:)
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
A valuable lesson for us all
This wisdom was displayed on a sign above the printer at work today:
Electronics clipped to your pants are ok only if you are Batman, Superman, and or any other kind of man who needs them to SAVE LIVES, not to send email.
Electronics clipped to your pants are ok only if you are Batman, Superman, and or any other kind of man who needs them to SAVE LIVES, not to send email.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Skyping as a tool for parenting
Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet enables intimacy | Video on TED.com
Watch the video.
So, obviously (as you can tell from this and the last post), I just started exploring TED.com this evening. It is a website that collects talks and speeches from interesting thinkers all over the world. The topics are widely varied. This woman, Stefana Broadbent, explores how the Internet and texting/cell phones are merging the public sphere and private sphere. In the past, when you went to work, you had little to no contact with family and friends during the time you were at work. Now, you can be in constant contact with others through instant messaging, texting, skyping, etc. Our generation is always connected.
On the one hand, this could lead to closer relationships because we are in better contact with people more often (even people who live far away). On the other hand, this could lead to several problems. Aside from the question of decreased productivity at work, one wonders if we are becoming too connected.
After watching this video, I wonder: what does this connectivity do to individuals and our ability to be alone with ourselves?
But now it's too late for me to know what I'm trying to say. So I'll leave that question hanging for someone else to answer.
Watch the video.
So, obviously (as you can tell from this and the last post), I just started exploring TED.com this evening. It is a website that collects talks and speeches from interesting thinkers all over the world. The topics are widely varied. This woman, Stefana Broadbent, explores how the Internet and texting/cell phones are merging the public sphere and private sphere. In the past, when you went to work, you had little to no contact with family and friends during the time you were at work. Now, you can be in constant contact with others through instant messaging, texting, skyping, etc. Our generation is always connected.
On the one hand, this could lead to closer relationships because we are in better contact with people more often (even people who live far away). On the other hand, this could lead to several problems. Aside from the question of decreased productivity at work, one wonders if we are becoming too connected.
After watching this video, I wonder: what does this connectivity do to individuals and our ability to be alone with ourselves?
But now it's too late for me to know what I'm trying to say. So I'll leave that question hanging for someone else to answer.
Why you should be an idealist
Viktor Frankl: Why to believe in others | Video on TED.com
Believing in others more than they deserve makes them better than they are.
Believing in others more than they deserve makes them better than they are.
Monday, May 31, 2010
The enabling power of the Atonement
I was reading a great talk today by Elder David A. Bednar (which you can find here). The whole talk is good, but I especially loved this passage:
"Nephi is an example of one who knew and understood and relied upon the enabling power of the Savior. In 1 Nephi chapter 7 we recall that the sons of Lehi had returned to Jerusalem to enlist Ishmael and his household in their cause. Laman and others in the party traveling with Nephi from Jerusalem back to the wilderness rebelled, and Nephi exhorted his brethren to have faith in the Lord. It was at this point in their trip that Nephi's brothers bound him with cords and planned his destruction. Now please note Nephi's prayer in verse 17:
"'O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound' (emphasis added).
"Now brothers and sisters, do you know what I likely would have prayed for if I had been tied up by my brothers? My prayer would have included a request for something bad to happen to my brothers and ended with the phrase "wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren" or, in other words, "Please get me out of this mess, NOW!" It is especially interesting to me that Nephi did not pray, as I probably would have prayed, to have his circumstances changed. Rather, he prayed for the strength to change his circumstances. And may I suggest that he prayed in this manner precisely because he knew and understood and had experienced the enabling power of the atonement of the Savior.
"I personally do not believe the bands with which Nephi was bound just magically fell from his hands and wrists. Rather, I suspect he was blessed with both persistence and personal strength beyond his natural capacity, that he then "in the strength of the Lord" (Mosiah 9:17) worked and twisted and tugged on the cords and ultimately and literally was enabled to break the bands.
"Brothers and sisters, the implication of this episode for each of us is quite straightforward. As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed. We will become agents who act rather than objects that are acted upon (2 Nephi 2:14)."
I love the concept that God, instead of changing our circumstances (which He easily could do), more often gives us the strength to internally change and meet the challenges in our lives. Facing challenges allows us to develop the attributes we need to become like God and act for ourselves. If God simply removed our trials, we would not be able to become the people He wants us to become. We wouldn't become those people because, if everything were always easy and burdens were always lifted, we would have no need to display Christlike attributes like patience, temperance, and endurance. This is why prayers pleading for relief from trials sometimes go unanswered.
God wants us to develop the strength and character to overcome trials, not just the faith to pray for deliverance. This doesn't mean, however, that He leaves us to fight our way through mortality alone. Rather, He blesses us with the enabling power of Jesus Christ to give us the capacity to overcome our trials.
"Nephi is an example of one who knew and understood and relied upon the enabling power of the Savior. In 1 Nephi chapter 7 we recall that the sons of Lehi had returned to Jerusalem to enlist Ishmael and his household in their cause. Laman and others in the party traveling with Nephi from Jerusalem back to the wilderness rebelled, and Nephi exhorted his brethren to have faith in the Lord. It was at this point in their trip that Nephi's brothers bound him with cords and planned his destruction. Now please note Nephi's prayer in verse 17:
"'O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound' (emphasis added).
"Now brothers and sisters, do you know what I likely would have prayed for if I had been tied up by my brothers? My prayer would have included a request for something bad to happen to my brothers and ended with the phrase "wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren" or, in other words, "Please get me out of this mess, NOW!" It is especially interesting to me that Nephi did not pray, as I probably would have prayed, to have his circumstances changed. Rather, he prayed for the strength to change his circumstances. And may I suggest that he prayed in this manner precisely because he knew and understood and had experienced the enabling power of the atonement of the Savior.
"I personally do not believe the bands with which Nephi was bound just magically fell from his hands and wrists. Rather, I suspect he was blessed with both persistence and personal strength beyond his natural capacity, that he then "in the strength of the Lord" (Mosiah 9:17) worked and twisted and tugged on the cords and ultimately and literally was enabled to break the bands.
"Brothers and sisters, the implication of this episode for each of us is quite straightforward. As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed. We will become agents who act rather than objects that are acted upon (2 Nephi 2:14)."
I love the concept that God, instead of changing our circumstances (which He easily could do), more often gives us the strength to internally change and meet the challenges in our lives. Facing challenges allows us to develop the attributes we need to become like God and act for ourselves. If God simply removed our trials, we would not be able to become the people He wants us to become. We wouldn't become those people because, if everything were always easy and burdens were always lifted, we would have no need to display Christlike attributes like patience, temperance, and endurance. This is why prayers pleading for relief from trials sometimes go unanswered.
God wants us to develop the strength and character to overcome trials, not just the faith to pray for deliverance. This doesn't mean, however, that He leaves us to fight our way through mortality alone. Rather, He blesses us with the enabling power of Jesus Christ to give us the capacity to overcome our trials.
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