Agency

Agency. The ability to choose one's course in life regardless of surrounding influences. The ability and freedom to make the best of one's circumstances. The courage to do what is right regardless of forces pushing you one way or another. Too many people are being persuaded that they are stuck where they are, or it's just not possible for them to live God's way. They have given up. They have sold themselves for naught and put themselves in the power of other people or more accurately Lucifer, the enemy of our souls.
People are trying to influence each other from all sorts of angles. Politics, business, belief, and acceptance of any behavior. They do this to garner support. Financial support, popular support, and the desire to participate in a "movement". They mistakenly believe that having the support of people and finances will bring lasting peace and happiness. The only movement with any real lasting value would be the movement of God's kingdom.All of us have the ability to choose to move whatever cause we desire forward. Some of our causes will bring us happiness. Other causes are perceived as bringing more happiness and acceptance, but in the end cannot satisfy.
We all make mistakes, but we still can choose do the right thing. We can all find out what that is deep inside ourselves and through communication with God. We need to identify ourselves, not by which group we belong to, or what our job is, or even how we and others can mistakenly perceive us, but as Sons and Daughters of God. God does not make mistakes. He gives us weakness, but that weakness should NOT define who we are. That weakness is to teach us humility and to allow us to exercise agency to prove that we will do all things we are commanded. Not simply blind obedience, but with a knowledge that our obedience and submission of our agency to God is the ultimate sacrifice we can give Him.
In one way or another we are choosing to use, or rather, give our agency to different sources in our lives. When it is given to serve, lift, and help others AND ourselves and bring us closer to God, then he fills in our cracks, strengthens our defenses, and gives us a promise of Eternal Life. We will always struggle, when one challenge is overcome, there is always another. We may get tired, but we must never give up. Challenge after challenge, discouragement after discouragement, joy after joy, line upon line until the perfected day. We are the masters of our ships...even if we are convinced otherwise...we are still the masters. If we lose our hope of this...we have nothing. If we have lost hope, regain it, receive a priesthood blessing, serve another. Move forward with faith.
We have all been a little lost at times most likely due to our misuse of agency, myself included. Course corrections can be made, life can be regained. There is always, always an anchor of hope and faith for all of us to have a better world and a place at the right hand of God. God and Jesus will never let us down. That's their use of their agency extended to us. I hope I can better recognize it when it comes. I hope we all can...we all deserve some happiness and hope.

Recreation to Ease My Weariness...

I don't think I am the only one out there, but sometimes it seems I can never get caught up! It also seems that when I think I am going to get a little break...it magically goes away into some other activity. I don't think this is always a bad thing, but I have a real belief in some down time and unobstructed soul refreshment. I am not talking 3 hours of straight scripture study!
I am talking about good recreation, time spent doing what you want and love to do. I have a firm belief that part of living the perfect life involves being able to pursue our own interests and having time for things that make us smile and that help us imagine. This includes family activities, social get-togethers, sports, or some of our personal favorite things we do on our own.
Music is a big part of this for me. Nothing takes me places like music. I have recently started listening to some songs by David Tolk. I am not going to post them here, but if you have a chance you need to look up "Through the Trees", written by Mr. Tolk. It is a journey to me. This song is on iTunes if you care. My friend Sam has a blog about music and it has helped me to realize that music plays a huge part of our lives (You should all read it!). It rejuvenates us when tired and allows us to refocus on things that really matter. Sure, it can do the opposite if we let it...and sometimes it's nice to thrash out to something crazy...but I can never do that for very long. It's tiring. So try some David Tolk. Here are a couple of suggestions: Through the Trees, The Garden, Simple Gifts, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.
A couple other activities seem to rejuvenate my mind. One is a good movie with a good message. An example of this would be a movie like "Radio". The other activity I love is a good video game. Unfortunately the word "game" doesn't serve this form of media justice. I am the first to admit that there are many programs in this category that are not refreshing to the soul at all. But when developers have put serious thought into their work and put images, music and story together in a way that shows a love of life, and teaches moral lessons and consequences, then I believe that games can be a rejuvenating and a valuable learning experience. Some of my favorite games include The Legend of Zelda series, many Final Fantasy games (I don't have to like EVERYTHING about the games, just most of it!), some Mario games (Mario Galaxy is a wonderful example...), and other adventure type games. A game that caught my attention recently was on XBOX 360, it is called Eternal Sonata and it deals with the life of composer Frederic Chopin. It was put together beautifully in my opinion. The characters were interesting, the imagery was wonderful and the story was one that invites a person to think about their lives and choices. This was a good experience for me and shows that these "games" have evolved into much more than blips and beeps. Stories involving characters with moral and ethical choices to make along their journeys have become common fare, almost as in depth as any novel. Music, movies, and video games have many negative things said about them, but there is much good to discover in them also.
These activities don't take the place of daily scripture study, or prayer and communication with Heavenly Father, or our family activities and relationships. There must be a place for all of these things, but I have been finding that experiencing the beauty in the creations of others around us can inspire us to look harder for our own talents and inspire us to reach and dream higher and maybe create something that another person will really enjoy.
P.S. Here's a little quote from Shigeru Miyamoto (He created Mario...) about creation of games:

"I don't want to curb freedom of expression, but I am concerned that many developers focus just on excessive violence in order to stimulate people's mind. I believe that there are more ways of grabbing players' attention than violence alone."

"We need to eat in order to live, that's our first priority. But entertainment and the enrichment of our souls must come in second place. Nintendo's mission is to improve and to take advantage of cheap technology to create reasonable and affordable entertainment."

Is entertainment essential? I think yes...to an extent, but I also think most of us (myself included) go overboard at times.
Anyway, I just thought it was an interesting quote about one aspect of recreation especially from one so involved.
Anyone have any favorite songs, games, books, activities, or movies they want to share? Please comment!

Teachers

I am always thinking of ways to improve as a teacher. I realize I may think of this more than some other people because of my job, but I feel very strongly that each of us teaches and needs to be a teacher. Parents. Community workers. Anytime we interact with others we are teaching.
We were having a discussion last night with a good friend of our family's here in Orderville. She said that she couldn't have been a classroom teacher like myself or her mom. Initially she had said something about not being able to handle a "classroom situation" very well. This can definitely be true for many people, and trust me, I don't blame them some days! Then she talked about how she loved teaching horse-riding in our community, and of course we knew she was a teacher. Our friends are great teachers. This is Bruce teaching his daughter to beat a pinata!A lot of us teach by what we post in our blogs and in our conversation with others. Jenna was making fruit leather last night and she had been taught by Valerie Crockett and other websites how to achieve success. I am pretty sure she was successful...
Everytime we say something, something is taught, intentional or unintentional. Our experiences come out, lessons learned and our attitudes regarding life are expressed. Our convictions to ideal principles and their reliability in successfully guiding our lives are also exposed.
Parents are excellent examples of teaching correct principles. I can't think of my father without feeling his desire to live faithfully to the Lord, his service in the church, faithful hometeaching and his example of hard work to keep on the straight and narrow road. I can't think of my mother without remembering her love of family history and the lessons there as well as the patience and love she has for her kids. They are not perfect individuals, but I believe that their sincerity is perfect in trying.
Some may express disbelief in some areas, they are still teaching. Truth would uncover their words and teach us that what they really mean is that in some way they have felt betrayed or let down. Some express unbelief in God. I don't think this teaches that He doesn't exist but a truth that they have lost trust in Him, and have jumped to an unsatisfactory conclusion. In some ways it may be that persons way of trying to "be somebody", of garnering attention, sadly this illusion can lead others into error. It seems that our ego can be very influential in determining what we want to believe regardless of it's foundation. A desire to be special can cause some to teach and do things to draw attention to themselves. Behind almost every radical principle being taught is a person who has vain ambition, or is struggling with their true identity and is seeking to belong.
I believe, however, that most of us are teaching things that are good and uplifting. I look around myself at school and realize I am surrounded by excellent teachers, not just those with the title teacher either. Though I must say, I don't know of a bad teacher in my school.
When it comes to the Art of Teaching, I believe this is something that must be cultivated. I feel very blessed to be in situation where I can practice this daily. At times I wonder if anything is happening to influence others to learn and make correct decisions, then someone will say something or respond to something that increases my faith in my own ability and encourages me forward. I am glad that teaching is a skill that can always be improved upon. Their are so many facets to be aware of that it is a never ending task, I am glad for this, because although it is challenging, it is also very, very rewarding.
I think it goes without saying that Christ is the Master Teacher. I don't know exactly how he was able to manage it all. I know for one thing that it wasn't just about skill. He had and has the ability to make us look inward and examine ourselves without feeling damned. He had plenty of "skill", but he wasn't setting himself up as a "look at me" kind of teacher. I think the defining trait of his teaching was his charity for those around him. He loved them. It wasn't a fake, "Oh I love you guys", kind of love, but a sincere love that could look into each person's soul and see all of the good, and all of the hurt, all of the misconception, and anger. Sometimes whether they liked it or not! He took that understanding of each person and was able to direct to them the lessons they needed. Another thing was that he was patient and gave people the time they needed even when some of his followers tried to tell people he needed a break!
As usual I have written all this and now I have to come up with a point. My point is...obvious isn't it?
Before I finish up here, I have to say that Jenna, has been a great teacher for me. I came to her very judgmental in many ways, of other people and of myself. She has taught me through example to let go of a lot of things. I have many "counseling sessions" with her that allow me to maintain my sanity. I think that is one reason the Lord said, "It is not good that man should be alone." She is very patient with my insecurities and gives me very sound advice. She is very good with her kids at school. Most importantly, she is teaching Dallin what he needs to know to be successful in his life. He is becoming a very wonderful person and this is because of the time and energy Jenna puts into his growth, spiritually, socially, and physically. I try to do some work with him when I am home, but thank goodnes for Jenna.
Even Dallin is already teaching. Me: Patience, love and how to have fun. Jenna: Patience, love, dealing with frustration (!), and how to have fun. And James our nephew: How to clean.
So men, not only are our wives ridiculously cute, they are amazing teachers, and busting their hineys to help our families grow toward the ideal!
And we will keep going won't we!

It's a Girl! (and random Conference thoughts...)

Well. I am excited that we are having a girl! You can read all about it on Jenna's blog, but I just wanted to make a quick post here and tell everyone who reads (all two of you) that I am quite excited. I am hoping Dallin makes the adjustment well. He is such sweet boy and I think he will do well. I am also hoping that I do well with the change from one to two children. Again I think things will go well. I have had a couple experiences before today where I have felt strongly that we were having a girl and it was nice to have those experiences confirmed. I really believe the Lord will help prepare us for things if we are listening and trying to stay in tune (As imperfect as that trying is...) 

While I am at it, I wanted to say that I really enjoyed General Conference last weekend. We were in Cedar with my family, which was really nice. Steve and Lindsey were down, as well as Laura, and we also were able to see Jared, Judy, and James. I really appreciate my family much more these days, perhaps it is because I don't see them as much, but whatever the reason, I enjoy their company and I am grateful for my parent's sealing. I must also add that I was able to visit a while with my good friend Sam, he has always been one of my best friends and it was good to see him and his wife. They are a great couple. I hope they realize that!

Back to conference, sometimes I get a bit depressed and maybe a little stressed from conference, not because the messages are bad by any means, but because I realize I don't measure up to what I want to be. This year I was able to look through "new eyes" and feel a little more of the love that our leaders have for us. They need to motivate us to be better and see the error of many of our ways, but they also know that the Lord doesn't want us to run faster than we have strength, but to be diligent to the end. Diligence, repentance, and a good heart will get us there.

Anyway. Things seem to be going well in our lives here in Southern Utah. We really are excited about our new baby and the new challenges with that. We also feel that our family is growing more in the gospel, which is really rewarding when it is trying to be achieved for the right reasons...peace, service, and unity. I don't think my motives are always pure for living the gospel (sometimes I worry too much about what people think), but I know my motivations are becoming better and are becoming more sincere day by day through scripture study and continued missionary goals.

I also realize the importance of my own agency in bringing the gospel into my life. I can hear the word, but it's my choice of what to do with it. I do not believe in blindly following, but I do trust and know good uplifting advice when I hear it...and I heard it this last weekend!

Oh...back to the topic of this  post. I am really excited to have a daddy's little girl, to go with daddy's little boy. As our family continues to grow I really hope I can set the right example for them. I see all the time in school and in extended family how the choices parents make influence the strength of gospel commitment in our descendants. We cannot say or think that what we do does not effect those we love, especially those in our family. If I don't teach my children the gospel...who is? That is something that weighs constantly on my mind, especially when the reality of more children sets in. I know the Lord helps us along the way, I am grateful for that, but I know my effort is also required. I have a faith filled vision for my families future, but the way to achieving that vision requires some diligence and hard work on my part. Thankfully I have a wife who helps with much of these things and who helps make my job as a father, husband, and priesthood leader, much lighter and much, much more fulfilling!