Week Links

Since the transition back to work can make one feel a bit draggy I have listened to many things in the past few days. Here are few that I enjoyed:

The Hard Work of Understanding the Constitution 

Challenges and Opportunities in a Chaotic Economy 

Life's Two Big Questions

and in the spirit of resolutions I listened to these past talks:

Focus and Proprieties

Keeping Life's Demands in Balance


I listened to more than what is listed above and read some enjoyable things as well but I have a cold and it is almost 4:00 PM on a Friday so I am understandably fuzzy headed and antsy.

Cheers

Week Links

This old talk was just what I needed.

Great list of ways to keep marriage alive

I will admit I have some favorites (if you hadn't already noticed).  This talk contained my favorite quote this week. "Nor is this primarily for those few in deliberate noncompliance, including some who cast off on intellectual and behavioral bungee cords in search of new sensations, only to be jerked about by the old heresies and the old sins" I love the way that Elder Maxwell really used words, instead of the lazy and limited vocabulary so many of us employ and then wonder why we are often misunderstood. For example, later in this same talk he says "Increased consecration is not so much a demand for more hours of Church work as it is for more awareness of Whose work this really is! For now, consecration may not require giving up worldly possessions so much as being less possessed by them." He had (still has) a reputation for using big words and sometimes being difficult to understand. This quote is proof that he doesn't always use uncommon vocabulary (sure he uses plenty of big words in his talks),  he just uses his words well. And, while I agree Elder Maxwell talks and books may require more concentration to take in, it isn't because he ideas are overly complex but instead because his talks are dense; every word carefully and purposefully placed. If you aren't already an Elder Maxwell fan I hope you will give him a shot. His books have explained truths so perfectly to me; so clearly and so simply. (sorry I am done. I just appreciate his teaching style so very much.)

The Gospel Solutions for Family was especially applicable to be this week. I have been working on more faithful scripture study.

Another talk I enjoyed this week.

Week Links: Just a couple

I couldn't stop smiling over this 

I want to make this

I saw a link to this on A Blog About Love. As a result I spent my entire lunch watching videos from the "I'm a Mormon" series and getting teary. I am sucker for people that are trying hard and being true to themselves which means I get teary often.

This is great. I am going to make a list of things that I am this Sunday.

We had this for dinner on Wednesday at it was pretty good, we added some crumbled prosciutto on top.

Week Links

I want to do this at home foot treatment:

I wish this dress had sleeves and wasn't so ridiculously priced. It kinda reminds me of something Nancy Drew would wear (which, by the way, is who I will be for Halloween this year. At least that is the plan, but I am still not sure if we have any reason to dress up. I have wanted to be Nancy Drew for years and I think this might be my year.)

This blog has so many wonderful resources for learning or teaching the gospel. A friend of mine pointed out this post to me this week. Read it, you will love it.

General Conference is approaching so I like to re-watch what happened last time. First I re-watch a year ago and then I watch last session. I like to remember what was talked about before so I can notice trends and difference for each session. Helps me notice when something is really emphasized in particular session. It is also nice to remember what I was doing in my life last conference and re-listen to the messages that were really important to me at the time. Sometimes I find they are still just as important other times, on listening again, I will find a new favorite. So I started with October 2011 this week. Here are some of the talks I listened to:

The Power of Scripture
Counsel To Youth
You Matter To Him
The Hearts of The Children 


Some old favorites from That Mitchell and Webb look:

Week Links (plus a little tangent)

I wasn't able to do much listening this week. My job was a bit more interactive, a little less just me and a computer. But I did stumble upon a few wonderful links.

Conference Talks:
Look to God and Live- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Just looking at the title and the speaker can hint at how powerful this talk is. There is a very sweet story at the end. This talk is almost 20 years old but still so applicable. I listened to it twice to make sure I got everything and then I read it (I really enjoy when I can listen to something delivered by someone else and also read it for myself. When we listen we often hear things the way the speaker would have us hear them, with the emphasis on their emphasis. It is wonderful to hear something from another perspective; to hear in a speakers voice what matters most to them. I love the opportunity to hear the gospel taught through another's experience and feelings. 

However, I also love when it can be just me, the words, and the Holy Ghost. When I am left to emphasis and interrupt however and wherever I fancy. This is why reading is so powerful. There is a point where the words become yours; where the meaning becomes personal and unique to you. I don't mean that the words can totally change and become something far from what they are intended to be. There are certain boundaries and guidelines placed in by the author of the words; their words cannot mean what the author didn't want them to mean. Yet, through interpretation they can mean even more. With a little effort they can become more than letters typed on a page, they get life. Like I said before, reading is powerful. 

I am going to go one step further though and explain an incredible ingredient that I only casually mentioned before. When we add the companionship of the Holy Ghost,  a companion that we can have constant access to as result of covenants and righteous living,  reading, listening, and even just general living have an even greater power. Our knowledge and our insight can, and will, exceed mortal limitations and we can tap into the limitless, eternal, endlessly personal power of God. 

Sorry, I just really love learning with The Spirit. Back to the talk, these were favorite points:

"Furthermore, many of the social and political medicines of our day regularly miss the mark, so those would-be physicians stand by the bedside of “feverish and delirious humanity—outwitted, discredited, dumbfounded … not knowing in which direction to seek delivered” (Charles Edward Jefferson, The Character of Jesus, Salt Lake City: Parliament Publishers, 1968, p. 17)." 

Angels and ministers of grace to defend us? They are all about us, and their holy sovereign, the Father of us all, is divinely anxious to bless us this very moment. Mercy is his mission, and love is his only labor. John Donne said once: “We ask our daily bread, and God never says, ‘You should have come yesterday.’ … [No, he says,] ‘Today if you will hear [my] voice, today I will hear yours.’ … If thou hast been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damp and benumbed, smothered and stupefied till now, God yet comes to thee, not as in the dawning of the day, … but as the sun at [full] noon, to banish all shadows” (Collected Sermons).

Another talk with a similar theme, It Is Better to Look Up by Carl B Cook, is a more recent conference talk. I went looking for this one because for whatever reason it came to mind. I enjoyed this talk when I first heard it and I enjoyed it again. 

Gospel Solutions for families this week was called Becoming One in Marriage. This a topic that is very much on my mind as a newlywed. It seems to me if you understand the Godhead you can understand this and if you understand this you can better understand the LDS doctorine on the Godhead. However, understanding something and living it are two different things and while I think we are right on track it will, of course, take time before we have really perfected this principle in our marriage. 

Blog Links: 
I liked reading Maggie Mason's Might List. It is like a bucket list but has a much better ring to it, don't you think? Something about the phrase "bucket list" is very off putting to me. Her list made me think more about some of the things that would be on my list. Maybe I will make a Might List; I do love a good list. 

Music:
I am counting down the days for this album. 

Week Links

Things I listened to this week: 

All week, to have the time go by, I listen to things while I work. I usually email links to people when I find something enjoyable. Although they won't admit it my family gets really sick of me emailing links. So, I am going to post them instead. Now if anyone wants them, they can come and get them.


Sometimes, although not that often, the radio doesn't disappoint. Today on my way to work they played this song. Really helped start the day off right!

I loved No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom, when I was younger. I was constantly walking into Spiderwebs. And I will admit I am digging their new single; it has such a fun the feel.

Radiolab- Inside Ouch (not my favorite radiolab, but radiolab itself is one of my favorites).

Radiolab- Guts The story this dude tells is incredible. I retold to the him (the him that I am married to) while we eating dinner, he didn't love the timing of my retelling. I however, thought it was perfectly timed.

I really enjoy Gospel Solutions for Families on the Mormon Channel! I have listened to almost all of these and always look forward to the new one. This week it was Strengthening your Marriage. I love that this is just a discussion being recorded. I love discussing things (I think I have mentioned that before), so I also like listening to discussions.

I try to listen to a few old General Conference talks each day while I am working. If what I am doing takes a lot of focus I won't get much out of the talks. But, it helps time go by fast and it is nice to have on in the background. I am surprised at how often I do get something out of it; not surprised to learn something from a great talk. Surprised that even having that on in the background can be really uplifting and educational.

Here are a few I listened to:
I really love Elder Neal A. Maxwell talks, or books, or anytime he said anything. This one was no exception to that. It was a nice find because we were talking about Desire and goals in our little Family Home Evening this month.

When thinking about Desire this month I also had to listen to this one

I found this talk incredibly touching

Oh Elder Oaks, what a wonderfully logical man. This is a great talk on Joesph Smith