I am reading in "The Greatest Thing in the World" book from my great grandfather again and thought I would share some additional insights.

I love this comparison of Paul's explanation of love with the workings of a prism:

"As you have seen a man of science take a beam of light and pass it through a crystal prism, as you have seen it come out on the other side of the prism broken up into its component colors - red, and blue, and yellow, and violet, and orange, and all the colors of the rainbow - so Paul passes this thing, Love, through the magnificent prism of his inspired intellect, and it comes out on the other side broken up into its elements."

The broken up elements being Love suffereth long, and is kind, etc. Pretty cool huh. I will share my favorite bits of soul and mind provoking elements:

"Love is patience...is passive; not in a hurry; calm; ready to do its work when the summons comes...understands, and therefore waits"

"Where Love is, God is. He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God. God is Love. Therefore love."

"Humility - to put a seal upon your lips and forget what you have done...Love even hides from itself. Love waives even self-satisfaction."

There are nine elements in all.

Three moving thoughts for your day. Love is so big and so encompassing that to understand it is understand God. I don't know if we will ever really get there in this life. It surely has levels. The deeper we go into it the closer we will feel to our Heavenly Father.

We are all wanting to feel this Love. We are all thirsting for this Love. Whether it be through our friendships, spouse, family, music, movies, books, drugs, sex, food, etc. We are wanting to feel that deep feeling of something in our soul. I find that it is not automatic or easy to achieve. It takes work and it takes knowing yourself. Each of us is unique and, I believe, feel love through different things. Love is somewhat customizable to the individual. Although there are underlying principles that apply to all. The goal for all of us is to understand how to achieve this Love for ourselves. Once this is achieved, at least to a small degree, our second goal will be how to help others experience it.

Yes Love is simple but not really. Love is a lot more than what I think it is. Probably certain elements of Love are simple but to truly understand and feel it takes a lifetime of concentration and awareness.

That is my philosophical thought of the week. Let us all Live it, Feel it, and, of course, LOVE it.

The Greatest Thing In The World

A continuation from my last blog post...I am reading this book that was gifted to my great grandfather "Bishop J. Ray Smith from Heber J. Grant". He served as bishop for 15 straight years I am told.

So this book "The Greatest Thing In The World" is half pamplet and half book. Kind of like a long talk given. The picture above is a close representation of what the book looks like. Anyway, as I was reading this one phrase really hit me:

"Then Paul contrasts it (love) with sacrifice and martyrdom...remember that though you give your bodies to be burned, and have not Love, it profits nothing --- nothing!"

I have spoken with some of you about my personal shift in the way I am approaching my relationship towards God and religion. The above statement along with a few others I have found deeply impact me. My whole life I have approached religion primarily out of duty (I say primarily because their are other reasons...fear, love, to look good, get blessings, etc.). Love is my new goal. I want love. I need love. As this shift has slowly started to take place I have noticed a significant change in my relationships. My life is more real...more me. Others feel it and I think I feel it too.

Anyway, how cool it is that today I am benefiting from a book that was given to my great grandfather nearly 80 years ago. Truth is eternal. Truth knows no time and is pertinent to all.

Jeduthan Averett - My Great, Great, Great Grandfather

I was looking at some stuff that I took when my grandmother died. It really touched me to see these photos of my ancestry and my ggg grandparents. I thought I would share a little bit about the first ancestor to be baptized in the church of Christ in 1833 in the state of Alabama. He served in the Mormon battalion. I kind of wish I named my children after some of my ancestors. Oh well, maybe I can convince my kids someday to do so.

Averett, Jeduthan, a member of the Mormon Battalion, Company D, was born June 12, 1816, in Chesterfield County, North Carolina [South Carolina]. He was baptized about the year 1833 [1843] in Alabama by James Brown and emigrated to Nauvoo, Ill., after the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, having presided over a branch of the Church in Alabama for several years [It was actually not so long as that.] Traveling westward in 1846, he enlisted in the Battalion on the Missouri River, suffered considerably with sickness on the journey, but was healed from being in an insensible condition when about four hundred miles on the way. He wintered in Pueblo, and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in July, 1847. He afterwards went back to the States, resided five years in Kanesville, Iowa, and returned to the Valley in 1852. He worked for Pres. Brigham young for six years and then moved to Springville in December, 1857. Bro. Averett was always known as a quiet but busy man. He died in St. George, Utah, Jan. 12, 1885. [Actually, he died in Springville, Utah, 2 January 1902.]

Source: Jenson, Andrew. LDS Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901. Volume 4, p. 729.

Kids...everyone should have them

Mariah's First Lost Tooth

Emerson's 1 Year Old Birthday Party

I was reading a book here in my loft, listening to music on my phone, and, in the silences of my music listening to Jannah practice her choral music. She is pretty loud and, apparently, keeping the kids up. I saw a little body moving out of the corner of my eye and it was Norah mischievously looking through the stair posts at her mom. She then saw me, took a quick step to towards her room, saw my smile, put her finger over her lips to tell me to be quiet and sneaked back to her bed (where she was supposed to be of course).

I have had a several of these moments today. Moments that have touched me and caused me to reflect. So here I am again wanting to share these things with Lindsay (my faithful blog follower :)) and the few others who will read this blog. We all went to the beach to see the sunset this evening. Kids played a bit in the water with their Sunday dresses. It was beautiful. In fact, one gentleman stood behind them and took a five minute video because it captured so much of what is wonderful about childhood. The sunset was soft, gentle, and placid.

Back to the title of this blog entry...eveyone should have kids. I have been feeling so much joy in their presence lately. I can't imagine life without them (I know...sounds generic). Each one of my four children add so much personality, flavor, and funness (yes...I mean funnes and not fulness) to my life. I love their giggles, kisses, and childisms. I am so grateful I have them. Yes, it can be hard, but I tell you what, I don't hesitate about our decision to have four. It is up there with the best decisions I have made in this life. Thank you God for encouraging me to have these great little people in my life.

Good feelings can come from Football...

I am sitting here on my couch enjoying the warm comfortable sun of the come from behind, back up quarterback, score in last seconds BYU win over Utah State. It is a good feeling. My heart is full, my stomach still has some butterflies flappin around, and endorphins are flowing. I am not going to summarize the game, for you can go to many websites for a recap of that. I just needed to share my joy with someone. I watched the game by myself (which I actually enjoy for convenience, speed, and focus). The downside of this is I don't have someone with whom I bump chests, hug, and celebrate. My emotional outlet, for the time being, is this blog.

Sports are like life. You put yourself in a situation where you will be hurt emotionally. There is no avoiding this. The more you try the harder you will fall. I have some of the sweetest and most hurtful memories when it comes to my high school athletic career. I have been responsible for team losses and wins in the closing seconds of games. Up to that point in my life the games that I lost were some of the hardest moments of my life. The games where I threw or caught the winning touchdown were similar, although more powerful, to the feelings I presently enjoy. I guess this thought stream is leading me to this thought...you won't be able to enjoy the deepest of joys in life if you don't put yourself at risk to experience the deepest of sorrows. Marriage, child rearing, and careers all follow this pattern.

Just a couple of weeks ago I thought, only for a second, maybe I should stop watching football because I don't like the way I feel right now (the raiders and BYU lost in the same weekend). This is a nice reminder of what is on the other side of the sports coin which is what is on the other side of most coins in life...excitement, happiness, adventure....the list goes on and on and on to quote Taio Cruz...throw your hands in the air :).