Rebuttal on lessons learned

A friend of mine sent an email to me the other day. In his email he related some of the lessons that he has learned in the last few years. I believe them to be noteworthy. Below in quotations and in italics are his lessons. Below each quotation are my own personal rebuttals, my take on the sentiments, my amendments, and my general opinions.

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“-I've learned to trust in the Lord and not in people that I'm not sealed to.”

The only truly trustworthy person is the Lord. Everyone else is human and as such can succumb to human nature. Everyone can disappoint you, but that does not mean that no one is untrustworthy. Believe in peoples virtues; use your head, heart, and spirit to discern what you can trust people with. I believe that people grow from being trusted. Whether little (someone saving your place in line) or big (a duty e.g. the president of a company trusting that those he delegates to will fulfill their responsibilities), a trust given to one by another can help an individual grow and become more trustworthy; this I have learned from experience. Even if that person dishonors the trust bequeathed to them they can grow from the consequences. Yes people have to earn trust, but why deny them the chance to enhance their ability to do so.

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“-God has a plan and when we actively work against it, bad things naturally happen.”

Unpleasant happenings in life are like road sign that divert paths from worse happenings. This however does not mean that our intended road isn’t filled with pot holes and construction. Bad things sometimes happen to good people, but those things (pot holes and construction) are to test our suspension.

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“-Lives change when I act and speak with the Spirit.”

Agreed. There are only two forces in the world, the “sword” and the spirit. In the long run the “sword” will always be conquered by the spirit. The spirit is a much greater tool, weapon, device, or speech than any mortal method. Speaking with the spirit can change lives when “swords” temporarily persuade, force, and/or damage.

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“-While believing in a single soul-mate makes life a lot more exciting, it's not how God designed us. The concept of soul-mates (plural) is almost as exciting.”

I don’t much like the word soul-mate. If the common definition that a soul-mate is somebody with whom one has a feeling of deep and natural affinity, love, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality, and/OR compatibility, then I have reason to assume that a soul mate is not just a significant other, but anyone who you have “affinity, love, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality and/or compatibility with” (hopefully the sexuality part is missing out of most of these relationships). I believe that soul-mates are people who have, who are, or who will touch your soul. I think that a soul-mate is someone who brings out the best in you. They are not perfect (because of humanity again) but are always perfect for you (short term or long term). I believe that this includes family and friends. Also I consider people who cross our paths for even a moment can be a soul-mate, if said crossing touches one of the party on a spiritual level.

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“-I must genuinely love myself before I expect others to love me."

There is a quote by C.S. Lewis that I am fond of. He said “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” I’m not sure if this is congruent with the lesson, but it is what came to mind when I read it. Moral is: Use your heart.

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“-Jealousy is a good gauge of self-worth.”

I’m not sure what was meant by this. I do know that I have had to learn more control over my jealousies. I used to think that it meant I had something to fight for and therefore not all bad. After all being protective is a virtue. However when not controlled it brings envy, resentment, suspicion, distrust, and covetousness. Also when it is felt by others concerning me I feel un-trusted, demeaned, degraded, debased, humiliated, disgraced, and shamed. Any one of these all can push me to reevaluate myself and my actions, which can be good. However when the jealousy is unfounded I feel betrayed and infuriated I then find myself pushing away.

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“-Love can't be manipulated or forced.”

I believe that it can be manipulated. Working with young pregnant women in dreadful and unhealthy relationships has proven to me that it can defiantly be manipulated. Genuine and honest love should not be.

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“-The Priesthood can't be manipulated or forced.”

Completely agree.

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“-My own ideas and beliefs, while thought to be wrong by many, are able to be reconciled with my religion and in no way violate it.”

I believe that each person learns and understands in different ways. For example I think that there is a lot of truth and light in most religions and that the ways in which they choose to worship reflects their ideas and their understanding of the truth. Take chakras. Chakras and energy paths are a widely used expression of how the spirit can affect the body. I know quite a few members who use the idea of chakras and energy. They take pieces of the concept and use it to further their understanding of the gospel. I have listened to their elucidations and can in no way find infringement to gospel principles. It’s like visual people vs. auditory people. Reiki is another example of this. Visualizing your connection to heaven makes it more tangible for some. There are so many pieces of the truth out there that can further comprehension. However these always need to be approached from a spiritual standpoint and must acquiesce to the gospel and the spirit.

Check out my domesticity!

That’s right I have become a real Martha Stewart… without all of the unpleasant prison-ness.

First up

The wall hanging 

These are hydrangeas that I arranged into a heart form that I carved myself.

I should have taken a picture of the form because it was in itself a work of beauty.

Next up

the Mobile / Galand thingy

If you can’t tell I got all crafty the other day. This is my heart mobile. It looks cuter in person.

Anyways ... That's all for now.

Promised Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised...I know, i know, Christmas was awhile ago. Better late than never right?

I know that normal people paste pictures of their children  all over their blogs....

I however paste Aussie all over.

Here is Aussie Christmas morning...I know that I mentiond before, but over Christmas we found out that Aussie is incredibly adapt at opening presents

She is really good at it

impressive I know

NO PRESANTS WERE INJURED IN THE MAKING OF THESE PICTURES

Here is Aussie and her Christmas treasures.

She loved this bone. You could tell by the way she eventually destroyed it

This is Christmas afternoon. My Gubby asked me to "Sing him a tune" so I did

I sang Ghost Riders...He liked it...You could tell by the way he fell asleep.

Here is my mother with Axel my nephew at his baby blessing

Cute baby boy

Grandpa with his grandkids

Four generations! Impressive

Shocking Events -day two- The snow plow and the dead dog

Sunday morning was a little better for Aussie. The new snow excited her enough to venture somewhat into the yard. That made me feel better about the day before, that is until she snuck past Adam and through the gate. I was shoveling the driveway and all I saw was a flash of fur run past me, and heard Adam yelling for her to heel. She slowed at the end of the grass to bark at the snow plow, but then decided to take the plow on. She ran right into the middle of the street. She must have been shocked by her collar because she stopped to turn back, just in time to be hit by the plow.


I know what you’re thinking, because I thought the same thing as I dropped the shovel and ran towards the street. She’s dead. If not dead badly injured. I had watched the edge of the plow hit her square in her side bending her in half. I doubt the driver even saw her.

Luckily it was a plow. I know that sound silly. Plows are enormous moving objects with sharp menacing spades protruding out the front, but it was the sharp menacing spades that saved her. Instead of being flattened like any other vehicle would have done to her the plow sort of shoveled her out to the side with the rest of the snow. Aussie got up (a little dazed) and ran back to the yard and right to Adam and me. We checked her to make sure she wasn’t hurt. She looked scared and confused but she was fine. I on the other hand had the shakes all through church.

I know it sound callous, but I hope that plow hurt her a little bit. I hope that this near death experience scared her enough that she’ll think twice before running out in the street and/ or try to take on an object 20 times her size.

Our weekend. Full of shocking events and lessons learned…hopefully.

Shocking Events -day one- The Fence

I’m sure from my prior post about Aussie (the master escapist) that we are all aware of our dog problems. Aussie has spent the last few weeks in the grandparent’s yard because of it. She has enjoyed her time there. She loved digging holes, barking, playing hide and seek with cats, figuring out ways to get her friends to come over and play, grandma’s spoilings, and of course being with grandpa in the castle and learning how to sneak pieces of wood, make beds out of saw dust, and how to chew gum.


However this last Friday Aussie, in all her smartness and mischievousness, figured out Scott and Mary’s fence. I’m not positive on the “how” particulars, but I do know the outcome. Aussie gained full access to the neighbor’s yard. This also means that the neighbor’s two dogs had free range on Scott and Mary’s yard as well. Scott wasn’t terribly happy when he got home, though he couldn’t help but say that it was a pretty funny site. You’ll have to ask Scott about the full details, but I will say that Aussie is pretty good at the one paw take town.

Anyway this event expedited Adam’s and my efforts to install an invisible fence in our yard. For those who don’t know, an invisible fence is basically a wireless router that is linked to a “shock box”, attached to a collar that is placed on any given mutt. This “shock box”, when out of range of the router, emits a warning beep to alert the dog that they are entering a restricted area. A few seconds after the beep the collar will discharge a light static shock. The shock isn’t supposed to hurt the dog; it is only meant to be really uncomfortable.

So we put the fence up on Saturday afternoon, which included placing flags up around the parameter so Aussie can visually recognize it. We also carried out the recommended training. Aussie got the point pretty quickly. We did end up having to increase the settings on her collar because she didn’t seemed bothered by the first, second, or third setting (in all there are 6 levels of “shock intensity” ). After trying a few times she knew to retreat when she heard the warning beep. After we were satisfied we released her into the year. Adam stayed out to shovel and watch her.

As a side note the perimeter of the wireless fence is circular and does not include our entire yard, otherwise she would still be able to jump the fence. The back 3 yards and corners or the yard are out of bounds, including the back of the shed. As she was exploring her new borders she ventured behind said shed and heard the beeping. Adam said you could see her panic and as she tried to run back into the safe zone, she went the wrong way however. I heard the yelping from inside and looked out the window in time to see her running towards her dog house. She hid in there for awhile before we could persuade her out. She was pretty docile after that. I think that we traumatized our dog. We couldn’t even get her off the back patio. We even tried leaving a trail of bone bits that led into the middle of the yard. I felt so bad.