House = SOLD

Finally! If you need a reason to celebrate, use this and celebrate with us. Boy what a tough year...

Christmas thoughts

Each year we around this time we have a "Mary and Joseph" dinner. We like to talk about the Christmas story rather than just read it because it allows much more pondering and meditation rather than cursory readings. Anyway, here are some of the things mentioned this year that gave me pause to consider.

Where did the wise men (kings) come from? The star was in the east, so they must have come from West of Jerusalem. Was it close? Ethiopia? Libya? France? Spain, The Americas? What if the Nephites knew of this and built a boat to come over and find it?

How long was the star there? Did it shine for a day, a week, a month, a year? They life of the Savior?

Who supported Mary in the child birth? Just Joseph? Angels?

Why a stable? (symbolic of lowly birth? Quiet and peaceful for mother and family? Humble beginnings?

Why was it that the angels were seen by the shepherds? They lived a quiet life which probably gave them plenty of time to ponder. Where their spirits prepared. Everyone else was busy getting "ready for the season" (taxes in their case, "Christmas" in ours). Did they just miss the signs? Do we miss the signs? What are they? Would not the angels just burst out of Heaven for the most important birth in the history of the Earth? and the Shepherds were the only ones close to the same page as the angels?

What if the heavens were bursting with angelic joy and song and we were too busy fighting traffic, people, and prices to even notice?

I love this season. My love and I have been doing wonderful at minimizing activities and stress over the holidays. It has been lovely.

I hate computers

Yeah, I'm running windows xp. Haven't upgraded. Got a new Ati Radeon HD 5770. Drivers = nightmare. with ATI, you have to uninstall previous before install new. Probably the same with others, and I agree it is generally good advice.

Problem is I have an ati southbridge chipset. So in process of uninstalling graphics, I uninstalled chipset. No problem right, just re-install motherboard drivers. Did that, but then no display adapter in the device manager. Seriously?? I have an HD 4200 integrated on the motherboard a 5770 on the PCIe slot and neither are detected as "display adapters" So I can't install drivers for either because installation fails "no hardware for drivers" Seriously? Figured that someplace in all the uninstall/reinstall and cleaning, I messed up windows xp. Tried upgrading to sp3, install worked didn't change anything. I tried repair but had old version of xp. So slipstreamed a winxp + sp3 disk so I can boot from there, but just found out dvd burner doesn't work. For the love! (I can't open the drive, yeah I broke it while trying...still not opened though). I mean for real! Does it ever end? I figure the best I can hope for now is new HD, get windows 7 fresh install, keep old drive and piece by piece put my life together again.

I think I'm gonna get a mac. Dang, they are like 10x the cost of a windows box and like 50x the cost of a hard drive....weak sauce.

Sigh...

New strategy: Succeed at business. Sell business. Buy sweet computer

Sigh, just want the dumb thing to work.

A consecrated life

In General Conference, Elder D. Todd Christofferson quoted Elder Marvin L. Evans in a 1969 pamphlet.

“Life offers you two precious gifts—one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will. You are free to exchange your allotment of time for thrills. You may trade it for base desires. You may invest it in greed. . . .Yours is the freedom to choose. But these are no bargains, for in them you find no lasting satisfaction.

"Every day, every hour, every minute of your span of mortal years must sometime be accounted for. And it is in this life that you walk by faith and prove yourself able to choose good over evil, right over wrong, enduring happiness over mere amusement. And your eternal reward will be according to your choosing.

"A prophet of God has said: ‘Men are that they might have joy’—a joy that includes a fullness of life, a life dedicated to service, to love and harmony in the home, and the fruits of honest toil—an acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—of its requirements and commandments. Only in these will you find true happiness, the happiness which doesn’t fade with the lights and the music and the crowds.”

It is sobering to consider that every day, every hour, every minute must sometime be accounted for. I consider the care with which we account for every dollar, quarter, and penny. How is our time spent?

Caring for others or selfish endeavors

Visiting the lonely, or becoming the lonely

Feasting at the banquet of the scriptures or starving while devouring novels.

Growing closer or growing apart

Playing with others, or criticizing others

Solving problems, or making problems.

I would choose the former, forsake the later. Worn down by the cares of the world, we slide away. Lifted by the sabbath and daily counsel we climb back up. The more we feast and care, the more we maintain an abundant life. Faith/trust in Christ overcome the cares of the world.

Revelation

A couple things from Joseph Smith

1. Salvation cannot come without revelation; it is in vain for anyone to minister without it (History of the Church, 3:389)

2. This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted--by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed (History of the Church, 5:135)

Revelation is the insight from God that directs us through our daily affairs. It is inspiring to know that in His reign of the cosmos he cares enough for the individual to guide them through their practical and specific challenges.

Secondhand Lions

Part of Uncle Hub's speech about what every boy needs to know to be a man.

"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."

I believe our belief (faith) makes the world around us. So believe the good things, doubt the bad. It leads to a much richer life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rectitude is a perpetual victory, celebrated not by cries of joy, but by serenity, which is joy fixed or habitual. ("Character," Essays: Second Series [1844])

I found this to be a very accurate description, that described how I have felt for some time. Habitual joy comes from the serenity of a life well lived where the cares of the world do not interfere with the feelings of joy and peace. Moreover, rectitude, creates the confidence to stand before God and beside God with confidence that with Him as a companion, anything can be overcome.