Crossing Senses And A Little Bit of Perfect Nonsense

I'm someone who likes to play with words. Finding the exactly right one, placing it carefully, using words to describe things in ways that you wouldn't expect. I'm someone who tends to look at the world sideways. One of the most fun ways to do this is to think of things in terms of different senses. I think by crossing senses, you get a different feel for the meaning.

For example, I like to describe food in terms of things like the weather. Apple cider, freshly pressed and chilled tastes like autumn evening sunshine. That kind of sunshine that's waning but still warm. The kind that you feel when you sit outside to watch the sunset at the beginning of fall. Warm, lingering, and yet with a slight chill. That's the first sip. And when you swallow, you get the sensation of jumping into a crystal-cold pool in the middle of summer after letting the sun heat your skin. It's that almost-shock, the warring sensation between the heat of your skin and the chill of the water.

Or the taste of a ripe peach, just off the tree. It tastes like liquid sunshine.

Or the cranberry bundt cake that my mom makes. It tastes like Christmas. A bit like snow and a bit like green, and a lot of red. It tastes like the magic of Christmas Eve when you're small and the wonder of finding everything changed in the morning. It tastes like hunting for the perfect Christmas tree with your family and playing hide-and-go-seek between the trees. And the almond extract icing on top tastes like holidays and celebrations.

Food is also a unit of measurement for me. It used to take me half a bagel or one muffin to get from Seminary to my high school. And I try to take tests in no more than two wintergreen Lifesavers' worth of time. Three if it's a really hard test.

As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that food seems to be a common thread between all of these because I also tend to describe books according to how they taste. There's a book series that I like where the first book tastes like apple crisp, the second like a savory filled pastry, and the third almost like a molten chocolate cake.

But I really do think about more than food! I mean, I'll have days that are green, pink days, red days and purple days. Hardly any orange ones though. Numbers have colors and letters do too. I think that's why I've always been glad my name starts with an "E"....It's such a lovely light pink that fades into a pretty purple-y color. So words can have color too (although that's less often or it would be too distracting to read) but they especially have feelings associated with them.

So if you're ever talking to me, chances are that something that I say will be what my best friend and I have dubbed "perfect nonsense", that is, the kind of absolute nonsense that makes perfect sense to the people saying it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a bit about how I view the world-crossed senses and a bit (well, okay, a lot) of perfect nonsense.

P.S. Watch out for an exciting (to me at least) letter coming up (hopefully) in the next day or two!

P.P.S. Someone somewhere someday should use the "I'd be lost without my blogger" line on me. I'd even let it be an exception to my not being a blogger.

In Much Silliness,
Elicia

Forum 7B- Hope in Hard Times

Today, I want to talk about hope. It can be a slippery little thing, and hard to hold on to. But I don't need to go into detail on that. We've all had days and weeks and maybe even years when having hope is a struggle. Sometimes, we may even lose hope for a while.

But one thing that we can hang on to in difficult times is the knowledge that God loves us and that He wants the best for us. Knowing and understanding the strength of God's infinite, everlasting love is important for our everyday lives, but especially for the times when hope is fading. Because knowing that God loves you can help you hang on to enough hope to get by. 

Believing that God loves you and has a purpose and direction for your life helps you to trust in Him and to hope in the future. It can take great faith but the most hope and greatest comfort can come from trusting "that he will yet deliver us" (2 Corinthians 1:10). Because He will. He always will. The timing will be His, which means that you may have to wait longer than you'd like, but He will always assist you in the way that will do you the most good.

God loves you. He has a plan for your happiness and He has plans to give you blessings. He loves you so much. He will always be there to help you and He is someone that you can always rely on. Don't give up hope. He will always be there. 

And to quote Jeffery R. Holland,

This beautiful printable found here

Forum 6B- Light in the Darkness

Doesn't it seem like as soon as we start doing or preparing to something good everything starts getting really hard? Seems that way to me. Anytime I have an important decision to make or am making plans, there's always something that comes up or rather several somethings that come up to complicate things.

Those things can be events, people, or even feelings and thoughts. Just these past weeks as I was thinking about an important decision I'm about to make (more on that later this week), I spent the first half of this week feeling very negative and dark, mainly about myself. It was awful. It was hard to see anything positive, even though I knew it had to be there. All I could do was just pray a small, consistent prayer. It wasn't eloquent at all, in fact, it wasn't even really words at all, just more of a pleading for some sort of help, any sort of help because I couldn't see an end. 

But even in dark moments, the Lord is able to send help. I took an afternoon to call up my grandparents, just to see how they were doing and to talk to them and all of them had something to say that helped me. Last Sunday, some friends and I skipped Sunday School announcements and opening exercises to go and splash in puddles for a while. Our feet were soaked and freezing but being so silly was wonderful. I've had talks with friends and roommates that have helped me. And in my darkest day this week as I was walking across campus, the Spirit reminded me that I was doing something very important and that opposition always comes but that I am not left alone in my struggle. Heavenly Father is always there for me, leading me even when I can't see. the Spirit also brought back the positive confirmation and feelings that I had when I was first making this decision and helped me to remember why I'm making my choice. 

My prayer wasn't answered all at once but it was answered. And a large part of that answer was a reminder that opposition and difficulties arise when we are trying to do something good. As Paul said, "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries" (1 Cor 16:9). But despite the opposition and the adversaries in our way, it is crucial that we remember that they are only there because of the incredible opportunity ahead of us. So when everything seems to be against you, remember what is good and remember that God will never desert you.

Forum 5B-Changing Through Christ

It occurs to me again and again that the purpose of Christ's gospel is to change us. Just believing in Him is not enough and just doing good deeds is not enough. Being a good person is not enough because we need to be a Christ-like person. To those who say that we only need to believe to be saved, what good is believing if it doesn't change anything about you? To those who believe that good works are enough, they are not. You r works may be good but they are not going to be enough to make you into someone like Christ. In order to be saved, you must go to Christ and let Him change you and in order to do that, you have to believe.

The point of believing and the point of doing to to be changed. Letting Christ change you makes you a better person, makes you into the best kind of person. And that leads you to want to do good deeds because they are a part of who you have become. The paradoxical thing about good works is that they lead you to Chirst but they do not end when you believe. Instead, they increase, which in turn brings you closer to Christ, which leads to more good words, all because of the person that you are becoming and the person that you are following.

Yes, belief saves you, but only when that belief brings you to act as Christ does. Belief only saves you when it brings you closer to Christ and causes you to imitate Him. Belief only saves you when that belief is enough to bring you to open up and become more Christ-like. Belief is the foundation of salvation but it is only the beginning step. Salvation comes through Christ because He paid our price with His infinite Atonement and because He is also our perfect example.

Does your belief truly save you? I suggest that is only does if changes in your behavior result from your belief. If change does not occur, then you are saved in the sense that Christ has paid for you but you are not using His Atonement as fully as it was intended to be used and you are not living up to your potential. True belief changes attitudes and changes actions. It is who you become as a result of your actions by virtue of your belief in Christ that saves you. It is not that you save yourself, is is that you let Christ in to the fullest and you let His Atonement change you. It is truly Christ that saves us, has saved us, for we "are bought with a price" and it is Christ who has payed (1 Corinthians 6:20).

Intro to Pinterest Myths: Buried Alive!

Look, I like Pinterest as much as the next girl. I think it's useful for saving all those links that I used to have to put in word docs to find later (only to go back through and have no idea what they were for) or those pictures that you want to save for some reason but that you don't want to print (because then what do you do with them?) and you can't leave up on your browser permanently.

What I do not appreciate about Pinterest (although in all fairness, it's kind of the internet at large) is the way that it PERPETUATES THE MOST RIDICULOUS MYTHS. Some less ridiculous ones as well, but really, some of the things that I've read. You've probably seen some of them too. Some of them annoy me enough or are to the point of being dangerous or are even just plain funny enough for me to write about them. So here we go: the very first "Pinterest Mythbusting" letter!

I'd like to start with a personal favorite:

Link to Pinterest source

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the exact original source, so I did a search via Pinterest and chose the first pin that included it.

First off, is being buried alive becoming common enough that we have to worry about it? And have tips for it's eventuality? Maybe this is a phenomena that I'm just not aware of....

Second, they don't specify whether or not you're in a coffin while you're being buried alive. I mean, as it relates to the advice, I'm not really sure it makes a difference, but I'd think that the survival tips for each situation would have to be different.

Third, besides keeping dirt and dust out of your nose and mouth (P.S. Isn't your mouth part of your face? Perhaps this advice is meant for a non-human species?) and maybe eyes if you're lucky, what else is it going to do exactly? How is that going to keep you from suffocating? If you're in a coffin, it seems kind of pointless to have a shirt over your face and if you're just being buried under dirt, I don't think the shirt would be all that effective against the pressure of the dirt bearing down.

Fourth, I'd imagine that if you're being buried alive, you are not a willing participant. Assuming you're in a coffin (always the first assumption as it seems like it would be more inconspicuous), I would think it would be rather difficult to do as they suggest, that is, to remove your shirt and then tie it over your face. I'd think you'd be a bit crowded. Assuming you're just having dirt heaped on you, I would also assume that your hands are tied because who's just going to lay down and let someone shovel dirt on top of you? (Okay, maybe a long-suffering parent of a small child but I really don't think that counts as being buried alive, at least not as much as relates to this advice. Although come to think of it, this might be the only situation for which this advice is useful). So assuming that your arms are tied, how exactly are you going to take off your shirt off...? If someone could manage to take their shirt off and tie it around their face, all while being buried alive....my hat off to you, sir (or madame)! I would be very impressed indeed! Again, maybe this advice isn't intended for humans.

So in conclusion, I hope no one has taken this advice seriously because in the strange event that you do, in fact, find yourself being buried alive, I really doubt that this advice would be of any use (to anyone human). I hope that you also see that not everything is quite as useful as it seems to be. I also hoped you laughed. A lot. I know I did. And please, avoid being buried alive if you can.