Two or three weeks ago, Mr. Snicklebutt asked me if I thought I was living a Celestial Life.
I still don't know what to think. My immediate answer was... "No." I mean, really. What does it mean to live a Celestial Life? Am I perfect when it comes to reading the scriptures? No. Do I write in my Journal every day? No. Do I have food storage? Yes. Do I go to church on a regular basis? Yes. Am I a basically good person? Only when I'm alone or with someone; and then only on days that end with "Y"... Do I keep the commandments? Yes.
So why would I have difficulty answering "yes" to the question of "Do you think you're living a Celestial Life?" when I am following the most basic of the basics to a near perfect "t"? Let me explain. First off - the term "Celestial" conjures up in my mind visions of perfection. I'm so far away from perfection, that I often feel that I most certainly will NOT catch up. Therefore, from that angle, I am NOT living a Celestial life.
If I look at a Celestial Life as one in which I would open my doors freely to Christ or Heavenly Father and allow them total access to my home and my life - I think I'd still have to say no. I'm not the greatest housekeeper, and I'd be mortified if they saw the true nature of the Craft Room and all her dirtiness. If I can look past that and look only to the good things in my life, then I do feel that I'm living a celestial life. For the most part.
Makes you think though - doesn't it?!
Showing posts with label Sunday Spiritual Thought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunday Spiritual Thought. Show all posts
02 November 2008
28 September 2008
Who am I?????
What do you mean, WHO AM I???
Well, here it is - Sunday... again. And weeks have flown by since I last posted - mostly because I let life get in the way of life, and needed to take a rejuvenation break. But that's another post for another day... look for "When Life Takes Over" coming soon.
Two weeks ago, I was talking to Mr. Snicklebutt on the telephone, and he mentioned that a friend of ours who lives in Florida commented on our personal blog spot. His actual comment wasn't posted, but it was something along the lines of this: "Your wife needs to put more pictures of herself on the blog for people who don't know who she is." I laughed. Seriously. I am forever the photographer, and, as happens, never the photograph-ed. Not that I don't LIKE having my photo taken, I just find that I look extremely dorky if I hold the camera out in front of myself to take the picture. So I don't do it.
His comment, however, has made me think. Who AM I? Really. Do I know who I am? I've been thinking about it for the past week or so. What defines ME? What makes me, the person that I am today? Is it my childhood? Is it the experiences that I had as a missionary in Ukraine? Is it the fact that I am a wife and a mother? What makes me, well, ME? So I've been on a mental quest to define myself.
I was born in Alaska. I am the second oldest of seven children (5 girls, two boys). I play the violin. I love crayons. I considered myself to be a fairly decent student (terrible study habits, but a decent student nonetheless). I served a 19 month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Ukraine. I am a mother. I love KFC chicken. I like my eggs fresh, and fried over easy (unless I'm in a restaurant, then I ask for them to be fried over medium - that way they always turn out right, instead of just the wrong side of sunny side up; although I did go through that phase too...). I like living on a farm. I LOVE canning and preserving food. I am a master fudgeologist. I love making jam. I like hiking. I love making friends - even though it's not always easy for me. My favorite television shows are MONK and PSYCH - they just make me laugh. I collect miniature oil lamps. I love cooking on a wood stove. My ideal house is the one that I live in, and I hope NEVER to move. I love working with the Young Women of the church. I like to read. I enjoy scrapbooking, but more than that I just love getting together with friends for a great gab fest - even if I don't get anything accomplished, it's relaxing enough for me to just hang out with great women. I love learning. I love photography. My favorite food is Russian. I love my kids. My biggest pet peeve ever is people who come for dinner and graze before the rest of us have a chance to get to the table; it makes me feel as if they aren't really going to sit and enjoy the dinner with the rest of us - or as if they feel that they can take over a carefully planned meal and stuff themselves before the rest of us can try it. I love cooking.
And I could go on for hours with what I love and what really bugs me. My question, however, is this: "Do all the things that I like (or love) really define me? Are there other inner things that define to other people who I am?" My answer is a resounding YES! Above and beyond the fact that I am a daughter to two very wonderful people and a loving wife to a magnificient husband, I know beyond anything else who I really am, and it has very little to do with my likes and dislikes, my loves and my hates. More than anything else, I AM A DAUGHTER OF A HEAVENLY FATHER! He loves me. He wants me to succeed. He wants me to develop divine qualities that will help me to be like him. All of my likes and loves and dislikes and hates are qualities that I have that HELP to define me, but they are not me. They are a PART of me, but they are not me.
It's taken the last few years of my life for me to truly understand who I am. I was raised with the song, I Am a Child of God - and by two parents who taught me that I could do anything I set my mind to doing. It took, however, some difficult trials and some extreme heartache and pain before I truly understood what I had known all my life. I am a DAUGHTER; a CHILD of GOD! How wonderful is that??? During the most trying trial of my life, my Mother had the wisdom and the foresight to ask me, "What are you going to do now?" And without missing a beat, or truly understanding what I was saying, I said to her, "I don't know. Before I do ANYTHING, I have to find out who I am again. I have to take some time to just be me." And so I did. But I am just now understanding that what I REALLY did was to define qualities that help me to be happy and to be me.
Who we are is determined by our eternal potential and what we are aspiring to become - Gods and Godesses. I am especially grateful for the difficult times and trials and blessings and, dare I say it without being cheesy - PEOPLE who have helped to shape me into the woman that I am today. It is through all of those experiences that I have come to understand who I am. What I like and what I do is my role. I hope to play it with the same grace that I see other women of stature playing. And, one day, I hope that I can SEE in myself the woman that I know I am.
So, who am I? I am Mdme. Sloopy Snicklebutt. Daughter of a Heavenly King. What else is there???
Well, here it is - Sunday... again. And weeks have flown by since I last posted - mostly because I let life get in the way of life, and needed to take a rejuvenation break. But that's another post for another day... look for "When Life Takes Over" coming soon.
Two weeks ago, I was talking to Mr. Snicklebutt on the telephone, and he mentioned that a friend of ours who lives in Florida commented on our personal blog spot. His actual comment wasn't posted, but it was something along the lines of this: "Your wife needs to put more pictures of herself on the blog for people who don't know who she is." I laughed. Seriously. I am forever the photographer, and, as happens, never the photograph-ed. Not that I don't LIKE having my photo taken, I just find that I look extremely dorky if I hold the camera out in front of myself to take the picture. So I don't do it.
His comment, however, has made me think. Who AM I? Really. Do I know who I am? I've been thinking about it for the past week or so. What defines ME? What makes me, the person that I am today? Is it my childhood? Is it the experiences that I had as a missionary in Ukraine? Is it the fact that I am a wife and a mother? What makes me, well, ME? So I've been on a mental quest to define myself.
I was born in Alaska. I am the second oldest of seven children (5 girls, two boys). I play the violin. I love crayons. I considered myself to be a fairly decent student (terrible study habits, but a decent student nonetheless). I served a 19 month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Ukraine. I am a mother. I love KFC chicken. I like my eggs fresh, and fried over easy (unless I'm in a restaurant, then I ask for them to be fried over medium - that way they always turn out right, instead of just the wrong side of sunny side up; although I did go through that phase too...). I like living on a farm. I LOVE canning and preserving food. I am a master fudgeologist. I love making jam. I like hiking. I love making friends - even though it's not always easy for me. My favorite television shows are MONK and PSYCH - they just make me laugh. I collect miniature oil lamps. I love cooking on a wood stove. My ideal house is the one that I live in, and I hope NEVER to move. I love working with the Young Women of the church. I like to read. I enjoy scrapbooking, but more than that I just love getting together with friends for a great gab fest - even if I don't get anything accomplished, it's relaxing enough for me to just hang out with great women. I love learning. I love photography. My favorite food is Russian. I love my kids. My biggest pet peeve ever is people who come for dinner and graze before the rest of us have a chance to get to the table; it makes me feel as if they aren't really going to sit and enjoy the dinner with the rest of us - or as if they feel that they can take over a carefully planned meal and stuff themselves before the rest of us can try it. I love cooking.
And I could go on for hours with what I love and what really bugs me. My question, however, is this: "Do all the things that I like (or love) really define me? Are there other inner things that define to other people who I am?" My answer is a resounding YES! Above and beyond the fact that I am a daughter to two very wonderful people and a loving wife to a magnificient husband, I know beyond anything else who I really am, and it has very little to do with my likes and dislikes, my loves and my hates. More than anything else, I AM A DAUGHTER OF A HEAVENLY FATHER! He loves me. He wants me to succeed. He wants me to develop divine qualities that will help me to be like him. All of my likes and loves and dislikes and hates are qualities that I have that HELP to define me, but they are not me. They are a PART of me, but they are not me.
It's taken the last few years of my life for me to truly understand who I am. I was raised with the song, I Am a Child of God - and by two parents who taught me that I could do anything I set my mind to doing. It took, however, some difficult trials and some extreme heartache and pain before I truly understood what I had known all my life. I am a DAUGHTER; a CHILD of GOD! How wonderful is that??? During the most trying trial of my life, my Mother had the wisdom and the foresight to ask me, "What are you going to do now?" And without missing a beat, or truly understanding what I was saying, I said to her, "I don't know. Before I do ANYTHING, I have to find out who I am again. I have to take some time to just be me." And so I did. But I am just now understanding that what I REALLY did was to define qualities that help me to be happy and to be me.
Who we are is determined by our eternal potential and what we are aspiring to become - Gods and Godesses. I am especially grateful for the difficult times and trials and blessings and, dare I say it without being cheesy - PEOPLE who have helped to shape me into the woman that I am today. It is through all of those experiences that I have come to understand who I am. What I like and what I do is my role. I hope to play it with the same grace that I see other women of stature playing. And, one day, I hope that I can SEE in myself the woman that I know I am.
So, who am I? I am Mdme. Sloopy Snicklebutt. Daughter of a Heavenly King. What else is there???
07 September 2008
Not Just a Missing Person...
Today being Sunday, I thought I'd ramble on about something a bit more on the "spiritual" side of things - something that I've had on my mind a lot lately.
The other day I saw a bumper sticker that said:
I laughed; which, I assume, was the reaction that was warranted from the sticker, but it's stuck with me for a while now.
After my initial reaction, I started thinking that there are days when I feel exactly the same way. After all, a missing person is constantly being sought after. There is a lot of attention paid to finding that person who is missing. Don't we all have days when we feel like we're that bowl of leftover, cold oatmeal waiting to be found and reheated (or thrown away - because even then someone would be paying attention to us!?). I know I certainly have had days when I wondered if there really was someone out there who knew where I was and what I was doing - and not in that creepy way that you hear about on television.
Then it hit me. I DO know who I am, where I came from, and what my purpose is here on this earth. Instead of wondering when it's my turn to be a missing person and have someone to search for - perhaps I need to find that person who feels like a missing person. I know that I have a Father in Heaven who knows me intimately. He knows who I am and what I'm doing. He knows my needs. He hears those personal, private conversations that I have with my husband - and the needs that I have and concerns that I have; He passes on some of those needs to other people who can best help me. If you REALLY think deeply about it - God is the ultimate Stalker, Eavesdropper, and Philanthropist. And NONE of that is creepy. He watches over us. He listens to us. He gives us things that we need; and if we really wanted to know, He tells us that too!
The whole point here is that none of us truly is a missing person. We may have days when we feel like we WANT to be a missing person - with someone to look for us and to try to find us. We're not, however, truly lost. We have someone who knows where we are at all times. All we have to do is to ask. And on those days when I feel like I want to be a missing person - really all I want to do is to be a runaway. Far, far away from my problems and the life I've created for myself - no matter how good I think it may be. So... instead of having a bumper sticker that reads:
Perhaps we should have bumper stickers that read:
Unfortunately for the runaway (or perhaps it's fortunate...) there will still be someone who cares about you; someone who is always searching for you; and someone who wants what's best for you. And, unfortunately for the runaway - the problems that you're running away from will still be there when you get back. Only now, you've procrastinated working through them and perhaps they're a lot larger than they were.
For me, the "problems" that I would want to run away from aren't really problems - they're blessings with a trial attached. And there are days when I've wanted to give ALL my trials back to the Lord and tell him that I am on vacation. Problem with that is this: If I give all my trials back, I also have to give back the blessings that come with the trials. The personal growth. The learning. And the chance to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! I think, in the long run, I'll take my trials any day.
And on those days when I just want to be a runaway - I've found that a long hot bath and a very heavy snowstorm in a cup are just what I need.
The other day I saw a bumper sticker that said:
"Some days all I want to be is a missing person."
I laughed; which, I assume, was the reaction that was warranted from the sticker, but it's stuck with me for a while now.
After my initial reaction, I started thinking that there are days when I feel exactly the same way. After all, a missing person is constantly being sought after. There is a lot of attention paid to finding that person who is missing. Don't we all have days when we feel like we're that bowl of leftover, cold oatmeal waiting to be found and reheated (or thrown away - because even then someone would be paying attention to us!?). I know I certainly have had days when I wondered if there really was someone out there who knew where I was and what I was doing - and not in that creepy way that you hear about on television.
Then it hit me. I DO know who I am, where I came from, and what my purpose is here on this earth. Instead of wondering when it's my turn to be a missing person and have someone to search for - perhaps I need to find that person who feels like a missing person. I know that I have a Father in Heaven who knows me intimately. He knows who I am and what I'm doing. He knows my needs. He hears those personal, private conversations that I have with my husband - and the needs that I have and concerns that I have; He passes on some of those needs to other people who can best help me. If you REALLY think deeply about it - God is the ultimate Stalker, Eavesdropper, and Philanthropist. And NONE of that is creepy. He watches over us. He listens to us. He gives us things that we need; and if we really wanted to know, He tells us that too!
The whole point here is that none of us truly is a missing person. We may have days when we feel like we WANT to be a missing person - with someone to look for us and to try to find us. We're not, however, truly lost. We have someone who knows where we are at all times. All we have to do is to ask. And on those days when I feel like I want to be a missing person - really all I want to do is to be a runaway. Far, far away from my problems and the life I've created for myself - no matter how good I think it may be. So... instead of having a bumper sticker that reads:
"Some days all I want to be is a missing person..."
Perhaps we should have bumper stickers that read:
"Some days I just want to be a runaway..."
Unfortunately for the runaway (or perhaps it's fortunate...) there will still be someone who cares about you; someone who is always searching for you; and someone who wants what's best for you. And, unfortunately for the runaway - the problems that you're running away from will still be there when you get back. Only now, you've procrastinated working through them and perhaps they're a lot larger than they were.
For me, the "problems" that I would want to run away from aren't really problems - they're blessings with a trial attached. And there are days when I've wanted to give ALL my trials back to the Lord and tell him that I am on vacation. Problem with that is this: If I give all my trials back, I also have to give back the blessings that come with the trials. The personal growth. The learning. And the chance to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! I think, in the long run, I'll take my trials any day.
And on those days when I just want to be a runaway - I've found that a long hot bath and a very heavy snowstorm in a cup are just what I need.
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