Gift of life everafter and donuts.

Sunday school was amazing today. Okay, fine, this is going to be one of those typical "THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!" sort of blog posts, but I can't really help myself. It's that time of the night, and my blogging desire runneth over. ;)  So, this may seem a little long, but I put the story from Sunday school here so that you can understand why I have been so moved today.

There was a boy by the name of Steve who was attending Seminary in Utah. In this Seminary classes are held during school hours. Brother Christianson taught Seminary at this particular school. He had an open-door policy and would take in any student that had been thrown out of another class as long as they would abide by his rules. Steve had been kicked out of his sixth period and no other teacher wanted him, so he went into Brother Christianson’s Seminary class.
 
 Steve was told that he could not be late, so he arrived just seconds before the bell rang and he would sit in the very back of the room. He would also be the first to leave after the class was over.
 
 One day, Brother Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him. After class, Bro.
 Christianson pulled Steve aside and said, ‘You think you’re pretty tough, don’t you?’
 
 Steve’s answer was, ‘Yeah, I do.’
 
 Then Brother Christianson asked, ‘How many push-ups can you do?’
 
 Steve said, ‘I do about 200 every night.’
 
 ’200? That’s pretty good, Steve,’ Brother Christianson said. ‘Do you think you could do 300?’
 
 Steve replied, ‘I don’t know… I’ve never done 300 at a time.’
 
 ’Do you think you could?’ Again asked Brother Christianson.
 
 ’Well, I can try,’ said Steve.
 
 ’Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I need you to do 300 in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it,’ Brother Christianson said. Steve said, ‘Well… I think I can… yeah, I can do it.’
 
 Brother Christianson said, ‘Good! I need you to do this on Friday.’
 
 Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the ro om. When class started, Brother Christianson pulled out a big box of donuts. Now these weren’t the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited-it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend.
 
 Bro. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, ‘Cynthia, do you want a donut?’
 
 Cynthia said, ‘Yes.’
 
 Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, ‘Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?’
 
 Steve said, ‘Sure,’ and jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Bro. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia’s desk.
 
 Bro. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, ‘Joe do you want a donut?’
 
 Joe said, ‘Yes.’ Bro. Christianson asked, ‘Steve would you do ten push- ups so Joe can have a donut?’ Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut.
 
 And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten pushups for every person before they got their donut. And down the second aisle, till Bro. Christianson came to Scott.
 
 Scott was captain of the football team and center of the basketball team. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship. Then Bro. Christianson asked, ‘Scott do you want a donut?’
 
 Scott’s reply was, ‘Well, can I do my own pushups?’
 
 Bro. Christianson said, ‘No, Steve has to do them.’
 
 Then Scott said, ‘Well, I don’t want one then.’
 
 Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, ‘Steve, would you do ten pushups so Scott can have a donut he doesn’t want?’
 
 Steve started to do ten pushups. Scott said, ‘HEY! I said I didn’t want one!’
 < BR> Bro. Christianson said, ‘Look, this is my classroom, my class, my desks, and my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don’t want it.’ And he put a donut on Scott’s desk.
 
 Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow. Bro. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry.
 
 Bro. Christianson asked Jenny, ‘Jenny, do you want a donut?’
 
 Jenny said, ‘No.’
 
 Then Bro. Christianson asked Steve, ‘Steve, would you do ten pushups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn’t want?’ Steve did ten, Jenny got a donut.
 
 By now, the students were beginning to say ‘No’ and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks. Steve was also having to really put forth a lot of eff ort to get these pushups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.
 
 Bro. Christianson asked Robert to watch Steve to make sure he did ten pushups in a set because he couldn’t bear to watch all of Steve’s work for all of those uneaten donuts. So Robert began to watch Steve closely. Bro. Christianson started down the fourth row.
 
 During his class, however, some students had wandered in and sat along the heaters along the sides of the room. When Bro. Christianson realized this; he did a quick count and saw 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.
 
 Bro. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.
 
 Steve asked Bro. Christianson, ‘Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?’
 
 Bro. Christianson thought for a moment, ‘Well, they’re your pushups. You can do them any way that you want.’ And Bro. Christianson went on.
 
 A few moments later, Jason came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled, ‘NO! Don’t come in! Stay out!’
 
 Jason didn’t know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, ‘No, let him come.’
 
 Bro. Christianson said, ‘You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten pushups for him.’
 
 Steve said, ‘Yes, let him come in.’
 
 Bro. Christianson said, ‘Okay, I’ll let you get Jason’s out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?’
 
 ’Yes.’
 
 ’Steve, will you do ten pushups so that Jason can have a donut?’ Steve did ten pushups very slowly an d with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.
 
 Bro. Christianson finished the fourth row, then started on those seated on the heaters. Steve’s arms were now shaking with each pushup in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. Sweat was dropping off of his face and, by this time, there was not a dry eye in the room.
 
 The very last two girls in the room were cheerleaders and very popular. Bro. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, ‘Linda, do you want a doughnut?
 
 Linda said, very sadly, ‘No, thank you.’
 
 Bro. Christianson asked Steve, ‘Steve, would you do ten pushups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn’t want?’
 
 Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow pushups for Linda. Then Bro. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. ‘Susan, do you want a donut?’
 
 Susan, with tears down her face, asked , ‘Bro. Christianson , can I help him?’
 
 Bro. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, ‘No, he has to do it alone, Steve, would you do ten pushups so Susan can have a donut?’
 

 As Steve very slowly finished his last pushup, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 pushups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.
 

Brother Christianson turned to the room and said. ‘And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, plead to the Father, ‘Into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, he collapsed on the cross and died. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten.’ .
  

When everyone in the classroom heard what the teacher meant by it and realized everything. Steve smiled on the ground where he laid in his own sweat and began to cry.

I guess the only thing I have left to say is, are you going to leave your donut uneaten and untouched on your desk? For how long?

Bliss [blis]: pure happiness.

Something beautiful is happening; life. What's not to love? I realized at the end of the day today that I am blessed beyond anything that I could possibly ever deserve. I have the sweetest, most genuine family, the best friends ANY girl could ask for, and the knowledge of an all-knowing God who is available to me anytime I am willing to get down on my knees. Days like these are the ones that make all of the bad days so hard to remember, so blurry in my memory. I am filled with pure, innocent bliss. Bring on a new day and 14 hours at the music building. This girl will be smiling. :)

I'm FREEEEE falling. :)

Free falling? What? Alright. I'll explain myself. I have found that being in college and somewhat independent (I am definitely still dependent on late night talks with my roomies and sobbing phone calls with my mama) means making HUGE, scary, intense, life-changing decisions. Well, I think I've been thinking about everything way too much lately. I have just been questioning every decision that I have made thus far and every decision that I thought I had made for the future. Tonight, I was just talking with one of my greatest friends and roomies, Paige, and I came to a realization due to a little inspiration from her. It is time to jump out of the plane and give God the pull-string to my parachute. Mission? Still a maybe. Utah State next year? Possibly still looking hopeful....man, I have no idea. All I know is that I am going to enjoy every minute of not having to stress for the next little while and have a peaceful ride back down to solid ground where I will finally have enough direction to make some serious decisions. No doubt, I will definitely have to make decisions at some point. But as for now, I think He is giving me a little rest and letting me ease into the new semester with the calming assurance that my answers will come when I am finally at peace enough to receive them. But as for now, bring on the fall baby! 

Happiness. For Him :)

I have a favorite quote...I have loved it for a while now. "If you want to be happy, BE." --Ghandi. Is that not the statement of the century? :) Happiness is so personal and personally induced! My mom used to tell me when I was little and often grumpy about my lack of barbies or not being able to play when I wanted that no one could make me happy but ME. I always have better days and an easier time putting a smile on my face when I think about those who don't have nearly as much as I have. I have a beautiful, living family, a knowledge of my God and Savior, an opportunity to be educated, enough clothes to last me 3 weeks without doing laundry (I save it and bring it home ;), a healthy body, food to eat...the list only goes on and on and on and on....you get my idea. Just think, if every single person in the world decided to be happy one day, amazing things could happen. Service would sky-rocket, suicide levels would plumet, people wouldn't feel the need to go out and buy extravagant Christmas gifts to give temporal joy to others...just a thought. :) I am not saying that gifts are bad, but as we near the day that we celebrate our brother Christ's birth, let's remember to be happy for one day for him. Let's be happy and remember that many don't have what we do and to show thanks for it. Christ exemplified his life through service. Let's do the same! Let's pay it forward a little and make the world a little brighter and better in the next few days.

Smiles for miles!!

I had a really super duper awesome day today....and it got me thinking. I started thinking, "What if every single person in the entire world smiled at just ONE stranger, or even a friend, EVERY day?" With 6,973,738,433 people in the world currently, think of how many smiles could be passed around!!! I know from personal experience that when I am having an icky day, a stranger's smile brightens it just a little. Let's all make an effort today to make sure that there are smiles for MILES and MILES!!!! :)

Innocent blue eyes. :)

Occasionally, I write because I must...because the words just want to jump out of my buzzing head and onto a blank page. Today is one of those days. Earlier, as I was lying on the bed with my cello at my feet and my darling, 1-year-old sister in my arms. I looked into her big blue eyes, and it was as if time just stopped and was hanging there, suspended, waiting for me to grasp it once again. I realized that she would only be this age once. Tomorrow, she would be older, different, and once again, only that new age for a moment. This sparked me to think about all of the things that I do not look upon with adequate appreciation, and I came up with a few: a knowing look between two friends, an off-handed joke, October skies, warm laundry, time spent with someone I love, trials, my belief in God, the meaning behind every holiday, sticky notes on my laptop from friends, compliments, the first signs of winter, a healthy body...the list only goes on. 11:33 was the perfect time for me to realize tonight that my life is simply splendid. I have an amazing, supportive family, friends that I don't deserve, and an entire future calling to me. 

I know the heart of life is good. :)

I had kind of a rough day today, as everyone does every once in a while. :) I am a music major, and so I have the biased opinion that music can cure most things. I went in my room and just turned on one of my pandora stations. A song by John Mayer called The Heart of Life came on. One line really stuck out to me. I know the heart of life is good. How true it is. How beautifully it boosted my emotional state. Life is hard. Everyone says it, and everyone has a different definition of and relationship with the word 'hard'. There is one thing we can all be sure of...the heart of life is good. :) The bad days will no doubt be there, but the good ones are truly the heart of life. If we just take the time to look up and feel the sun shining on our faces, feel God's love raining down on us from above, we will feel that heart beating, keeping our lives alive and going. Life is so bittersweet. Just remember that sweet comes along with the bitter, though. Good times are coming. They are coming for YOU. I know they aren't visible yet, but they are there. I promise. Love life. Don't let it bog you down. Let it ONLY build you up!!!!!