Reflections of a True Millennial

"As a country, we have been through this too many times. "Whether it's an elementary school in Newtown, a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. We're going to have to come together to take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics." -President Obama, 12-14-12 Yes, this has happened to many times. Small towns plastered across national news for all the wrong reasons. Intricate stories laid out over weeks displaying a web of corruption and a trail of broken hearts. Too much. Places like movie theaters and schools seem like places we can't even go. Since I was a kid, my perceptions of the time when my parents grew up seems like a time when everything was perfect. Old home videos from their childhoods set up a viewing window into another time. It seemed like...

Yay, it's December 2nd! Christmas is almost here. December is one of my favorite times of year, you can just feel the Christmas spirit. And you can see it too, in decorations going up around the house.      In the above picture is a little basket in our living room with all the Christmas books we own. Of course there are many classic titles by classic authors with classic characters and classic messages. But headlining the pile has been a book by an odd title by an  odd author with odd characters, but a classic message. Well, staring me in the face every time I pass by, "The Lump of Coal" by Lemony Snicket coaxed me into reading it this afternoon. I remembered the story was about a lump of coal who could not find acceptance anywhere and his journey, but didn't recall the last and perhaps most important paragraph. When the lump of coal finds a purpose to his cold, black, charcoal-y life, Mr. Snicket closes the book with the following paragraph...

There's an oft-quoted question, "If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"So basically, if video of your life were to be put on screen in a courtroom, would they be able to tell who you say you are? Today is a day of thanks. And by scrolling through Facebook, being with family, and many other activities we can quickly tell what everyone else is thankful for. We also have opportunities to say what we are thankful for. Pretty simple concept. So what about tomorrow? We'll always be thankful for our friends, families, food, clothes, and whatever. But will we always show it? If someone sees us on April 3rd or June 17th, will it be obvious what we're thankful for? Or will we be pessimistic and complaining? Be thankful everyday, and show it everyday. Don't ever take life for granted, because before you know it the things you have will be gone. You'll be off pursuing other things in life, and wishing you ...

"Isn’t it true that we often get so busy? And, sad to say, we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life."                         - Dieter F. Uchtdorf      So how about that daylight savings time? An extra hour of sleep yesterday! Of course, it was originally intended to be an extra hour of work, but you know... sleep is nice and work isn't so nice.      But sleep is often hard to come by. Waking up in the morning feels like waking up from an unusually long nap instead of a refreshing night of sleep. It seems like someday we'll be able to get a full night of sleep and we won't have so much work. Someday, you know, off in the future. So, wouldn't it be easy to just be happy then? After all, we're so busy doing important things now.      Happiness however, is not a destination waiting along the b...

     Standing as the utmost test for college readiness, Junior year has historically been pounded into our heads as the hardest year of schooling. National Merit, SATs, ACTs, tons of AP classes, and thinking about where to spend at least 4 years of your life next highlight a laundry list of endless tasks that students have the responsibility of completing. Being a well rounded student is rolling from everyone's grasp as juggling everything becomes too much. Sometimes there are those days where you get home past 7 and have no motivation to do anything really. Like today, or pretty much everyday for the past few weeks really. And going to a school like ours helps, but also doesn't.      Unfortunately, it seems that everyday we get more and more stress building up, it feels like layer upon layer of work is mounting up. Not just a figure of speech, literally layers of chemistry papers are building up. It feels like the only way to get any relief is to clear ev...

     While the autumn months are bringing a passing of nature, General Conference this weekend compels every listener to make a fresh start. Cheesy sentence yes, but complex sentence? Also yes. Thank you English.      Anyway for those who have no idea what "General Conference" means, it is a worldwide Mormon event that occurs every six months. In it, the living Prophets and Apostles of this time speak to members of the Church and anyone else who cares to listen. Yes we believe in a living Prophet, but no he's not a dinosaur left over from the first century AD or anything. He's just a man called by God to be the Prophet, but that's a whole different topic. So General Conference is an event in Salt Lake City that is broadcasted all over the world and delivers inspiration and doctrine to those that watch. Each speaker at Conference is not assigned a topic and can pick to speak about whatever they feel needs to be spoken about. However, I find it interest...

This weekend, be enlightened and receive answers to life's questions by watching General Conference. Tune in on Sunday at noon ET on lds.org or BYUtv.