Challenge: To seek your personal divine destiny.
Promise: A feeling of purpose, and assurance, and worth.
In this chapter Dunn encourages you to seek out your divine purpose and part in God's plan. He recommends beginning with your Patriarchal Blessing. For those of you who do not know, a Patriarchal Blessing is a special blessing given through the Spirit and power of God and righteous man worthy to hold and exercise that power (or the Priesthood*). It is a message from a loving Heavenly Father to counsel, guide, and aid the recipient through his/her life. It is a special and wonderful gift from God to help us through the trials in life so we can return to live with Him. Those who have received their Patriarchal Blessings may find it helpful this week, but it is not necessary to complete the challenge.
Dunn suggests much prayer and study (of the scriptures, your life, and yourself) so that God may reveal your divine destiny gradually. "Line upon line...precept upon precept," (Isaiah 28:13) Dunn points out that even Jesus learned gradually and patiently. Patience will be the most challenging aspect of this week's challenge. Diligence and hard work are much easier to bear than waiting and learning slowly; therefore trust and faith are crucial. "Have the faith to let it come at the rate that the Lord wants it to come, for He knows the best time. But be persistent...the important thing is not that you know fully and precisely...but rather that you are seeking to know it," (Dunn).
Dunn promises that a knowledge you divine nature and destiny produce "an increased resistance to the feelings of gloom....and an appreciation for the part every man can play in [God's] plan." So be on the look out for joy and an increased appreciation of others as children of God (and I might also add a confidence boost). Good luck! If you feel like it let me know how it goes by commenting on this post.
*Better explained here: http://mormon.org/faq/topic/priesthood/question/purpose-of-priesthood
My Challenge to You: Make a list of at least 10 things you are good at, thank Heavenly Father, and then find ways to use some of them to help others.
This week's experience: Dunn wrote that "all men come to earth with specific missions to perform." I do not know what my specific mission is but I do know that "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them," (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 3:7). So whatever mission is mine I have been or will be prepared to accomplish it. Which means that every physical and spiritual affliction I endured was to help prepare me, shape me, mold me, so that I can be used the way Heavenly Father has designed. "If thou are called to pass through tribulation, it shall be for thy good," (Doctrine & Covenants[explained last post] 58:5-8). I am blessed with talents to bless others and be an instrument in the Lord's hands-- talents I don't even recognize as talents. After reflecting on my talents, I am overwhelmed at the number. I play piano and sing but I also have a friendly smile and give good hugs. They may not seem like talents but I can serve others through these blessings. "Neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it many not be know," (Doctrine & Covenants 60:13, Parable of the Talents Mathew 25). We all have talents given to us from God. How divine and special is that?!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Challenge Accepted
In a moment of spiritual curiousity I pulled a book from my shelf that I have been itching to read for ages: "I Challenge You...I Promise You..." by Paul H. Dunn or "I Promise You...I Chanllenge You..." by Paul H. Dunn. As a little girl I was fascinated with reversable clothing. My reversable jacket was magical; there was no wrong way to wear it because both sides were pretty and Mom would let me walk out the door with it on either way. This book is similar to my magical jacket. It does not matter which end of the book I begin to read-- the message is the same from either end. Dunn interviewed a group of young couples about their formative years and mapped out a series of accompanying challenges and promises for youth in the church. Whether a challenge or promise is written on a page I can access the other simply by flipping the page upside-down.
In the introduction, Dunn encourages the reader to veiw this book as "a process wherein you think more than you read." Therefore, I decided to record my thoughts and experiences as I read, starting with the introductory chapter: "I Challenge You to Prove the Lord."
Also in the introduction, Dunn suggests that the reader "read a line, then look up and think a page," so after reading the title of the chapter I looked up and immediately thought of my Especially For Youth company from 2011. We were called Prove Me Now. The title originates from Malachi 3: 10 (thank goodness for scripture mastery otherwise I would not have remembered that :D). The Lord challenges: "prove me now herewith...if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to recieve it." I know this was said in reference to tithing and not this book, but the idea applies to everything. Countless times in church I have been told: "The Lord wants to bless you." I can just picture a room in heaven, stocked full of bleassings of every kind fastened with a door that is bulging so it does not look like it will hold another second, with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ standing by waiting to pronounce all those blssings upon the faithful of the world. (So it is not a page but one line produced a lot of thought!) Dunn continues, "He has invited us to prove Him by accepting the challenges and expecting the promises. The connection between the two are of His design; and you can know that for yourself if you will engage in the proving process." This last sentence brought to mind another scritpure mastery, Doctrine and Covenants 58: 27 (for those of you who do not know, the Doctrine and Covenants is a record of Jesus' relationship with the memebers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the 1800s-- their struggles, faith, dilligence, and blessings. A lot like the bible but a different time in history.) The verse reads: "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness." This book-- the improving of my relationship with Christ-- is definitely a good cause, I accept these challenges of my own free will, and I hope to "bring to pass much righteousness."
Challenge: Prove the Lord by accepting the challenges in this book and expecting the promises.
Promise: The rewards in this book will be yours.
Dunn guarantees "that the number of promises you recieve will be the number of challenges you accept." As long as I "accept the challenges and expect the promises" there is no way to fail. Now that is an encouraging thought. :D
Dunn further challenges in the introduction: "Read a chapter and live it for a week; then read another chapter." That means this is a 20 week book; this is a 20 week proccess; this is a 20 week opportuinty to "prove the Lord;" this is a 20 week challenge....Challenge accepted.
I invinte any and every one who wishes to take the challenge with me to do so. On the Sunday of each week I will post the challenge, promise, and my thoughts. I will continue to update the post throughout the week as I see the promise unfold in my life. Should you desire to participate with me, accept the challenge and share your own ideas and experiences by commenting on the week's post.
You do not have to be a member of my church or any church. You do not even have to beleive in God. "It does not matter, He believes in you," (The Count of Monte Cristo, movie).
Though I have never read this book or met Paul Dunn, I know Jesus Christ and that He is honest. I add my guaranty to Dunn's. Accept these challenges, and you will see the promises unfold.
Please join me, even if you do not comment on anything. This is a personal process and if you do not want to share that is ok, I love you and thank you for accepting the challenge.
The first challenge will be issued on July 22.
The 20 challenge will conclude on December 8.
Please join me! :D
If you want to purchase the book I believe it is available online.
In the introduction, Dunn encourages the reader to veiw this book as "a process wherein you think more than you read." Therefore, I decided to record my thoughts and experiences as I read, starting with the introductory chapter: "I Challenge You to Prove the Lord."
Also in the introduction, Dunn suggests that the reader "read a line, then look up and think a page," so after reading the title of the chapter I looked up and immediately thought of my Especially For Youth company from 2011. We were called Prove Me Now. The title originates from Malachi 3: 10 (thank goodness for scripture mastery otherwise I would not have remembered that :D). The Lord challenges: "prove me now herewith...if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to recieve it." I know this was said in reference to tithing and not this book, but the idea applies to everything. Countless times in church I have been told: "The Lord wants to bless you." I can just picture a room in heaven, stocked full of bleassings of every kind fastened with a door that is bulging so it does not look like it will hold another second, with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ standing by waiting to pronounce all those blssings upon the faithful of the world. (So it is not a page but one line produced a lot of thought!) Dunn continues, "He has invited us to prove Him by accepting the challenges and expecting the promises. The connection between the two are of His design; and you can know that for yourself if you will engage in the proving process." This last sentence brought to mind another scritpure mastery, Doctrine and Covenants 58: 27 (for those of you who do not know, the Doctrine and Covenants is a record of Jesus' relationship with the memebers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the 1800s-- their struggles, faith, dilligence, and blessings. A lot like the bible but a different time in history.) The verse reads: "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness." This book-- the improving of my relationship with Christ-- is definitely a good cause, I accept these challenges of my own free will, and I hope to "bring to pass much righteousness."
Challenge: Prove the Lord by accepting the challenges in this book and expecting the promises.
Promise: The rewards in this book will be yours.
Dunn guarantees "that the number of promises you recieve will be the number of challenges you accept." As long as I "accept the challenges and expect the promises" there is no way to fail. Now that is an encouraging thought. :D
Dunn further challenges in the introduction: "Read a chapter and live it for a week; then read another chapter." That means this is a 20 week book; this is a 20 week proccess; this is a 20 week opportuinty to "prove the Lord;" this is a 20 week challenge....Challenge accepted.
I invinte any and every one who wishes to take the challenge with me to do so. On the Sunday of each week I will post the challenge, promise, and my thoughts. I will continue to update the post throughout the week as I see the promise unfold in my life. Should you desire to participate with me, accept the challenge and share your own ideas and experiences by commenting on the week's post.
You do not have to be a member of my church or any church. You do not even have to beleive in God. "It does not matter, He believes in you," (The Count of Monte Cristo, movie).
Though I have never read this book or met Paul Dunn, I know Jesus Christ and that He is honest. I add my guaranty to Dunn's. Accept these challenges, and you will see the promises unfold.
Please join me, even if you do not comment on anything. This is a personal process and if you do not want to share that is ok, I love you and thank you for accepting the challenge.
The first challenge will be issued on July 22.
The 20 challenge will conclude on December 8.
Please join me! :D
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.
...Their small influences...
...Have made all the difference...
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."
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Turning A Blind Eye
One of Satan's most convincing and common-place lies is "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Confucious corrected this perfectly when he said, "everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." Because not everyone sees beauty in everything, people have not diagnosed their own blindess. Instead, the world decided that beauty is percieved differently through each pair of eyes. It assigned fault and inconsistancy to beauty and not to humanity where it belongs. Beauty is unchanging and ever present; humanity is ignorant and capricious. This flaw is most apparent in the treatment of others. By averting man's eyes from inner beauty, Satan has encouraged and instigated un-Christ like behavior. I had a friend in first grade, Kelly, whom the other kids had cast off because they thought she was fat and ugly. They failed to penetrate Satan's dark mist and understand that beauty is so much more than what their eyes see. Kelly was the sweetest, most faithful friend of mine at the time. Her inner beauty out shone all of the prepy girls' perfect facades. More that this, I know that God created everything in this universe and beyond-- God does not make ugly things.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
An Inherent Gift
I watch cop shows. I do not know why but I love them; maybe it's the mystery or the suspense, I am not sure but I love them, and so does my family. We can always sit around on a Saturday afternoon and watch "Burn Notice" together. About 90 percent of the shows we record are cop shows, but-- as much as I am intrigued by murder mysteries-- my absolute, hands-down favorite television show is "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Though Ty Penington's boyish charm is entertaining, I adore this show because it gives me hope and evidence of the light of Christ. Watching this show makes me think of Zion: everyone pitching in their skills, time, and maybe money to help out others in the community who are in need. This is the type of program I believe Heavenly Father inspired whoever invented television to invent television for- if that makes any sense at all (not that anyone is reading this to find sense in it anyway so I guess I am just writing it to help me feel productive hah that works for me!).
Though I know that all the cop shows I watch are 100 percent fiction, fiction is always based in fact, right? Therefore those psychopaths I watch for entertainment are actually out in society threatening peaceful living- now that is a frightening thought. Watching "Extreme Makeover" reminds me that Christ does have an affect on the world: whether people are LDS or not, everyone is born with the light of Christ...and that is an encouraging thought. :)
Though I know that all the cop shows I watch are 100 percent fiction, fiction is always based in fact, right? Therefore those psychopaths I watch for entertainment are actually out in society threatening peaceful living- now that is a frightening thought. Watching "Extreme Makeover" reminds me that Christ does have an affect on the world: whether people are LDS or not, everyone is born with the light of Christ...and that is an encouraging thought. :)
Sunday, October 2, 2011
The Gift of the Lord's House
I cannot help but notice the stressed importance of Temples of late. Last month, it had been my goal in Seminary to visit the Temple-- at least the grounds. I fulfilled that goal, and a friend of mine expressed interest of coming with me next time (an experience I anticipate). But what's more, this week was "Temple Week" in Seminary. I was quite surprised and pleased when I saw the sign on the building doors last Monday, as I crossed the threshold into walls covered with pictures upon pictures of Temples from all around the world. I could not help but laugh when this sight greeted me, for the previous day I had been given a rendering of the Gilbert Temple (which is absolutely GORGEOUS!!). Additionally, Prophet Monson announced yesterday cites for new Temples, and to my glee, the reconstruction of the Provo Tabernacle into the second Provo Temple! It is such a B-E-A-UTIFUL building!! (Through fire comes rebirth) Furthermore, many talks given in the last two days' 181st General Conference have mentioned-- if not explicitly discussed-- Temples, their importance, and even our neglect. I am immeasurably grateful for the blessed gift of Temples on the earth today! Their existence warms my soul and lifts the grime of the world from my eyes to allow me to see God's grand design for all of us, and our great potential! I will never forget my first Temple visit after I got contacts a few years ago: entering the font room was breath-taking! I had never before been able to see, with more clarity than a blur of color, the murals on the walls of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery being baptized and on the other side restoring the Priesthood to the earth! I used to watch "Legacy" almost every Sunday and still adore that movie. I love watching the pains and struggles of (and feeling the pains and struggling with) the early saints of the Church. I greatly appreciate their immense efforts to establish Zion and build Temples for the benefit of their posterity and ancestors. I hope, pray, and try not to let their efforts go in vain. I will cherish and use to their fullest advantage the Temples upon this earth and the ones yet to come. They truly are the House of the Lord.
(rendering of the Gilbert, Arizona Temple)
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