What to Do This Sunday?

The following post is from Bill.  I said I would let you know! -Dy

I was not raised to honor the Sabbath in the way I now believe to be appropriate. Only now am I beginning to understand the “why” of this sacred commandment. 

Over the years, I have observed that honoring the Sabbath seems to be the easiest commandment to break.  People seem very willing to rationalize any activity at all, simply by calling it “a family activity.”

I once heard that the definition of the word “sacrifice” is: Giving up something good now for something better later.    If that is true, I have to confess that keeping the Sabbath has come to be somewhat of a “sacrifice” for me.  I needed to think about what the better blessings of obeying this commandment are.  I do like having extra time to sleep and read, but beyond that, I have to admit that having to sacrifice work time or dinner out at a nice restaurant has been more of an annoyance than a blessing.

Then I started reading the scriptures and came across passages such as these:

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isa. 58:13–14).

That made me think. Why does the Lord require that we should keep the Sabbath day holy? What is in it for me?

The scriptures speak of the Sabbath being a delight, a day of refreshment, for rejoicing and giving special consideration to the things of the Lord. They promise blessings as we honor our Father in Heaven on his holy day.

I have decided that the Lord gave us an awesome opportunity to increase our own spirituality. He also gave us the means by which we can become well rounded mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually. I suppose you might say that the purpose of the Sabbath is to nourish the spirit.  We are rested, refreshed, and renewed as we pause and concentrate on spiritual things. We are better prepared to meet the world and the challenges of our daily lives if we turn away from our own pleasures and delight in the Lord.

Here are two simple questions to help determine what activities are appropriate on Sunday:

1. Does it keep me from the ways of the world?

2. Does it cause me to grow spiritually?

I would like to make this observance.  In our time, God has recognized our intelligence by not requiring endless restrictions.  Perhaps this was done with a hope that we would catch more of the spirit of Sabbath worship rather than have to live by the letter of the law  .It is a test by which the Lord seeks to prove us in all things. 

“For them that honour me I will honor”

1 Sam. 2:30

S'no Difference

If it's zero degrees outside today and it's going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be? 
 

My friend posted the following comment on Facebook:

 “Whoever shook the snow globe, thanks!”

No one wants to hurt her feelings, but I would guess that there are more than a few people who do not think snow is all that wonderful.

My friend was raised here in the state of Utah.  Maybe that’s what it takes to appreciate the white stuff.  I, myself, only heard about snow for a long time before I actually saw it.  In fact, I remember the day that I finally experienced snow. 

We kids were outside playing kick the can one warm fall day in our neighborhood in Phoenix, when my dad came home from working up in Flagstaff.  They had had an early snowfall and the back of his truck was full of snow.  He shoveled some extra in before he headed home and he actually made it to our house before it melted so that we could have a snowball fight in the front yard with our friends.  Of course, by then, the stuff was getting a little slushy and it hurt like heck when someone chucked it at you.  I was surprised to discover that after a few seconds of trying to smash a snowball together, our hands were aching from the cold.

Living in Phoenix, I didn’t have too many occasions to see the stuff again until we decided to move to Pennsylvania.  Pennsylvanians didn’t seem to be too crazy about snow either; for good reason, we discovered.

Most city dwellers live on narrow streets that are normally just wide enough for two cars to pass going opposite directions.  Add one more car on each side of the street for people who park in front of their own houses, along with the icy streets that come with snowfall, and you have some serious auto insurance claims.  I once got stuck in my car for 20 minutes because some schmoe double-parked and I couldn’t get by …but that’s another story. 

If you happen to live on that narrow little street, you might assume that the parking spot out in front of the house is yours.  You shovel the spot out and you try to mark it by putting your summer lawn chairs in the hole when you need to run to the store for a minute.  You don’t want anyone to get your parking spot.  You might even hang a sign with your name on the chairs.  But the city frowns on such selfish behavior and all someone needs to do is get out and move the chairs and you are busy shoveling out a new place to park. I decided it was smarter to borrow a quart of milk than to go out for it.

There are a myriad of other difficulties that people endure in the east because of the snow, including the unpredictability of whether they will call a snow day for school or not, (working mothers loved that), snow plows that made surprise passes down your narrow street covering your car with even more snow and the hilarious fun of delivering newspapers in the occasional blizzard. 

OK. I guess I can admit that snow is not all bad.  No one can deny the breathtaking beauty of looking out the window at a fresh blanket of snow, when no one has walked through it and tracked it in on the carpet yet.

And Utah doesn’t cancel school too often either. No sense wasting a perfectly good school day just because the bus could slide off the road.  

If you do get a good snow and a free day to use it, there are plenty of fun activities that you can recall from your armchair while you recuperate from the occasional injury you incurred from crashing into a rock or a tree while skiing or tubing down the mountain. 

Snow is also good for maintaining water levels…when it finally melts out of the parking lots, where it takes up a good deal of space for 6 months of the year.

But the best part of getting snow is cold weather apparel.  Unfortunately, I can’t usually afford the more stylish duds because warmer clothing is usually more costly.  But no matter, because I could always outfit the gang at the local thrift store to keep everyone from freezing to death.  Now that it’s just Bill and I, we’ve solved the wardrobe problem by just staying home.

Ok.  It is pretty.  I’ll stop there.

Looks Ain't Anything

Post #2

Looks Ain’t Anything

I started a web page this week.  It's fairly amateur-ish because, I am kind of an amateur.  Check it out at             

                          www.billanddianenelson.com

if you would like to see what we look like.  It's not that I am vain. In fact, if you don't care what we look like, I'll just tell you that we are quite a striking couple.  So, now you don't have to look. 

Now that I've brought it up though, I imagine you will be forced to look. So, let me just prepare you with this great quote that I read the other day:  

"People are like stained glass windows -- the true beauty can be seen only when there is light from within. The darker the night, the brighter the windows.

-       Elizabeth Kubler-Ross - (studies in near-death    

-                                                                           experiences)

Bill and I both turn 60 this year.  You really can’t expect us to look as good as we did 40 years ago.  I wish I could say that we initially got together because we saw that beautiful light in each other, but the truth is, it was probably more carnal. 

No matter.  I’ve always believed that God intervened to bring us together anyway.  I believe that about most couples. Certainly, if we had been more mature and thoughtful, the people we were then would have made both of us run away from a second date.   

That light within has to be cultivated.  Conquering our weaknesses is what turns the flame up.  I like the scripture in the Book of Mormon that reminds us that we all have weaknesses and that there is a place for weakness in our spiritual progress:

“If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27).

In my thinking, finding someone who is humble enough to admit that they need to work on their own shortcomings and who will also allow you to do the same without reminding you of what a screw-up you were just last week, is all you need to keep a relationship together.   Even serious faults can eventually be overcome if they are honestly faced head on.  And if you are lucky enough to have a spouse who encourages and motivates you to keep working at your weakness until it becomes a strength, what greater bond can two people have?

So, about that beauty thing;   I can’t say it better than Jacqueline Bisset once said, “We all lose our looks eventually. Better develop your character and interest in life.”   

Still, if you’re like me, I like to see what the talk radio host I am listening to looks like, whether the author of the book I’m reading looks like a friend or a Wall Street activist, and whether the person whose writing this blog has black hair or is bald.  It just enriches the communication somehow.

So, go have a look.

Wrestling Pigs in a Clean White Shirt

This is our first posting.   It's worrisome.  I wonder if I am going to have enough to say.  ( I have to admit that this is the first time that has ever been a concern.)
I will probably be the blogger.  Bill is too busy with other stuff... stuff that I don't want to be busy with.  However, the material will come from both of us and I will be sure to let you know whose ideas you are reading, although we usually think along the same lines.

To start off, I think I will tell you about our book that will be coming out in April.  We haven't got a release date yet, but I'll be sure to let you know when we do.

Our publisher is Tate Publishing.  They have made the experience quite a bit easier than we anticipated, although I never dreamed it would take so long to turn the finished product out.  It will be almost exactly a year since we submitted the original manuscript.

"Wrestling Pigs in a Clean White Shirt" is the title.  I haven't told anyone this yet, but it was the first thing I thought of when we finished the book.  Everyone tells you that the title comes last, and that is true.  But I was really worried about it.    The book is a compilation of 'a-ha' events; a journal of self-discovery.

The premise is that we all start off with ideas of what we want our lives to look like.  A sexy husband or wife, a moderate to nice home, a certain set of wheels in the driveway.  We think about how many kids, how we will raise them, how we'll handle our money, our in-laws.   With some, the subjects are talked about, analyzed and re-adjusted until we map it all out just right.    It is a 'clean white shirt' life.

And then, we wrestle the pig.  We quickly find that nothing is going the way we planned.  And yet, we hang on to our dream.  Sooner or later we will get a hold on it, if we do not loose sight of our plan.

That is the quintessence of the book.   Holding on while we learn.

And learning is the real goal.