We had a pumpkin left over from October so we thought it would be fun to just keep it for a while and make it a Thanksgiving decoration instead. Hope you like it and hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!
We had a pumpkin left over from October so we thought it would be fun to just keep it for a while and make it a Thanksgiving decoration instead. Hope you like it and hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.
Family Home Evening Thoughts
Last night for FHE, Nate showed me a cool website that one of his co-workers told him about. The website is http://scriptures.byu.edu/. The archives go much further back on this site than on lds.org. You can read material from as far back as 1839. You can look up articles from the Journal of Discourses starting in 1853. It is an interesting and useful site.
This site also allows you to look up scripture references and see where, how, and by who else they are used. If you go to "Options" in the side bar, you can also look up the number of references taken from any given book of scripture through any given time period. It is very interesting to see how references taken from The Book of Mormon have increased over the past couple decades. From 1839 to 1984, it is surprising just how infrequent the references to the Book of Mormon are comparatively to other scripture volumes. The majority of scripture references used came from the New Testament with 32,523 citations, while The Book of Mormon was referenced second least of any volume of scriptures with just 8,367 references (the Pearl of Great Price was referenced the very least). However, from 1984 to present, the Book of Mormon has been referenced more than any other volume.
Another interesting search we did was to look up the most frequently cited scriptures from the General Conference sessions of this year. We noticed a definite pattern among the most frequently sited scriptures. Almost all these scriptures explained the very basics of the plan of salvation: God's purpose to give His children eternal life, Christ's atonement that made that possible, and how we must continue steadfastly with faith in Christ to obtain eternal life.
This made us think about how basic the gospel really is. There are so many facets to the gospel. While these facets are good, worthwhile, and important, sometimes I think people get caught up in little things that are not as essential at the cost of things that are essential. All of the more supporting aspects and organization of the gospel are meant to uphold and strengthen the basic principles of the gospel, not vice versa. If this is flipped around, then all the less central points of the gospel would collapse. For example, families can do alright without stakes, but stakes would not prosper without strong families. By zooming out to the core principles, we can make sure those things take first priority in our lives and stay more focused on what our direction is.
This idea can also be applied to our individual lives. We may struggle through rough times in our lives, but those times do not make up the whole of our life or who we are. As we push forward through our weaknesses and rough times, they make us stronger. They are like the facets of the gospel in that they build up the whole of who we are and who we are becoming, but they alone are not who we are. For example, if a person struggles with a quick and hot temper, that temper does not define who that person is. Or, if a person struggles with same-sex attraction, that temptation does not define who that person is either. That person is a child of God with divine potential despite any struggles or temptations he or she may face. In fact, the purpose of those struggles and temptations is to strengthen that person and bring him or her closer to God. But in focusing solely on a difficult problem or temptation, it is possible to let those things define us in our minds instead of remembering the larger picture.
This site also allows you to look up scripture references and see where, how, and by who else they are used. If you go to "Options" in the side bar, you can also look up the number of references taken from any given book of scripture through any given time period. It is very interesting to see how references taken from The Book of Mormon have increased over the past couple decades. From 1839 to 1984, it is surprising just how infrequent the references to the Book of Mormon are comparatively to other scripture volumes. The majority of scripture references used came from the New Testament with 32,523 citations, while The Book of Mormon was referenced second least of any volume of scriptures with just 8,367 references (the Pearl of Great Price was referenced the very least). However, from 1984 to present, the Book of Mormon has been referenced more than any other volume.
Another interesting search we did was to look up the most frequently cited scriptures from the General Conference sessions of this year. We noticed a definite pattern among the most frequently sited scriptures. Almost all these scriptures explained the very basics of the plan of salvation: God's purpose to give His children eternal life, Christ's atonement that made that possible, and how we must continue steadfastly with faith in Christ to obtain eternal life.
This made us think about how basic the gospel really is. There are so many facets to the gospel. While these facets are good, worthwhile, and important, sometimes I think people get caught up in little things that are not as essential at the cost of things that are essential. All of the more supporting aspects and organization of the gospel are meant to uphold and strengthen the basic principles of the gospel, not vice versa. If this is flipped around, then all the less central points of the gospel would collapse. For example, families can do alright without stakes, but stakes would not prosper without strong families. By zooming out to the core principles, we can make sure those things take first priority in our lives and stay more focused on what our direction is.
This idea can also be applied to our individual lives. We may struggle through rough times in our lives, but those times do not make up the whole of our life or who we are. As we push forward through our weaknesses and rough times, they make us stronger. They are like the facets of the gospel in that they build up the whole of who we are and who we are becoming, but they alone are not who we are. For example, if a person struggles with a quick and hot temper, that temper does not define who that person is. Or, if a person struggles with same-sex attraction, that temptation does not define who that person is either. That person is a child of God with divine potential despite any struggles or temptations he or she may face. In fact, the purpose of those struggles and temptations is to strengthen that person and bring him or her closer to God. But in focusing solely on a difficult problem or temptation, it is possible to let those things define us in our minds instead of remembering the larger picture.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
We dress to impress
Last night we partied with Rebecca's family in Orem. Here's a picture of everyone's costumes and pumpkins. We did the ghost pumpkin and Rebecca designed the wolf for her brother to cut out.
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