should start paying more attention to the Wise and Innocent of our nation.

            My friend Jan and her family are from Thailand and they have a rich culture that still lives with their family here on American soil. One beautiful aspect about her culture is the respect given to elders. When a younger person walks past an older person, the younger must duck their head to be lower than the elder. When sitting, the younger person's feet must not point in the elder's direction. At the beginning of every conversation there is a word spoken by the younger person to the elder person in order to signify them as their elder. This respect acknowledges to the younger generation that their elder is superior, and the elder deserves it! Their time and experience on this earth gives them knowledge and wisdom a younger person doesn't have.

            Dick Van Dike showed everyone in Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang that a society is unbalanced and awful without children, and that there is nothing scarier than a Child Catcher.  Children remind us what a heart is capable of doing. They free and release us  from our self-inflicted complicated world, and remind us what it's supposed to be like.   

            Our little old men and little old women, our little boys and little girls need us, and we-need-them. Remembering each other and learning from each other will improve our individual lives, and then our nation. The good life includes Grown-ups, little old people, and little children. We're all a part of life, and we're all a part of making America beautiful.