Unique

"No woman was ever quite like you. The Lord made only one, without carbons. You are not repeated and not repeatable. No one else can do what the Lord sent you to do. The value of what you have to contribute will come through the expression of your own personality, that particular spark of the divine that make you unique, setting you off from every other living creature. The mark you leave on the world, on the hearts and minds of others is as distinct as your thumb print." -Sister Barbara B. Smith

I Choose to Be Pure

One of the greatest videos Mormon Messages has done. Definitely one of the most touching.

Telling the Truth

A friend of mine has been having relationship issues lately. Over and over she's explained said issues to me, and how hard it is; so much harder than she ever thought it would be. And I try to help the best I can. And tonight something clicked in my head and was solidified that is not only true for her situation, but I believe is beneficial to any and all relationships between human-kind.

I know that, as girls, we have a tendency to feel guilty for a lot of things that we shouldn't. Frankly, we feel guilty for just about everything and every possible little thing that goes wrong is always our fault. And a lot of times we also feel this need to make people happy. Many of us are willing to let our own happiness dwindle if it means we may brighten another's day and make their life easier. We're willing to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of another, especially for a loved one. And this has become the problem in my friends life.

She has been so eager and hopeful to make her spouse happy that she has sugar coated what she really feels. She tells him what he wants to hear, and what she wishes was true. And she does it because she never wants to disappoint him. She sacrifices her own happiness in hopes that he will be happy. With tears in her eyes, she simply said, "But I just want to be happy."

Here's the funny thing about wanting to be happy but also sugar coating things; sugar coating means you're not telling the whole truth. By not telling the whole truth, that means you're lying. Lying is a type of sin. Sinning is wickedness. And as Alma 41:10 says, "Wickedness never was happiness." Simple solution (though it's never easy) is to tell the truth. And not just the truth, but the whole truth. Don't keep secrets from loved ones; that's how tangled webs are woven. And in the end, the other always wants to know why you didn't just tell the truth in the first place.

I've noticed this a lot in my own life. Every time I half heartedly give the partial truth to my loved one, and in the end tell him the whole truth of what I really feel in some heated conversation, he exasperatedly asks why I didn't just tell him all of that to begin with so we could correct the issue when it began. And frankly I ask him the same thing quite frequently. We've gotten much better at this and have found that just telling the truth makes everything easier. Being honest. Not sugar coating things. It just works. Alma knew what he was talking about; wickedness never was happiness, even something as simple as sugar coating the truth and telling little white lies.

Happiness

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle and the life of that candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.-Buddha
I really do love the fact that truth is found everywhere. There is good in this world, far beyond the reaches of just what is taught in the Gospel. Truth can be found anywhere; in other faiths, in other countries, and in all kinds of people.
This statement is truth. So share that happiness you have with the rest of the world. You gain so much more by doing so.

Lately.

I have had far too much time to think and contemplate things in my life recently. Here are some of the things that have made a difference lately.

"God grant me the serenity 
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.


Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr"

"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."--Joseph B. Wirthlin

2nd Nephi 4:27-28

 27And why should I ^ayield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to ^btemptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my ^cpeace and afflict my soul? Why am I^dangry because of mine enemy?

 28Awake, my soul! No longer ^adroop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the ^benemy of my soul.

I honestly cannot express the amount of joy and peace these things have given me recently. For whenever I feel in the depths of pain and self wallowing because of things I do wrong, and how I never add up to perfection, this is where I find the strength to go on. This is where I find the peace to keep pushing forward. And I am so grateful that God is always near, because truly, He is.

Friendship

Can anyone really define this word? I know the dictionary tries, but "a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard" and "a person who is on good terms with another; a person who isnot hostile" just doesn't do it justice, ya know? I had to learn the hard way what being a friend really is.

About a month ago, I had quite the run in with 3 of my best friends. I mean I've griped about things that have happened between us all before, just like with any other friend; no one is perfect and yet many of us get annoyed when they're not. As if we are. And well, we had a falling out of sorts, and it didn't end happily.

Tonight however, I got to thinking about them. I still looked at their facebooks via other people's to see how they were doing, what they were saying etc frequently, and tonight I just started to feel guilty. Horribly guilty. And I realized something; I am a crappy friend.

And that's when I figured it out. Being a friend isn't just doing things with someone. It's not just checking their facebook and stalking everything they say, or texting them to ask how they're doing. It's not just caring about them to a small degree; if that were the case, every person on this world would be my friend, because I have a tendency to care about everyone; even those who hurt me, abuse me, are rude to me and so forth. No, that's not friendship.

Friendship is:

Baking them cookies on a bad day.

Praying for them.

Forgiving them when they do do something you expect them not to.

Doing stupid things together.

Actually hanging out.

Texting genuinely, not "hey", "what's up" or "how you doin?"

Actually talking. Over the phone; or, heaven forbid, face to face.

Caring about someone more than yourself, because friendship is love.

I had to learn this the hard way. I had to learn that I was not really being any of those things, so I don't know why I expected it from any of them. Be someone you would want to be around, otherwise, why would anyone want to be around you?

I hope you just remember to cherish the friendships you have. Don't just try finding new ones day in and day out and let the old friendships fall to the wayside. Keep what you have, don't just continue looking for more, more, more. There's something beautiful in the here and now; enjoy it. 

Greek, Aramaic and Other Semitic Languages

I must tell you about how much I love words. I love finding new words and their meanings, along with their meanings in other languages and how even translations never do a word justice. Anyway, in my New Testament class this semester, we've talked a lot about Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic. Here's some of what I've learned, and loved because it has helped my understanding of things. If you don't know, Aramaic is the language that was spoken by Jesus, though few speak it now.

Hebrew/Aramaic/Arabic

كفارة (kafara-as close as I can get with rough translations, this is Arabic however): This is the word used for the Atonement. 

כפרה (kafar-[I'm pretty sure] Hebrew): Atonement. Which could also be translated as to cover, or to forgive.

Kafat (Aramaic-not sure about writing): Atonement or full embrace

Greek

πορνια (pornia): pornography. The root of this heinous plague goes back to Greek. Makes so much sense to me now.

εδεεμ (redem): To redeem. This was used with slaves, when one was buying back a slave. 

εξιλέωση (exielosi): Atonement or expiation. Expiation is to make amends. Guilt is said to be expiated when it is visited with punishment falling on a substitute. Expiation is made for our sins when they are punished not in ourselves but in another who consents to stand in our room.

ομολογώ (homologo): To confess, also to promise, to covenant.

Basically what this is meaning is that sometimes, translations are a bit hazy in the Bible. Some words were used, while others could have and should have been. The word "atonement" is only used once in the entire Bible, yet as Mormons, we believe so fully and so much on the atonement. Instead other words are used, when oftentimes "atonement" should have been. So keep that in mind the next time you're reading from the bible. Translations are next to never perfect; each word, although being translated at the best ability possible, still don't have quite the same meaning when going from one language to another. Slight meanings change, and sometimes it's those slight meanings that, in fact, change the entire meaning of a passage.

And something I want to say about the word "redeem." As I stated, it was used when termed with buying back a slave. Why then is Christ considered our Redeemer? Might I pose a suggestion to that. We all are in a carnal state of mind, that's just life. We are in a state that we cannot help but be carnal and devilish and whatnot, because that is what fallen man is, unless he curbs his appetites and comes unto God. But we all still makes mistakes. So my proposition is this: We all are slaves to sin, slaves to the devil and this carnal nature. But Christ, our Redeemer, is ready, and willing, to buy is back. Not only ready and willing, but He already did, whether you agree to accept it or not.

Just some food for thought.