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Eternal Love and Marriage

Boyd K. Packer is a beast! In the last two days, I have listened to a couple of devotionals that he gave on the topic of marriage. When I began listening to one, Eternal Marriage, I was surprised to find out how old the devotional was. He gave the devotional back when he had just recently become a member of the twelve apostles.  In his talk, he references another devotional that he gave seven years earlier, Eternal Love, so I listened to that one as well.

There was great counsel given in both of these devotionals. Here are a few things that stood out to me:

"If you desire the inspiration of the Lord in this crucial decision, you must live the standards of the church, and you must pray constantly for the wisdom to recognize those qualities upon which a successful union may be based." - Eternal Love

"How wise is the man that does not expect perfection, but looks for potential." - Eternal Love

"There are many who teach that it is normal and expected for domestic difficulty and bickering and strife to be apart of that marriage relationship. That is false doctrine. It is neither necessary or desirable, and I know that it is possible to live together in love with never the first cross word ever passing between you." - Eternal Marriage

I know that no matter where we are in life, our ultimate focus should be this goal of a successful marriage filled with eternal love. It is possible. As Elder Packer also said,

"The ultimate end of all the activities in the church are aimed at seeing a father and a mother, a husband and a wife, and their children happy together at home." - Eternal Marriage

 It is the focus of the church, and it should be our focus as well.

lessons learned in last night's dream. . .

1. Never take someone else's pot (for a plant) and use it as your own. It is difficult to give it back.
2. If a hyena were to come into my house through the sliding glass door in the back, than I have no need to worry, because I would be able to kill it with my bare hands.  
3. It is very easy to get wild birds to come and land on your finger, as long as you whistle just right. Sounds lame, but it is pretty epic.
4. If you get somebody to film the birds as you hold them, make sure to charge your camera battery, because it is probably dead.

First Photoshop Experience

So this is the result of my first Photoshop experience. It actually turned out a lot better than I'd expected, which is always a pleasant thing. It did take me around two and a half hours though, which may be a long time, I don't know.

I guess along with experiencing photoshop for the first time, I also was using a WACOM for the first time too, which was pretty sweet. For those of you who don't know what a WACOM is, it is a large tablet-monitor. It has a stylus(pen) which allows you to pretty much draw on the screen. It is pretty cool. Anywho, hope you like it.

insights from marriage and family class

"You will know no greater happiness than that found in your home. You will have no more serious obligation than that which you face in your home. The truest mark of your success in life will be the quality of your marriage." - Gordon B. Hinckley

In my Marriage and Family class today, the teacher started off the lecture by asking how many of us enjoyed hiking.  Of course, several people raised their hands. Then he asked how many people would like to hike with him to California (around 1000 miles). Only one person raised his hand. It was obvious that the effort that would be required was not worth the experience.

Then he began to offer us motivation, money.  He first asked who would go if he gave them $100. Nobody raised their hand. Next $10,000, this time several people in the class raised their hand (myself included).  Then he offered $1,000,000. Practically everyone in the class raised their hands. The effort that would be required to make the journey became worth it.  All the danger, fear, pain, struggles, fatigue, blisters, and misery became worth it, because of the reward.

Through the course of the lecture, he cited several apostles and prophets who testified to the wonderful nature of marriage (One of which I cited above). End basically ended with this following quote,

"Happiness in marriage and parenthood can exceed a thousand times any other happiness." - James E. Faust

He said, this quote may sound like a hyperbole, but the only thing wrong with this quote is that it is an understatement of what marriage and parenthood really offer. We as people can only comprehend a level of happiness that we've experienced, so as single people this statement merely tells us that we will be happier than we have ever experienced, because it is impossible for us to comprehend how amazing it truly will be. Which is hard for me to understand as well, but I believe it to be the case.

He then said, if we were willing to walk 1000 miles to California for $1,000,000, then (pointing at Pres. Faust's quote) what are we willing to do for that.

This comparison really hit home for me.  What am I willing to do to experience a happiness that is above and beyond what I can even comprehend?  Most importantly, how does this thought change what I am doing now?

I find it so easy to get lost.  At times life tosses me to and fro, and amid the beating and craziness I lose myself. I lose my focus on what is my purpose.  This obviously sounds depressing and rough, but thus is life. And I say that, because it is true. Life is about facing difficulty and strengthening our commitment and determination each time in such a way that we can overcome those difficulties.  Hopefully, if we are living right, then we will strengthen ourselves with Christ, because alone we truly are nothing. He is the answer to each one of our problems. He is the perfecter of our weaknesses, and it is through him that we can change and pass this test of life.

So, where should my focus be?

I felt something very profound at the end of my class when the teacher asked us, "What does God do for a living?" At first it seemed like the answer was obvious, but what he said penetrated my heart, "He is a full-time dad, an eternal father."

The Essence of Love

People often ask, "What is love, and how do you know if you are 'in love'?" I also have asked myself those questions, and I usually don't have a solid answer. Recently, however, I was reading for my religion class, and I found a wonderfully simple quote by Pres. Hinckley.  He said,

"the essence of love...is an anxious concern for the well-being and happiness of one's companion." - Eternal Marriage Student Manual, p 25-26

It is interesting that he calls it the "essence of love." Essence is defined as "the basic, real, and invariable nature of a thing or its significant individual feature or features." It also is "the most significant element, quality, or aspect of a thing or person." It seems then that the most significant and unchanging aspect of love is the anxious concern that a person has for the well-being and happiness of his/her companion. It is through the many things we do to build around this concept that we develop our love for our companion. So while the things we do may vary, the true nature of love is invariable.

Of course that doesn't necessarily answer the question "How do you know if you are 'in love'?", but at least it provides a good start.