30 June 2011

at peace with my restless heart

This week my visiting teacher came over, and shared the following scripture with me:

D&C 53:93

And, verily, I say unto you, that it is my will that you should hasten to translate my scriptures, and to obtain a knowledge of history, and of countries, and of kingdoms, of laws of God and man, and all this for the salvation of Zion. Amen.

Do you love this as much as I do? I have never had this scripture stand out to me before (and maybe I’ve never read it). It’s so full of meaning and the applications to my life are limitless. Here is encouragement for world travel, for continuous learning about all cultures. This verse has really been on my mind since she shared it with me.

My first thoughts relate to the benefits I receive when I travel:


· I find different cultures are filled with people who are not, in fact, so different from myself. While cultural norms may vary greatly, human nature really doesn’t.
· I learn to appreciate the different ways people live, and the different ways they view the world. And I hope this appreciation leads me to a more clear view of the world, and a more effective approach to the challenges I face in my life and in my community.
· I put my problems into perspective. It’s so refreshing to go some place where no one knows about your problems, and no one cares. Not because you aren’t individually important, but because the challenges you face aren’t important, and aren’t unique or worse than the problems other people face. Sometimes, I even come to the realization that I’ve created the problems in my head, and they aren’t actually real.
· I have increased confidence in my capacity to figure things out and get stuff done.
· I am more comfortable in my own head, more comfortable being alone, and more comfortable with silence.

Some of the lessons learned while traveling are hard, and there are some dark moments, but the memories of trips tend to be wonderful. I have long believed that people are at their worst at airports, and I think that’s largely because travel pushes us out of our comfort zones, where our best learning can then occur. When I wait too long between trips to new places, I begin to feel restless. Maybe this isn't a a reflection of my inability to be happy in the moment, maybe it's just my soul telling me I'm ready to learn something new.

The last thoughts I have are related to a recent blog post by my friend Jon. In fact, I’m just going to quote him, and leave it at that. He said it better than I could have. Go read his whole post, but here is an excerpt of what he had to say:

What if our salvation is an all or nothing deal? Not in a you-have-to-be-perfect-in-order-to-be-saved kind of way. More like either we're all saved together or none of us is saved. And not because we're all perfect, but because we learn how to love and accept everyone in all our necessary differences. What if we can't be saved without those with whom we vehemently disagree? What if the tension that exists between two opposing points of view is completely necessary and the solution is to simply listen to each other and seek to understand what it means to be in another's shoes. Who are we to decide that what we perceive as another person's sins are any worse or better than our own? Maybe it's more about loving unconditionally instead of categorizing and ranking sins.

Yes, yes, and yes!

27 June 2011

instagram how i love thee

I've been very slow in adding apps to my iPhone. I mean, I feel like I have a lot, and I'm constantly playing with my phone, but I know there is so much more goodness out there. Today I downloaded Instagram, and I'm not sure how I was ever happy without it. I've gone back through previous photos, and made them look much better. Here are a couple examples from my somewhat recent trip to Hogle Zoo:
This baby elephant was to die for. Seriously adorable and so playful. But the angle was hard (not to mention my lack of skill) and the pics I took were poorly centered and too far away. But now it's cropped, zoomed, and given a new finish. So much better.

In the monkey house this huge gorilla came right up to the glass. Super cool. Also a little depressing, because he looked kind of bored and unhappy. The same listless gaze all zoo animals have. But the fuzzy pic I took through the glass wall didn't do his fierceness justice. Until I added this finish, making the fuzziness work for the pic, and darkening the colors so he looks way intense.


Gosh, these pics are so artistic, I think I'm going to create a separate photography blog to display all of my work. JK! Seriously though, I love this app.

16 June 2011

farm to table

And by farm I mean my own (and Di's, obv) community garden plot.


Last night I made a salad with our first harvest from the garden. We have so. much. lettuce. Nothing else is ready yet, but it's coming along, and we keep weeding and watering. Sort of. It rains a lot, and I don't really like weeding.
And for organic gardening at its best, this little slug had crawled out of the bowl of lettuce when I went to put it in the fridge last night. Gross. But just a necessary hazard of being a committed, semi-professional, organic gardener. :)

I'm seriously loving having a garden, and cannot wait to eat more food I've grown myself. Best summer activity ever!