Sunday blog on faith

One of my favorite things to do on Sunday is write in my journal or write on my blog. A la "Harry Potter," it's very peaceful for me to extract my thoughts and capture them in writing.

We had a wonderful church block today, kicked off with a talk by my former roommate Rachelle on faith--one of my favorite topics! She said a lot of very insightful things, but her comparison of her experience learning new, scary moves as a young gymnast to taking leaps of faith in our lives really stuck with me.

She described preparing to do a back handspring on the balance beam and being absolutely terrified. It was difficult for her to even comprehend literally throwing herself backwards into the unknown, not knowing if her hands would find the beam, worried about being off balance; wondering if her hands would buckle and not support her. It was quite literally a leap of faith. And it was terrifying.

But she related another gymnastic experience that taught her something else. She was learning a new flip on the floor. As soon as she bounced off the floor she knew something was wrong--her rotation speed made it impossible for her feet to find the floor before her head did. She was headed for certain disaster.

Then, before she knew it, she had stopped moving. Her feet were still up and her head was close to the floor, but she wasn't flying through the air anymore. Her coach, who was spotting her while she learned something new, recognized that she wasn't going to make it and caught her midair before she could get hurt.

Heavenly Father is our coach. Rachelle understood intellectually the gymnastic moves she was trying to learn, but she couldn't fully understand until she experienced them. And she couldn't learn what she needed to until she decided to take a literal leap of faith. Then, before she could fall, her coach caught her and helped her so she could try again.

She shared a myriad of other helpful ideas: faith is a decision; the direction you are going is more important than the size of your leap of faith; life is the sum of many, many leaps.

Then in Sunday School, Dallin used the book of Isaiah to teach us about what Christ has done for us, what He is now doing for us, and what He has promised in the future. It was wonderful to review all that is in store for us as God's children. Dallin ended with a very appropriate, very cute video clip about being actively patient while waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled.

Rachel rounded out the meeting block with a great lesson on the Restoration. We learned about dates and times, but one of her points was that we avoid distancing ourselves from the Spirit (personal apostacy) by continually experiencing personal restoration.

It was a wonderful three hours that renewed my resolve to have more faith, have more patience, and to continually restore and renew my personal spirituality.

What I Love About Fasting

Today is Fast Sunday.* Irony of ironies, Fast Sundays are anything but fast, as most of you know. Since we do not eat or drink anything for the equivalent of two meals on Fast Sundays, every minute is unnaturally long. If you listen carefully in church you’ll hear a choir of rumbling stomachs at any given moment in the congregation.

So, in light of the constant thoughts of food and hollow bellies on Fast Sunday, why do we fast? Why do we participate in something borderline masochistic on the first Sunday of every month?

The simple answer is, we weaken our bodies to strengthen our spirits. I love fasting because of (1) the reminder to pay fast offerings, (2) the opportunity to practice physical restraint in the name of something higher, and (3) the symbolic role of Christ as our Nourisher, or the Bread of Life.

Fast Offerings. Fast offerings are donations specifically to the poor or needy of the community. We choose to give the money we would have spend on two meals on Fast Sunday and donate it to the church to distribute locally and internationally. This conscientious sacrifice helps remind us every month that we have enough to give to others. We are testifying that we have enough bounty; we are content.

Fast offerings also recognize the Lord as our ultimate provider. I have food everyday. The fact that I have food and clean water sets me apart from a good portion of humankind. Committing to recognize the bounty in my life—even minimally—is something that turns my mind to those around me.

However, I could also donate money to the needy without fasting. Writing checks is not difficult. But, the personal sacrifice that I make by actually going without food consecrates my heart and mind to my donations. I am not just donating to placate my conscience. I am making a sacrifice right now, by going without food, and in the future, by going without money, to help others.

Mind Over Body. The most significant lesson I learn every month from fasting is that my spirit has power over my body. On Fast Sunday, my body needs food. My body is weakened and naturally inclined to sneaking a dorito or string cheese. However, when I fast, I choose to do so knowingly. I know that my body will be weakened, and I know that I will feel pain. I choose to fast anyway. My body wants to eat, but my mind chooses to overcome that desire. As a human, many of my actions are self-preserving and influenced by bodily needs (I need to sleep to be healthy, exercise and eat well) to keep my strength up. However, fasting reminds me every month that my actions are not controlled by my body. I choose my actions; I am not victim to natural instinct.

This reminder strengthens me. I become more confident in my ability to control and triumph over other weaknesses. If I can pass up a delectable brownie when I am extremely hungry, then I can do anything! It becomes easier to keep the law of chastity. I find myself more willing to exercise and less willing to oversleep.

The Sacrament Symbolism. The only food and water that we ingest during our fast is the bread and water of the Sacrament. Because I’m hungry, I usually try to grab the biggest piece of bread so that my stomach doesn’t howl and gargle as loudly as it can (and sometimes does) during Sacrament meeting. But I also love the symbolism that Christ is truly the Bread of Life and nourishes us always. It is to Him we owe everything. Fasting seems insignificant, compared to His sacrifice for me.


Ultimately, I enjoy fasting, not because I enjoy starving myself (I don’t), but because of the blessings for doing so. I am grateful for the opportunity to fast as a church every month.

*I understand that it might not be Fast Sunday for everyone, but we have stake conference the week after general conference, so there you go.

August 30th or Church and Airplanes

Sunday

One of the downsides of traveling quite a ways to church (which I’ve never had to do since I’m a Utahn), is that you have to get up at 7:30 to make an 11:00 church meeting. And then, if you stay for ward choir afterwards, you don’t get home until 4:30. Church is really an all day affair. But, church was the highlight of my day today. My ward (the D.C. 2^nd ward) is one of the nicest singles wards I have ever been to, if not THE nicest. Everyone was very welcoming, energetic and interested in getting to know everyone. All of the talks given were well-prepared and lifted my spirits. They took everyone’s pictures, introduced everyone after Sacrament meeting, and we had a mix and mingle event instead of a Relief Society lesson. I met a lot of people and felt very at home. After church I stayed for ward choir and then caught a ride home with one of the ward members who has a car. It was so nice to see beautiful Maryland (where the church is) and NW D.C. above ground! Not that the gray cement outside of the metro windows isn’t interesting, but the old historic buildings in Georgetown and the beautiful trees in Maryland take the cake.

When we finally got back from a long day of church, a bunch of people went to go visit the National Zoological Garden, another great free event in the D.C. area, known for their giant pandas. I went with them, only to realize in the Metro station that we wouldn’t make it before the zoo closed (a lot of things close at 6:00 p.m.). So the group decided to wander around the mall. Since I did that yesterday, I decided to go back to the Barlow. I came back and rounded up some friends willing to take a chance and have an adventure with me. Andrea told me about a park just above the Reagan airport where people go to watch the planes take off or simply admire the beautiful D.C. cityscape. After not knowing if we would really make it in time, and almost aborting the mission when the metro train didn’t come for half an hour, we finally made it to the airport. We found the little path and made it to Gravelly Point just in time for the sunset. Success!! It was worth the effort. All eight of us crammed on to my little fleece blanket with stars and we chatted about life, planes, and some more life. We could see the Washington Monument and the Capitol building, and the park overlooked the Potomac river. We made it back to the Barlow center around 9:15 p.m.

Now, I am sitting at my desk, sucking on the giant pixie stik that the Comcast people gave me yesterday and listening to good music. Life is good.

Waiting for ward choir to start. Sierra looks angelic.

(We were sitting in the sun because the church has over active AC like the Barlow and all the Smithsonians.)

Despite many obstacles, we made it to Gravelly Point.

Before I figured out "sunset mode" on my camera.

After I figured out how to use the "sunset mode" on my camera. (The Washington Monument looks like Big Brother. Or the all-seeing eye from the Two Towers. We'll just generalize by saying some authoritarian symbol from a science fiction novel.)