...Their small influences...
...Have made all the difference...
Sunday, March 18, 2012
The Avalanche of Self-Motivation
Today in Sunday School, my teacher asked what motivated us to change and to commit to a standard of righteous living. Wow. That sent my brain whirling! All the virtuous actions I experienced in the last 24 hours swarmed into my mind and surprised me to realize that they were all self-motivated, or based on the desire to earn my Father in Heaven and my Brother Jesus' approval. Of course I was not always so good. I think of the differences between Megan, the bratty does-whatever-she-wants-when-she-wants-because-she-wants 12 year-old, and the Megan I am now and wonder what changed my course in the middle. I have an idea which (although this is unbelievably nerdy of me) came from a Lord of the Rings line. In The Two Towers, Gandalf compares Merry and Pippin's arrival in Fangorn Forest to "the falling of small stones that start some avalanche in the mountains." Well, my avalanche of self-movitation definitely would not have commenced without a few small stones falling first. My seminary teachers, Young Women's leaders, and EFY counselors are some. I could never adequately express in this restrictive language the impact they had-- and have-- on my ability to independantly learn and grow from the Spirit. As much as I adore words, language is a barrier to the soul's emotions (at least as far as my knowledge of language extends), and I can find no better way to communicate mine than with that quirky avalanche analogy.
Friday, March 16, 2012
The Mystery of The "Y"
Well, I am officially a Cougar! Whoot! Three cheers for Brigham Young University!
College is pretty exciting and I cannot wait to leave home and and start grasping at the straws of my higher education, but of course I am a little frightened. I like to think of myself as an independent person, though, I realize that a great deal of my current "independence" is dependant upon my parents: my room, my car, my phone, the money with which I purchased everything that is "mine," etc. I am not under the impression that any of that will change at college. My education, food, and boarding will still be paid for out of my parents' pockets, but there is a great deal more liberty accompanying college life. I will have no one to answer to but myself-- I do not have to check in when I get home, let anyone know where I am going or how late I will be gone; I chose when to study or to study at all, when I go to class or to go to class at all.... As much as I am sure to enjoy that freedom, I do not completely trust myself. The inherent and ever-present human condition yanks and pulls at my grasp on independant happiness. I fear succumig to procrastination, idleness, and all other poisonous, unshakable habits fetered to mankind which lead to dissapointment, regret, and failure. I have confidence enough to know that I will not totally fail in college, but past experience causes me to suspect that I may fail to meet my own perfectly realistic and atainable expectations...yet hope remains. My worries and my doubts may be slightly over-exageratted considering the encouraging learning environment that calls BYU home. Though only ever setting foot on campus a couple of times, it is apparant that I could not have dreamed of a better, more supportive and fail-safe atmosphere.
When I went to long in to byu.edu, I saw a link for a video discussing the history of the Y. My mother always wondered why only the Y out of BYU is on the mountain in the valley. The answer: exhaustion. The class of 1907 wanted to be remembered on campus, so they put '07 on the mountain. Well, the class of 1908 did not like that, so they changed it to '08. Fist fights broke out between the two classes which forced the president into action. He decided that one symbol would go on the mountain to represent all ulumni: the letters BYU. Hundreds of student swarmed in to help heave buckets of lime or sand stone up the mountain. It took longer than they thought to shape the over 300 yard "Y" and many volunteers had fainted from over exertion, so naturally, they abandoned the other two letters and left the "Y" standing. That, my friends, is the mystery of the "Y."
College is pretty exciting and I cannot wait to leave home and and start grasping at the straws of my higher education, but of course I am a little frightened. I like to think of myself as an independent person, though, I realize that a great deal of my current "independence" is dependant upon my parents: my room, my car, my phone, the money with which I purchased everything that is "mine," etc. I am not under the impression that any of that will change at college. My education, food, and boarding will still be paid for out of my parents' pockets, but there is a great deal more liberty accompanying college life. I will have no one to answer to but myself-- I do not have to check in when I get home, let anyone know where I am going or how late I will be gone; I chose when to study or to study at all, when I go to class or to go to class at all.... As much as I am sure to enjoy that freedom, I do not completely trust myself. The inherent and ever-present human condition yanks and pulls at my grasp on independant happiness. I fear succumig to procrastination, idleness, and all other poisonous, unshakable habits fetered to mankind which lead to dissapointment, regret, and failure. I have confidence enough to know that I will not totally fail in college, but past experience causes me to suspect that I may fail to meet my own perfectly realistic and atainable expectations...yet hope remains. My worries and my doubts may be slightly over-exageratted considering the encouraging learning environment that calls BYU home. Though only ever setting foot on campus a couple of times, it is apparant that I could not have dreamed of a better, more supportive and fail-safe atmosphere.
When I went to long in to byu.edu, I saw a link for a video discussing the history of the Y. My mother always wondered why only the Y out of BYU is on the mountain in the valley. The answer: exhaustion. The class of 1907 wanted to be remembered on campus, so they put '07 on the mountain. Well, the class of 1908 did not like that, so they changed it to '08. Fist fights broke out between the two classes which forced the president into action. He decided that one symbol would go on the mountain to represent all ulumni: the letters BYU. Hundreds of student swarmed in to help heave buckets of lime or sand stone up the mountain. It took longer than they thought to shape the over 300 yard "Y" and many volunteers had fainted from over exertion, so naturally, they abandoned the other two letters and left the "Y" standing. That, my friends, is the mystery of the "Y."
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