Thursday, June 2

My Breath Fogged up the Glass...

All sorts of music plays around me each day. I love Christian music for its messages, classical music for its predictable turns and powerful harmonies, Gospel music because it brings back memories of singing... Someone once told me I had the right stuff to be in a choir that sang Gospel, so I tried out and somehow made it in. I only stayed with the choir for one performance, and of that I remember "I'll Be Your Bridge Over Troubled Water." I love music from musicals and movies - as long as it's clean - and, like a couple million others, I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. And Christmas music... but not the commercial Christmas music. I like the religious music, and I end up playing it all year long, though I try to be cognizant of others, so it just takes shape in my car and a few random Pandora stations when I find the time.

Right now, though, I've got the song that includes the title of this post stuck in my head, with a somewhat absurd image of someone looking at himself in a mirror, upside down... and I find myself wondering if people really do that, or if it was just hyperbole for the song because it was an interesting image that rhymed, or if they've tried and then just decided to grab a flashlight and shine it in the mirror... which is what I've always done.

Then I find myself wondering how people do a lot of things. If they'll look in a mirror upside down, then I could imagine people doing many other things without choosing the most effective... or maybe just for a different reason than the one I would do it. How do people pray? Read the scriptures? What do they do to prepare for Sunday School or the lessons in Priesthood? What do they do when temptations hit them, or when they feel overwhelmed or burned out or concerned for friends? And what pushes them to make those choices? Something inside? People outside? Their relationship with God?

And, perhaps the most important, what do they do if their choices don't end up working out? A friend once taught me that it is more important to do the right thing, and to know the right thing, and to believe the right thing... than to be right. So if I find I can't see myself in a fogged mirror, or if I pray to God and have asked the wrong question for the answer I need, or if I find myself surrounded by people who totally don't understand... what do I do? Hopefully, I can always find ways to see the optimistic side - to draw a face and laugh or to learn more about God from the experiences I have each day.

3 comments:

  1. You are an inspiration to me. I appreciate your candidness and your desire to do righteously. You have helped me to re-define and re-commit myself to being more saintly. I am a 37 year old "single adult" LDS Woman. The type of single that has never been married and of the never had children variety. I am fully participating in life and in the gospel and trying my hardest to be full of virtue. You make my struggle to endure to the end seem like a cake walk. You have helped me to understand the gospel better. I hope and pray good things happen for you. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous:

    None of our lives are a cake walk. Except, maybe, sometimes, mine... but only if you count birthday and Halloween parties with little kids. Lol. I think the Lord designed life to be the absolute roughest it could be for us, to help us grow the most and learn to be happiest. What is hardest and forces us to choose between faith and the alternative is different for everyone... but in His mind they're all the same - different tools to help us grow. That's why I wouldn't trade my life for anyone's... though it's taken me a while to appreciate it. Keep the faith.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So between reading Tolstoy this week and listening to that song recently, this post hit me especially hard...

    Sometimes our way isn't the best way or the easiest way, but it IS our way. Different things work to help us resist temptations, different things give us pleasure. You enjoy Christmas religious music, I really enjoy listening to soul/gospel music to help me feel the spirit.

    The patterns we develop in our personal studies and interactions with God develop around our very individual personalities. We conform things to our ideals, and so they differ greatly across congregations. That's why we get impressions from the Holy Ghost in very individualized ways, because that's how he speaks best to our souls.

    ReplyDelete

Comment Rules:

(G)MG is how I write to you. Commenting is one way to write to me.

If you want your comment published: No swearing, graphic content, name-calling of any kind, or outbound links to anything but official Church sites.

In addition, comments must be 100% relevant, funny, uplifting, helpful, friendly... well-written, concise, and true. Disparaging comments often don't meet those standards. Comments on (G)MG are personal notes to me, not part of a comment war. You are not entitled to have your ideas hosted on my personal blog. There are a zillion places for that, and only one (G)MG.

And I'd suggest writing your comment in Word and pasting it. That way Blogger won't eat it if it's over the word limit.