Boolean Part 1

     Some time ago, perhaps when you were in elementary school, can you recall your parents telling you to do something because "they said so?"  Can you then recall yourself replying with a "why?"  And then, can you see yourself being told that "if you don't do so and so, you'll either: be grounded, sent to your room, lose [cell phone] privileges, or anything like that?  Once your parents have told you that, how do you feel?

     So you probably weren't too happy to hear such a thing come out of your parents-- why would they do something so heinous to me?  Why don't they understand that I don't want to do that?  Why don't I have a say in anything?  Why would they blackmail me?  One thing to tell ya-- it's normal to feel that way.  We all feel that way.  We're built that way.

     We don't feel very good when someone takes away our ability to choose.  God has made us creatures of agency-- or free will.  If we are restricted from choices, we're evidently going to react negatively to it.  Being forced to do anything was never something God intended us to do.  God's gameplan for us was to be able to choose our destiny to return to Him-- not force us to come to Him.

     Let me sum up what happened before we were born.  We were spirits living with God before we had physical bodies.  While we were with Him, we were presented with a plan God had for us-- it was quite simple: we would be given physical bodies (because we needed actual bodies to be resurrected in), given a scapegoat for our trespasses (Jesus), tested and tried (using our own individual choices AND God didn't eliminate our personal responsibility with the Atonement) on Earth with new experiences, and then come back to Our Father in Heaven with these new bodies.  That's it.  Because of which, we were pretty happy to hear such a news.  As we have accepted this plan there, that's why we're here.

     Because of this great and marvelous plan-- the plan of redemption, the merciful plan, the plan of salvation-- we are able to return to God to be with Him.  We can make choices to do so.  God made us that way.  Agency-- the ability to choose between right and wrong.  It's the most wonderful gift that He has given us and we have our authority to exercise it however we want.

Can ya hear me?

"Ralph, I need you here for a second, would that be okay?" you reply-- in your mind.

     Ralph is working in the kitchen, cooking up some food to eat for the daytime.  He knows you're there, across the counter, but has his attention focused on the sizzling pan.

     "Ralph, it's urgent-- I need to talk to you over here for a sec."

     Still, he's in the kitchen, flipping the sautéed veggies and sprinkling in some extra spices.

     "Ralph!" a bespoken you verbalizes.

     "Yeah, whatcha need?"
    
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     A conversation with a friend can't happen when you have what you're going to say in your heart, but not in your mouth.  This is, quite frankly, very, very obvious.  Now, let's put this in a more spiritual setting.  You need something (i.e. an uplifting emotion, strength to overcome adversity, etc.-- NOT i.e. money, fame, power, a lottery winning, etc.) from God.  You look up and see that He's most likely there.

     "Huh, he'll probably give me _____ sooner or later; I would want it, though."

     Even though God knows what you want and He knows when you need it, it may not come to fruition because you were missing one important element in communicating with God-- the actual "communication" part.

     Question-- why do we pray?  You clasp your hands together, bow your head down, and most likely kneel at a quiet, comfortable place.  You say a bunch of things, "amen," and boom!  Done.  What's wrong with that?  Well, for starters, it lacked what I mentioned before.

     Praying/prayer is a communication between you and your Father in Heaven-- God.  You talk to Him about just... stuff.  Stuff that you would talk about with your parents, your friends, your coworkers, and your acquaintances-- except a bajillion times more meaningful.  Sure, God knows what you did and what you're going to do-- "Oh, I met Suzie across the street the other day-- I really like her--" however, He would much rather prefer hearing your story from you.  Why?  He's your Father in Heaven!

     Next time you think of prayer, think about it like this.  In a nutshell, God knows you.  He knows what you're going through and He knows what you need.  If you just [reverently] ask Him what your needs may be (and some things that you thought were interesting throughout your day that you think is worth sharing), He'll hear you loud and clear.  God wants to hear from us.  How else would you talk to your parents?  Haha they are mind-readers, but still!  The only way to grab someone's attention is by verbalizing your request.  Food for thought.

Them Darndiest People

     Walking down a road called Chapman Avenue to my local library, I hear people honking and yelling out of their cars, "Mormons!"  Not much minding them, I walk, with purpose, to the library and then around the surrounding area.  As it was a day of preparation as a missionary, I was finally able to witness for myself the beautiful scenery of Old Towne Orange.  The rotary island, rich with sunlight and vegetation-- centering itself in the hub of the business, the rustic yet contemporary spectacle just makes me realize that not all of life is filled with persecution.

     However, those few people aiming to ruin a nice beautiful Monday afternoon just amazes me-- the effort that they go through to belittle someone of superficial difference than he is actually quite impressive.  Still, sometimes I wonder where the world went.  Have I just not noticed it or has it moved elsewhere?  For every good, outwardly charitable person I have met here, I have encountered dozens of those who want nothing else but destruction-- there's a quote by someone famous, Batman I think, that went something like: "some people just wants to see the world burn."  With mine own eyes, it's sadly turning into a reality.  People don't inferiorize and discriminate because of personal gain anymore.  The typical response now centers around a "just because."

     In a less secular sense, I look at the contemporary Christians-- many are kind-hearted souls who just misunderstands other churches that aren't their own.  They hear from their local leaders on what to believe and then prays from time to time.  It's frightening that these types of people, of all shapes and sizes, can rattle off the names of 12 of their local pastors faster than they can the names of Jesus' original 12 apostles.  With that in mind, these people, with their misunderstanding of what we believe, yell out acerbic words-- destroying faith as its purpose.  Why?  "Just because."

     We don't claim to be anything special, yet the knowledge of who we are, disseminated en masse would definitely quell contention and lead to understanding.  The knowledge that we have is important on so many levels-- both in a spiritual and a social aspect.  With open hearts and a thirst of learning, we can all come to loving each other, like Jesus did with the Samaritans.  With the Greeks.  With the Romans.  With the Amerindians.

    

Cutting Losses (Anecdote)

     Walking down a dirt path, into a brightly-lit forest on a breezy autumn afternoon.  Dana carried with her strings of 30 or so colorful balloons in her left hand.  With such joy and sanguinity, Dana held tight to these orbs of happiness as she journeyed forth.  The oaks and the maples tower above, reflecting its vibrant yellow, orange, red leaves, showering down upon her as she makes her way.  Further down the path comes a rather goodly-sized stone tunnel entry.  The other side of that tunnel leads to even more color and beauty of the natural scenery.  Excited to head forth to this lighted beauty, Dana starts toward the entrance.  Entering the tunnel, there's a slight tug from the strings.  The tunnel is too narrow to fit her and all of her prized balloons!  Pulling and pulling, some of the balloons start popping from the pressure.  She wants to go through the tunnel.  She wants to take the balloons-- or what's left of it-- with her too.  Alas, it isn't so.  The balloons, no matter how much she cherishes them, will not fit with Dana to venture toward the other end.  Even if she only takes a few, they cannot go through with her lest it risk further damage, rubbing on the hard, gritty tunnel ceiling.  With no other conclusion; with the biggest of reluctance, that left hand's grasp unfurls; the grip loosed-- the items of so much joy carry forth, on their way, into the sky.  Tears in her eyes, she leaves behind the balloons, venturing into the tunnel-- coming out a markedly changed person.

http://briggl.com/special/spoe/bunnyman.jpg

Manger les bonbons

     If there was one thing that was hard for me to drop as a convert, it had to be the double-shot gingerbread iced cappuccinos with whipped cream and cinnamon garnish I'd always get at the Occoquan bayside (back in Virginia).  Then the Christmas season came and I was reminded of that very taste, craving anything remotely gingerbread-y.

     Thanks to a very kind and loving friend, my gingerbread appetite has been quelled, but it left me with something greater than physical satisfaction.  Do you ever wonder if a gingerbread man and a gingerbread cookie taste any different?  Well, they do.  They may be made from the same ingredients, but they taste different-- regardless of what people say.

     Why would I say something so nonsensical?  While making those cookies, more likely than not, there comes little cookie cutters to make the figures of "men" in the dough.  If not, you just knead the balls of dough into little spheres.  Anywho, as the dough is stretched out, the metal imprint lays firmly into the spicy goodness, indenting its little shape.  Every time, with that cookie cutter, a perfect little guy pops to life out of the stretched out dough.

     Honestly, I find gingerbread men a LOT better than gingerbread cookies.  Some may argue otherwise, but this is my opinion.  I say this because when you make the cookies, with your hands, it tends to come in circles-- of so many different sizes.  The men, however, are uniform yet so unique.  We as people, when it comes to listening and loving, has to be like the gingerbread men.  With the fullness of our hearts, we are to fit and accommodate what they have to say into the shells of who we are.  We are limited, yet we are able to take in what people have to say and help them out to the best of our capacity.  While we do so with what we are given with, a tasty result grows forward-- the capacity of love is sweet to the taste. 

     For every person in every situation, they are different-- they have their own planes of problems, distresses, hardships, struggles, and worries.  However, as the cookie cutters we can be, if we take the time out to just listen and love, making sure that the person is embraced by our care, we can carve out a huge chunk of that dough and turn it into something very much desirable to the taste.

     A Biblical quote is fitting here.  A word or two from the word of God could suffice this discourse.  However, it's not the Bible that should persuade you to love your fellow man (it's a good way), but it should be of yourself.  Be the best you can be, helping others = helping God.

Equal Opportunity Employer

     Why do bad people exist?  Why do they get away with the heinous things they do?  Why do the good have to suffer?  Life sucks.  Life isn't fair.

     These are questions we've all had at one point or another and rightfully so-- God gave all of us the free will to think like that.  Your eyes are probably going to roll when you read this, but let's look at the Bible:

"...for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).

     Think for a moment.  What does this mean?  What context is this coming from?  In a nutshell, this is when Jesus talks to a very big group of very curious people on top of a very big hill.  Jesus is teaching this crowd to love rather than hate and comes this jewel of an epithet on the fourty-fifth verse.

     I hate to break it to you, but God knows and loves everybody-- sinners and publicans as well.  He loves them equally or-- dare I say it-- more than us!  Now why is that?  Let's look at one of his allegorical teaching resources-- the parable of the prodigal son.  The brother who stayed with his dad was probably more than just upset-- maybe really a little bit jealous.  He asked his dad why his brother was thrown this gargantuan festivity at his return home, making some super awful, degrading choices.  The father replies like so:

"thou art ever with me; and all that I have are thine" (Luke 15:31).

     Although the bad do bad things, but they're always prone to change.

     There's this song that I was reminded by as I was writing this-- "White Lies" -- Good men can do bad/ while the bad men can do good"

     Or something like that.  My point is, God is capable of helping all sides.  No matter the injustice, no matter the unfairness, it comes upon everyone.  Equally.  Just as the prodigal son got such a good welcome home party from living in a dump a good portion of his life, the goodly brother has lived like that, in paradise, for pretty much all his life.

     God wants all His children to be happy.  All the things that happen to us, good or bad, befalls on all of us, regardless of who we are.  God is an equal opportunity employer [of opportunity].

In Retrospect

     Walking down a white, bricklayed road, a shining white gate beholds your eye.  The sign above the gate displays "finish" in big, bold capital letters.  Every step closer, you notice that the brick road gets narrower and narrower-- on either side of you, the landscape turns from a sunny, frolicksome prairie to a more ominous, hazy wasteland.  You're uncertain that you should be going this way, but seeing how the gates are still shining, you proceed onward, walking to your proposed destination.  Suddenly, a piece of brick catches your shoe and you descend rather suddenly onto the now 2-person-width brick road.  Scraped and startled, you pick yourself back up, still the gate in sight.  However, you have an urge to look the other way-- how far have I come?  The neck turns.  The vision extends further right than in front.

     An unknown figure with long, disheveled hair is seen.  Wearing a greyish-white garment, she looks up to you, revealing a shriek that kidnaps the soul away from you body-- the thread cut short, you cannot finish to your destination any longer.

     The reason I give this raconte is the importance of looking forward.  That "unknown female" doesn't exactly have to be an unknown female.  It could be whatever impedes us from progressing toward our final destination.  At occasion, we may look back into our past to reflect-- there's nothing wrong with that!  However, when emotions come to shore such as regret and hindsight, then the problems start to come up.  This is how man is foiled.  We try our best to think of what's good in the world and what optimism lays ahead of us.  Being with God once more.  Starting a wonderful, loving family (if not yet married).  Blessing others through future works of service.  Overcoming the current challenges we face.  Getting through the day to start anew the next.  As we look and move forward, we may be able to experience more joy than we turn around.  We are here in this world not to look back-- even Jesus said that to follow him, one mustn't do so!  With an eye single to the glory of God, one can move mountains and do the impossible.

    I'm a type of person who ALWAYS reflects about everything.  I'm an introvert.  I'm very introspective.  However, this type of thinking always leads to cynicism and pessimism regardless of anything else I may do.  Those particular emotions aforementioned surface and depression is ready to take hold of me-- it already has, a plethora of times.  Although it gives good fodder for writing material (if you want to look at my twitter which I put on a hiatus until I come back), it will ruin you in the long run.  Out here now, I cannot afford to think like that.  It is one of the ways Satan drags you victim to his vicious ploys to destroy you.

     INFJ or not, turning around may in fact scare you [silly].  Don't fall for the urge to do so unless it's something that you won't regret or feel worried or sad about.  You are here to succeed.  Don't think back on anything that might have set you back a little.  Othello did the exact same thing and look how he turned out in the conclusion of the play.