Men are that they might have joy

Today as I was taking a break from my exhausting work on data I read the latest posts on one of my favorite blogs, no impact man. On today's post the author asked an interesting question: are we here to be happy? The idea was to have a lot of people comment on what they thought. A lot of people mentioned that they thought that happiness was good, but that we should be caring for people and the environment. In fact, so many people said almost the exact same thing that I started to get worried. Is ours the only religion that believes that God intends for us to find joy?

Thankfully, we have the Book of Mormon to tell us these things. Maybe those people don't realize that true joy comes from doing what we know in our hearts is the right thing to do?

April Fools

Sorry for my lame joke.

Lame. I like Cynthia enough to actually do it.

8 Favorite TV Shows

M*A*S*H
Psych
The Office
30 Rock
What Not To Wear
Chuck
Ugly Betty
Nova

8 Things I Did Yesterday

Went to church
Freaked out because the Relief Society teacher wasn't there
Frantically wrote notes about the RS lesson during Sacrament meeting talks
Discovered that the teacher had switched with someone
Ate shake'n'bake chicken
Dominated at nurtz
Left things strewn about the house on purpose
Argued about which cheese is best

8 Things I am Looking Forward To

Graduation!
Seeing my family
Summer
Living somewhere where I don't feel out of place in my 'unique' clothes
A vacation
Culture
Having my own house (one day)
Graduation

8 Favorite Restaurants

Bombay House
Cafe Rio
Bangkok Grill
Jalisco's
Rosa's
Ultimate Broiler Grill
Red Lobster
Freebirds

8 Things on My Wish List

A puppy
A pony
Graduation
An electric car (maybe a Tesla Roadster)
Super powers; I think super speed would be the best
A high-paying, low-stress job
An HP Touchsmart computer
A Kindle 2

Setting expectations low

When I first moved to Texas, there was a guy in my branch who caught me saying some funny things. For months after, every time he saw me, he would say, "You're so funny! Say something funny." I would sit there trying to think of something to say, while also thinking, "I can't do it on command..." After several months of me saying nothing clever in his presence, he seemed to give up on my sharp wit, for which I was relieved.

I thought nothing more of that episode until a few days ago when I met the new sister missionaries that were transferred into our branch. They wanted to meet with me, since I am the RS pres, so I could tell them about people in the branch who may need their help. They asked me about myself, and everything I said made the greenie sister laugh really hard. I was on a roll! But I couldn't help thinking about that guy... Now every time I see her I will be trying to think of something witty to say, and will end up silent and dull. Oh well. I can always hope I'm wittier than I was then.

Spiritual Enlightenment~

This will be a short one today, because I really only have one thing to say. The other day, as I was driving home from my brother's house, where I spend as much time as possible, I was pretty troubled about some things and thinking hard on solutions. One of my thoughts was something I have been told before: humility is strength. If we have true humility, we know that without God, we are nothing. More importantly, we know that with Him, we can do anything. There is great power in acknowledging His hand in all things. (This may be a bit of a ramble, so sorry if it doesn't make sense)

This may not be doctrinal, but another part of my epiphany was that humility involves understanding Heavenly Father's view of us. Once we know how we are loved, we can share that love with other people. There is no weakness, inadequacy, or fear; only great power in the knowledge that we are worth loving. Once we know this, and give up our own pride in the process, we can stop looking so much towards ourselves and look outward.