This post is long. And convoluted. But I've needed to post it for a long time now... and I finally have at least something down... so please forgive the mess that is here. I suggest reading it in parts.
Part 1:
I always wondered why so many people who leave the Church become atheists.
I finally think I know why.
Church doctrine teaches truth. But Church culture - the beliefs and teachings that underlie Mormonism in each environment, and Utah especially - teaches a skewed viewpoint of God. And that flawed perspective pushes people away.
Let's start with some background.
God is Omnipotent.
That means He is all-powerful and can do anything that is meaningful or useful.
As far as mortality goes, God has the power to do anything. Literally anything. He can instantly send down fire from heaven to scorch armies, part seas, multiply food without other ingredients, cause and calm storms, create massive earthquakes, strike someone down or bring them back from the dead, answer prayers, heal incurable diseases, force me to do one thing or keep me from doing another, create and destroy feelings and emotions inside my heart, and turn water into wine.
Which means that literally everything that happens in mortality (with one exception - agentic thought) is under His physical control.
God is omniscient.
That means He is completely aware of all things that happen, as they happen, and knows what choices I will make before I make them. He knows my thoughts, my feelings, and every experience that I have.
Which means that everything that happens in mortality is within His awareness.
God is perfect.
That means that everything He does is perfect... and perfectly designed. He doesn't make mistakes... and He is
God is loving.
That means that God wants me to be happy and is willing to do anything to make that happen. But God knows that happiness isn't something that comes from the outside - it's something that comes from *becoming* happy - through becoming like Him. Hence, God actively ensures that every single thing that happens in life will give me the best possible chance to undergo those changes - to change and become like Him. To Him, experiences in life are simply tools in helping me to grow and progress and ultimately find happiness in who I am.
A lack of understanding on one of these points... that's what turns people away.
The biggest?
A misunderstanding of God's love.
I'm not sure how it began.
But at some point, people began believing misunderstanding God... and mixing human ideology with truths that came from Him.
The first? That "blessings" and "trials" are two different boxes of mortal conditions.
According to Mormon culture ideology, "blessings" are all that is good that comes from God. God gives blessings out like gold stars to those who follow Him and keep His commandments. Blessings are always positive. They're golden sunsets, rain when I ask for it, green lights when I'm running late, healing of the sick, wealth, and answers to prayers. Blessings make life simpler, make it easy to smile... and bring us happiness... and if I have a lot of blessings, that's easy proof that I am choosing the right.
"Trials," on the other hand, are the things that make life hard, painful, and difficult. Trials come to everyone, but they are most especially described as consequences for choosing the wrong. Sickness, poverty, accidents, mental illness, and unanswered prayers are a few of the trials I can face. And since God gives out blessings to those who keep His commandments, it follows that those with many trials may have brought those curses upon themselves... given out as black dots of punishment upon those who refuse to follow Him.
Those are only half-truths.
And half-truths are often far more dangerous than flat-out lies.
The reality is that God cannot give me something negative.
Remember? He is perfectly good. A good tree can only give good fruit, and a good fountain can only give good water. Everything He does is good... and God can only give blessings.
The next question follows logically:
If God only gives good things... then where do the bad things come from?
Some claim that bad things come from "things outside of God's control." Perhaps God set the world in motion, and natural disasters are just "consequences of living in a fallen world." Maybe pains are just "part of mortality" or due to "the choices of others" or "required for agency."
Those are even worse lies.
God is omnipotent, remember? That means that *everything* is within His power... and that *everything* that happens in life is under His control.
It becomes complex with the insertion of sin - when I sin, and God allows my breath to sin, my body to sin, and my heart to sin, the action of a sin is not a blessing.
But, as far as it affects someone else... it has to be. God can only give blessings, and there are two parts to sin - the sin itself, and the consequence.
In the consequence, no matter who chose the action, God can only give blessings.
That's a tough thing to swallow... because this extends the "everything that happens" to literally everything.
It means that "bad" things don't happen to good people. It means that "bad" things don't happen to anyone... and, instead, that every circumstance in life is a blessing from God.
That means that being sexually abused when I was 16 was a blessing. That having bipolar was a blessing. That getting hit by a car is a blessing. That being hurt, tormented, insulted, and assaulted are all blessings.
It takes a lot of faith to believe in a God that uses pain and sorrow as symbols of love to shape His children as much as He uses flowers and rainbows.
But that's the crux of the issue.
By believing in a God that only gives positive "blessings," it follows that if I follow God, I'll get the blessings that I want... and if I'm not getting the blessings that I want, then either I'm not doing enough to get those blessings, God doesn't care, I should just take the blessings on my own, or God isn't real at all.
When I believe that God loves me, and is actively involved in my life, and that I'm not doing enough, I become a fanatic - which is what seems to happen to most gay Mormons who want to stay active in the Church. The story is pretty similar. I try to figure out what, exactly, I am doing wrong and try to get it right. The goal of my actions? To get the blessings that I want, or have the trials that I hate taken away. This always ends in "cracking"... as I realize that I've been living a lie - and that my actions won't bring the blessings or alleviate the suffering that I want.
Eventually, many people realize that their actions don't connect directly with the blessings they want. People sin, and aren't immediately struck down. People choose the right, and undergo intense pain. And the deepest desires of my heart stay unfulfilled. So perhaps the God who control all things and give blessings to them that ask doesn't care about me... I should just go get the blessings I want... or God doesn't exist at all. And thus I stop believing in God at all.
...
That's it.
I honestly think that *this* - this misunderstanding of the nature of God, of His love, of the nature of life, of the reality of life's difficulty and the purpose of pain - this misunderstanding is the reason why people actually leave the Church. I believe that God will give me the blessing I want, and when He doesn't, I'm unwilling to trust Him. This is the reason why being gay can be hard in Church culture.
And that's why, when Ammon and Aaron spoke to Kings of the Lamanites, they taught about God.
They didn't teach about the law of murder. They didn't teach about the law of chastity. They didn't teach a law of health or honesty or anything like that.
They taught about God.
I believe that everything in my life - from the emotions I have outside of my control, to the clouds in the sky, are in blessings from God designed to help me return to Him. Everything in my life outside of my actual control is a blessing from God. How I choose to act, based on those circumstances - that is who I am. That is my expression of agency. That is my gift back to God.
I wish I could shout to the world and teach every single soul about who God really is.
That I could mend the fractured religious dogma that have preached a loving God without understanding how He loves... that I could share how much healing, hope, and meaning have come to me from understanding who He really is.
When I learned who God really was, when I began to understand Him, see His power, and feel His hand, it changed my life. That was my breakthrough point... and the point where I learned to become happy.
Part 2:
Many atheists have been born, ironically, out of modern religion's pandering to those who think God should allow them to stray.
It begins with a focus on the forgiving, loving, merciful side of God. "God is love," they proclaim, and people flock to the fold.
But the reality is far more nuanced, and takes a lot more faith to believe.
Yes, God is love.
But God is not rainbows, unicorns, or angels with harps.
Because that's not love.
A good surgeon would not cancel a life-saving surgery just because the surgery could go wrong... or because it could cause intense, even lifelong pain.
Just like a good God wouldn't shorten a life-changing trial for the same reason.
It all comes down to the power of God, His influence, His goals, and the options He has at hand.
God is Omnipotent when it comes to almost all things. He controls the Universe and everything physical, from the stars to the seasons. He could easily even control my body, and there's no reason to assume He hasn't done so at some point in time.
But all those things really don't matter.
It's ironic, because the one thing God does want to change, He can't.
Me.
This gets to the root of agentic behavior. God did not give me agency. Agency, at least the truly-individual-and-only-meaningful-form believed in by Latter-Day Saints, requires that agency be *eternal.*
That means I have always been an agent, or I never was and never will be.
God simply provided a testing ground for me to exercise that agency.
From that perspective - where life is a testing ground where God controls the variables and we choose how to act - it's a lot easier to see how life works.
But two of the factors - our acute memory loss and a lack of perspective - can make it hard to understand some of the variables God uses in the equation.
Take sexual abuse, for an extreme example.
I was abused at 16. It was one of the most terrifying, humiliating, devastating, debilitating experiences I've ever had. I can still look back and see and feel everything that was there.
Someone who makes the false assumption that life is just about mitigating pain and maximizing pleasure would easily make the assumption that a loving God was not involved in my abuse. It doesn't matter how I make the attribution - whether it's that God has to allow "agency" of the person who abused me, or that I live in a "fallen world," that "God doesn't interfere in the system He created," or even that "I deserved it."
All of those deny the reality of God's nature.
Claiming that God is literally or even metaphorically bound by some physical chain that keeps Him from intervening when one of His sons is being sexually abused is almost comical if it weren't on such a heavy topic. The God who closed the mouth of lions, killed the firstborn children of the Egyptians overnight, and made the walls of Jericho fall down flat is not bound by any mortal force. He could have struck down my assailant in an instant, just as He did to the man who steadied the Ark of the Covenant.
Making the claim that the world is outside of God's power, or that He doesn't ever interfere, is just as nonsensical.
The reality is that I know that God could have saved me from abuse.
Yet He didn't.
I know that He could have saved more of the Jews who died in the Holocaust from death.
Yet He didn't.
He could, in an instant, stop wars, end famine, and bring about world peace. He could heal every disease and dry every tear.
And yet He doesn't.
And, in this, I learn the true nature of God... and the nature of God's Plan.
As I said before, God is not a God of rainbows, unicorns, and angels with harps.
Because that's not love.
Understanding how God works requires a bit more perspective than is readily available here in life.
Without the faith to trust God and His teachings through prophets and personal revelation, the *only* thing I can see is the experience I have here in mortality. From that perspective, life is simply about maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain for me and everyone else. I try to be a good person, and I definitely don't understand how or why an Omnipotent, supposedly loving God could stand by while a 16-year-old who is trying to figure out life gets sexually abused. And I definitely can't stomach the commandment in the Old Testament for the conquering Israel to annihilate every man, woman, child, and animal of the nations they overthrew.
With the faith to trust God, none of those things may make sense. Perhaps some of them will, and perhaps they never will. But I am willing to trust God and follow Him.
Sunday, September 4
Friday, August 12
Prone to Wander
There's a popular painting of Christ carrying a lamb on His shoulders. For a long time, that painting has inspired me. Knowing that Christ was willing to go out into the desert, search in the wilderness, and go anywhere to find a lamb who has strayed gave me hope even when I felt like I had gone too far for Him to ever be able to find me... and much too far to ever find my way back.
But there's a lot more to the story than Christ simply rescuing a lamb that is lost.
You see, when a lamb wanders from the fold, the first few times the shepherd simply finds it and leads it back. But if the journey is far, or the lamb shows that it is prone to wander, the shepherd does something else.
He carefully takes the lamb in his arms...
... and breaks its legs.
The now-crippled animal is finally willing to be carried, and the shepherd drapes it over his shoulders, where it stays until the bones have healed.
Yes, the lamb in the painting - the lamb that represents me on Christ's shoulders - has broken legs.
And Christ broke them.
On purpose.
It may seem harsh to break a lamb's legs simply for wandering from the fold, but a lamb that is prone to wander rarely learns to trust the shepherd without it. Wandering from the fold eventually leads to death. And it works. As the bones heal over the course of weeks and months, the lamb learns to trust the shepherd and, ultimately, to follow him.
Many sheep that wandered as a lamb have a permanent limp, as broken bones don't grow back perfectly. But when other sheep may become distracted, or rarely turn from the shepherd's voice, those that learned to trust Him are willing to follow and to listen. They never wander again.
And Christ does the same thing with me.
I've strayed from the path in my life. I've told God I wanted things He wouldn't give me, turned my back on Him, and even gone so far as to draw others away from the truth.
Each time God found me, He offered to carry me home. But I'm proud. I have my own ideas, my own plans, my own dreams that take me in my own direction... and that direction may or may not match up with where He wants me to go.
So He breaks my legs.
In my case, He shatters my dreams, destroys my plans, and crushes my ideas until I'm left without direction or hope in myself.
And, at that moment, hopefully I'm humble enough to let Him carry me.
Unlike lambs, however, which the shepherd will carry against their will, I can only be carried by the Good Shepherd if I allow Him to.
And so He takes a risk in breaking me. He knows the risk... and would only do it if it gave me the best possible opportunity to return to Him. And, so, often He does. Hopefully I will choose humility and draw closer to Him. But just as possible, I could close off from God, reject Him completely, and add the new pain to a list of wrongs He has done to me.
This painting means something different to me now. First, I see the true love of God - a God who is willing to let me go through excruciating pain so that I can learn to trust Him... and who cares so much that He is willing to risk losing me to help me come home. Second, I see a lamb who is humble enough to submit to the shepherd's will. Christ was the true Lamb of God, willing to submit to His Father's will through what most people would call a terribly unfair life. He endured literally everything... which is why He is the Good Shepherd - the One to whom I can submit my own life.
I'll likely wander many times. I know that I am prone to wander... and when Christ breaks my hopes and dreams and legs, I hope that I can always be humble enough to let Him pick me up and put me on His shoulders.
And I hope that, someday, I will be one of His flock that never strays again.
"And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him." - Helaman 12:3
Wednesday, August 10
The BYU Honor Code Bans Hugs, Handshakes, and Temple Attendance
If I'm gay.
Warning. This is a heavy post.
I've worked at BYU as a curriculum designer. I'm a BYU graduate, twice. My license plate says BYU on it. My best friend attends BYU. But just today I learned about something that has given me cause for concern.
There's a line in the current CES Honor Code (the guiding document to which every BYU, BYU-I, BYU-H, and LDSBC student, faculty, and staff member promises adherence) that reads thus (pulled Aug 10 from https://policy.byu.edu/view/index.php?p=26 ):
"Homosexual behavior is inappropriate and violates the Honor Code. Homosexual behavior includes not only sexual relations between members of the same sex, but all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings."
Let's break this down.
"All forms of physical intimacy" means, literally, all forms of physical intimacy. Current definitions of physical intimacy encompass everything from prolonged eye contact to touch in every form, including hugs, handshakes, hand-holding, all the way up to sexual activity.
"That give expression to homosexual feelings" means anything that is motivated by, influenced by, or causes effect from attraction to the someone of the same sex.
This applies disparately based on whether I'm attracted to the same sex or not. In fact, there's a huge difference between the application to me (attracted to men) and the next guy (who probably isn't).
If I'm attracted to guys, then getting hugs, handshakes, and even high-fives from other men meets a deep physical need rooted in my attraction to men. Most men need physical touch from other guys, but I thrive when guys touch me, and my physicality with men is a huge part of my life. And while I can control how much contact I have with others, I can't change the fact that every kind of physical intimacy with men is different because I'm attracted to them (both specifically and in general).
Every single time I give a guy a hug, cuddle up with him on the couch while watching a movie, give him a shoulder to cry on, extend my hand to pick him up when he's fallen, arm wrestle with him, lay my hands on his head to give a blessing, or look deeply into his eyes, part of that action is motivated by my attraction to men. It has little to do if I'm attracted to the guy himself. Yes, being attracted to the specific guy is great, but sitting with any guy is wholly different than sitting with a girl.
If I'm not gay, however, this section has far less impact. In my case, then, the only physical contact barred by the Honor Code would be with another guy I found attractive (from the definition of homosexual attraction - simply defined as feeling that another person of the same gender is attractive). I could hold hands with guys, give them handshakes, hug them, cuddle up on the couch, or even fall asleep on their chests after talking all night like Joseph & Brigham did the night before the martyrdom, without any problem.
After reading the Honor Code statement, I was more than a bit distraught.
My best friend was the one that showed it to me. He asked me if he wasn't allowed to hug me anymore. As I mentioned, he's a BYU student.
My gut started twisting. I told him I didn't want to break the Honor Code.
I have never been in opposition to the Honor Code... I was in the Honor Choir, performed at New Student Orientation and gave firesides about the Honor Code, and still have my Honor T-shirts from Freshman year when every other one was thrown away.
I have always supported the Honor Code... and in every case that someone has attacked it I've always been able to help them understand.
But am I breaking it right now when I hug my best friend? Or when we watch a movie together cuddled on the couch? Those things have never been against Church standards - I mean, John the Beloved was laying on the chest of Christ during the Last Supper, and the modern "guys shouldn't cuddle with guys" has been a western cultural artifact for less than 100 years - proof that physical intimacy among men isn't a sin. All physical intimacy would mean that I could never touch another guy... ever. Is BYU really trying to tell people with same-sex attraction that they should never touch or be touched by another soul?
So I called.
The student at the Honor Code Office was polite and, after a short break on hold, she confirmed that the policy is worded exactly as intended. All forms of intimacy, including hugging, hand-holding, and everything else, are against the Honor Code when same-sex attraction is involved. She offered to put me in touch with the director of the Honor Code Office, and said he would call me back.
Half an hour later, the director called me back and I asked him to help me understand the policy. I explained my concern and the fact that physical intimacy covered things as benign as prolonged eye contact or handshakes, as well as sexual contact. He confirmed, when I asked specifically, that any physical intimacy that is affected by, motivated by, or that has an effect on same-sex attraction is against the Honor Code. I asked again, about hugging, handshakes, and holding hands, and he confirmed that if the action is at all motivated or causes effect to same-sex attraction, it is against the Honor Code.
"Those are things that you shouldn't do."
I didn't know what to say.
I asked for confirmation one last time, and he gave it again. Then I thanked him and hung up.
...
...
...
...I think there's something wrong.
Telling me that I shouldn't have sex with guys is one thing. Or that I shouldn't watch pornography or break the law of chastity in any way - with another guy or alone. I believe that. I support that. And the people who break the Honor Code in that regard need someone to help them repent and change.
But this is way, way more than sexual actions.
This affects everything.
I've officiated as an ordinance worker at the temple - pretty much the most sacred calling a single guy with same-sex attraction can have. Temple workers conduct all the sacred ordinances of the temple... and, when you're a guy, every single one involves male physical intimacy. From looking into someone's eyes for longer than usual, to holding hands, to laying hands on head, to the embrace of baptism, sacred ordinances are the physical representation of a spiritual covenant with God... and so they all have powerful physical aspects.
Does working at the temple, or worshipping at the temple, arouse me sexually? Not usually. But it most definitely affects and is affected by my attraction to men. In fact, working at and attending the temple, for a long time, was the only real, regular physical intimacy I had with men. No one would give me a hug, a handshake, or even hold eye contact with me in real life, but in the temple they had to... and I knew I could go there to not only feel a connection to God, but also to my fellow men. That connection with God and the physical connection I get with male humanity is still a major reason why I go.
And now that's against the Honor Code.
I'm the ward greeter in my ward. A big reason why I shake hands and make eye contact with every person in my ward is to feel connected with people, and to allow them that connection. As I said, every time I touch a guy, it's deeply influenced by the fact that I'm attracted to men. Touching guys, no matter the circumstance, touches me in a way that touching girls does not. And I don't think I'm alone in that regard. It's the exact same thing with heterosexual guys - in a ward missionary meeting just on Sunday my ward mission leader expressed, honestly, that if he got more hugs from cute girls in the ward, his life would be less stressful. I definitely appreciate getting hugs from guys whether they're cute or not. We added giving hugs to the ward mission plan.
But that's against the Honor Code, too.
...
...
...
As are "all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings."
Which means everything.
...
...
...
Looking at my feelings, right now, I'm terribly confused. It's blindingly clear that my actions - as simple as giving my same-sex attracted best friend a hug when I see him at work in the morning - are in violation of the Honor Code. I confirmed that with the director of the Honor Code Office.
But Isn't the Honor Code approved by the leaders of the Church? Shouldn't it reflect the standards of the Church - including those of love and inclusion and support and faith? It definitely didn't include a never-touch-anyone statement the last time I looked... did someone in a committee just add the language as a catch-all?
...
After I post this, I'll contact someone to ask them for advice.
If I were to change the wording, I'd copy the words out of For The Strength of Youth. Put simply, don't do anything with the intent to arouse yourself or others. Simple, clear, direct. And if we need to make a list of Thou-Shalt-Nots, they need to apply to everyone regardless of potential sexual feelings.
But as I wait for a bit more clarity, I find myself asking a difficult question:
What if, as I push to try to find why the Honor Code is worded this way... I learn that God, through the Board of Trustees (the Prophet, First Presidency, and The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) really did intend to communicate that I should never be physically intimate with another guy... ever again?
What if I could never go to the temple? If I could never meet a guy's eyes? If I could never touch a guy, let him touch me, if I could never give my brother-in-law a hug as he leaves for work in the morning or hold my same-sex attracted best friend while he cries on my shoulder?
What if God asked me to never touch a guy again?
Would I be willing to follow His counsel?
I'd lose all my friends if I could never touch them or meet their eyes. I'd lose my calling, never be able to go to the temple, and never be able to give a blessing. I'd be an outcast and a leper with no mortal I could turn to. Life would be worse than it already is.
But if He asked... I'd still follow Him.
Somehow, He would make it right.
I just hope that isn't what He's really asking me to do...
...and that there's just been a terrible misunderstanding.
Update:
I sent an email to the Honor Code Office referencing this blog post and my conversation with the director, asking the wording of the section to be changed. I suggested using the wording found in For a the Strength of Youth - any action designed to cause sexual arousal or stimulation in self or others would be across the line. I'm still hopeful that my conversation was just a major misunderstanding, and that the policy simply needs much less vague, broadly-interpretable language. My concern in this matter is because I care about BYU. I'm not a student, and even if I were, I'd still hug and touch guys even if I were deeply attracted to them.
I'm just concerned that the Honor Code, which for me was always a source of simply, concrete guidance as a student, has potentially begun to isolate those who need help most. With an active underground sexual hookup culture that has always been present, the Honor Code traditionally split people into three groups - those who followed and loved it, those who didn't care for the letter of the law but still wanted to do the right thing, and those who lived in total violation. If platonic physical contact between men, whether or not attraction is involved, is part of restrictions in the Honor Code, that forcefully pushes anyone affected into the middle group. Obviously, the literal interpretation in this post is far-fetched and absurd that it would ever be enforced. But it was also the direct result of my conversation with the director, and doesn't have any logical fallacies or assumptions - I was told that since I and my best friend have same-sex attraction, we shouldn't ever hug each other. There's no sexual desire there, no arousal, no whatever - hence my concern for a policy that keeps the university I love a positive, safe place for people like me - those who love both the letter and the spirit of the law and love to know exactly what it means so that we can help others stay true to the faith.
Warning. This is a heavy post.
I've worked at BYU as a curriculum designer. I'm a BYU graduate, twice. My license plate says BYU on it. My best friend attends BYU. But just today I learned about something that has given me cause for concern.
There's a line in the current CES Honor Code (the guiding document to which every BYU, BYU-I, BYU-H, and LDSBC student, faculty, and staff member promises adherence) that reads thus (pulled Aug 10 from https://policy.byu.edu/view/index.php?p=26 ):
"Homosexual behavior is inappropriate and violates the Honor Code. Homosexual behavior includes not only sexual relations between members of the same sex, but all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings."
Let's break this down.
"All forms of physical intimacy" means, literally, all forms of physical intimacy. Current definitions of physical intimacy encompass everything from prolonged eye contact to touch in every form, including hugs, handshakes, hand-holding, all the way up to sexual activity.
"That give expression to homosexual feelings" means anything that is motivated by, influenced by, or causes effect from attraction to the someone of the same sex.
This applies disparately based on whether I'm attracted to the same sex or not. In fact, there's a huge difference between the application to me (attracted to men) and the next guy (who probably isn't).
If I'm attracted to guys, then getting hugs, handshakes, and even high-fives from other men meets a deep physical need rooted in my attraction to men. Most men need physical touch from other guys, but I thrive when guys touch me, and my physicality with men is a huge part of my life. And while I can control how much contact I have with others, I can't change the fact that every kind of physical intimacy with men is different because I'm attracted to them (both specifically and in general).
Every single time I give a guy a hug, cuddle up with him on the couch while watching a movie, give him a shoulder to cry on, extend my hand to pick him up when he's fallen, arm wrestle with him, lay my hands on his head to give a blessing, or look deeply into his eyes, part of that action is motivated by my attraction to men. It has little to do if I'm attracted to the guy himself. Yes, being attracted to the specific guy is great, but sitting with any guy is wholly different than sitting with a girl.
If I'm not gay, however, this section has far less impact. In my case, then, the only physical contact barred by the Honor Code would be with another guy I found attractive (from the definition of homosexual attraction - simply defined as feeling that another person of the same gender is attractive). I could hold hands with guys, give them handshakes, hug them, cuddle up on the couch, or even fall asleep on their chests after talking all night like Joseph & Brigham did the night before the martyrdom, without any problem.
After reading the Honor Code statement, I was more than a bit distraught.
My best friend was the one that showed it to me. He asked me if he wasn't allowed to hug me anymore. As I mentioned, he's a BYU student.
My gut started twisting. I told him I didn't want to break the Honor Code.
I have never been in opposition to the Honor Code... I was in the Honor Choir, performed at New Student Orientation and gave firesides about the Honor Code, and still have my Honor T-shirts from Freshman year when every other one was thrown away.
I have always supported the Honor Code... and in every case that someone has attacked it I've always been able to help them understand.
But am I breaking it right now when I hug my best friend? Or when we watch a movie together cuddled on the couch? Those things have never been against Church standards - I mean, John the Beloved was laying on the chest of Christ during the Last Supper, and the modern "guys shouldn't cuddle with guys" has been a western cultural artifact for less than 100 years - proof that physical intimacy among men isn't a sin. All physical intimacy would mean that I could never touch another guy... ever. Is BYU really trying to tell people with same-sex attraction that they should never touch or be touched by another soul?
So I called.
The student at the Honor Code Office was polite and, after a short break on hold, she confirmed that the policy is worded exactly as intended. All forms of intimacy, including hugging, hand-holding, and everything else, are against the Honor Code when same-sex attraction is involved. She offered to put me in touch with the director of the Honor Code Office, and said he would call me back.
Half an hour later, the director called me back and I asked him to help me understand the policy. I explained my concern and the fact that physical intimacy covered things as benign as prolonged eye contact or handshakes, as well as sexual contact. He confirmed, when I asked specifically, that any physical intimacy that is affected by, motivated by, or that has an effect on same-sex attraction is against the Honor Code. I asked again, about hugging, handshakes, and holding hands, and he confirmed that if the action is at all motivated or causes effect to same-sex attraction, it is against the Honor Code.
"Those are things that you shouldn't do."
I didn't know what to say.
I asked for confirmation one last time, and he gave it again. Then I thanked him and hung up.
...
...
...
...I think there's something wrong.
Telling me that I shouldn't have sex with guys is one thing. Or that I shouldn't watch pornography or break the law of chastity in any way - with another guy or alone. I believe that. I support that. And the people who break the Honor Code in that regard need someone to help them repent and change.
But this is way, way more than sexual actions.
This affects everything.
I've officiated as an ordinance worker at the temple - pretty much the most sacred calling a single guy with same-sex attraction can have. Temple workers conduct all the sacred ordinances of the temple... and, when you're a guy, every single one involves male physical intimacy. From looking into someone's eyes for longer than usual, to holding hands, to laying hands on head, to the embrace of baptism, sacred ordinances are the physical representation of a spiritual covenant with God... and so they all have powerful physical aspects.
Does working at the temple, or worshipping at the temple, arouse me sexually? Not usually. But it most definitely affects and is affected by my attraction to men. In fact, working at and attending the temple, for a long time, was the only real, regular physical intimacy I had with men. No one would give me a hug, a handshake, or even hold eye contact with me in real life, but in the temple they had to... and I knew I could go there to not only feel a connection to God, but also to my fellow men. That connection with God and the physical connection I get with male humanity is still a major reason why I go.
And now that's against the Honor Code.
I'm the ward greeter in my ward. A big reason why I shake hands and make eye contact with every person in my ward is to feel connected with people, and to allow them that connection. As I said, every time I touch a guy, it's deeply influenced by the fact that I'm attracted to men. Touching guys, no matter the circumstance, touches me in a way that touching girls does not. And I don't think I'm alone in that regard. It's the exact same thing with heterosexual guys - in a ward missionary meeting just on Sunday my ward mission leader expressed, honestly, that if he got more hugs from cute girls in the ward, his life would be less stressful. I definitely appreciate getting hugs from guys whether they're cute or not. We added giving hugs to the ward mission plan.
But that's against the Honor Code, too.
...
...
...
As are "all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings."
Which means everything.
...
...
...
Looking at my feelings, right now, I'm terribly confused. It's blindingly clear that my actions - as simple as giving my same-sex attracted best friend a hug when I see him at work in the morning - are in violation of the Honor Code. I confirmed that with the director of the Honor Code Office.
But Isn't the Honor Code approved by the leaders of the Church? Shouldn't it reflect the standards of the Church - including those of love and inclusion and support and faith? It definitely didn't include a never-touch-anyone statement the last time I looked... did someone in a committee just add the language as a catch-all?
...
After I post this, I'll contact someone to ask them for advice.
If I were to change the wording, I'd copy the words out of For The Strength of Youth. Put simply, don't do anything with the intent to arouse yourself or others. Simple, clear, direct. And if we need to make a list of Thou-Shalt-Nots, they need to apply to everyone regardless of potential sexual feelings.
But as I wait for a bit more clarity, I find myself asking a difficult question:
What if, as I push to try to find why the Honor Code is worded this way... I learn that God, through the Board of Trustees (the Prophet, First Presidency, and The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) really did intend to communicate that I should never be physically intimate with another guy... ever again?
What if I could never go to the temple? If I could never meet a guy's eyes? If I could never touch a guy, let him touch me, if I could never give my brother-in-law a hug as he leaves for work in the morning or hold my same-sex attracted best friend while he cries on my shoulder?
What if God asked me to never touch a guy again?
Would I be willing to follow His counsel?
I'd lose all my friends if I could never touch them or meet their eyes. I'd lose my calling, never be able to go to the temple, and never be able to give a blessing. I'd be an outcast and a leper with no mortal I could turn to. Life would be worse than it already is.
But if He asked... I'd still follow Him.
Somehow, He would make it right.
I just hope that isn't what He's really asking me to do...
...and that there's just been a terrible misunderstanding.
Update:
I sent an email to the Honor Code Office referencing this blog post and my conversation with the director, asking the wording of the section to be changed. I suggested using the wording found in For a the Strength of Youth - any action designed to cause sexual arousal or stimulation in self or others would be across the line. I'm still hopeful that my conversation was just a major misunderstanding, and that the policy simply needs much less vague, broadly-interpretable language. My concern in this matter is because I care about BYU. I'm not a student, and even if I were, I'd still hug and touch guys even if I were deeply attracted to them.
I'm just concerned that the Honor Code, which for me was always a source of simply, concrete guidance as a student, has potentially begun to isolate those who need help most. With an active underground sexual hookup culture that has always been present, the Honor Code traditionally split people into three groups - those who followed and loved it, those who didn't care for the letter of the law but still wanted to do the right thing, and those who lived in total violation. If platonic physical contact between men, whether or not attraction is involved, is part of restrictions in the Honor Code, that forcefully pushes anyone affected into the middle group. Obviously, the literal interpretation in this post is far-fetched and absurd that it would ever be enforced. But it was also the direct result of my conversation with the director, and doesn't have any logical fallacies or assumptions - I was told that since I and my best friend have same-sex attraction, we shouldn't ever hug each other. There's no sexual desire there, no arousal, no whatever - hence my concern for a policy that keeps the university I love a positive, safe place for people like me - those who love both the letter and the spirit of the law and love to know exactly what it means so that we can help others stay true to the faith.
Saturday, August 6
Disney, Gay Mormons, and Happily Ever After
There's something awesomely magical about watching a Disney film unfold. Over and over and over again, the protagonist faces life's struggles with head held high. Reaching deep inside, he (well, usually she) learns something new, overcomes impossible odds, finds friends in unlikely places, dreams enormous dreams, and finally, after a full 90 minutes of struggle, reaches the coveted Happily Ever After.
But while Disney films may inspire magic and lift hearts, protect morals and preserve childlike imagination, their happy music and fairy-tale endings belie a much darker side.
And I'm not talking about secrets or hidden messages.
I betray my childhood with the statement that comes next.
Happily Ever After is a lie.
But it's more than just a lie. I already knew that the Happily Ever After of a Disney story was a fairy tale. Enchanted taught me that, along with Frozen's candid assertion of the absurdity of marrying someone you met the same day.
And yet, while a few recent films have added tongue-in-cheek references to its fantastic reality, Happily Ever After is still central to the Disney franchise... and the vast majority of Disney movies still pay homage to its power.
It's unlikely that Walt Disney could have imagined how influential his films would become. What began with Snow White and Cinderella has grown to become a cultural icon... to the point that today's world - my generation - grew up fed with Disney stories. I knew the songs for every movie, watched some of them dozens of times... and since I was old to enough to dream, dreamed of my own Happily Ever After.
While the idyllic Happily Ever After may be an obvious stretch of reality, it has shaped my culture. Today, even though I laugh at the tongue-in-cheek references where Disney makes fun of itself, I find that I actually believe in Happily Ever After. And so does most of my generation.
And on the outset, that doesn't sound too bad. Disney's Happily Ever After comes when I give my best effort. When I do everything right. When I wish upon a star, try harder than ever before, put myself out there, serve and work and give everything I have. And then, shortly thereafter, I find my true love and we spend the rest of our lives in Happily Ever After - a gift from the universe as proof of my effort. It pushes me to try harder, to believe in God, and to ask for blessings and miracles. It gives me hope when times are hard, and it encourages me to literally give everything.
But what about when I apply my belief in Happily Ever After to real life? Real life lasts a whole lot longer than the 90 minutes of a feature-length family film. What happens when the promised Happily Ever After doesn't come?
And what about when even getting to Happily Ever After seems impossible by following God? When 90 minutes, or just as many years, have passed and the future seems just as impossibly bleak?
And here we find the darker side of Happily Ever After. Disney teaches that anyone will get Happily Ever After if they work hard enough... and that those who give their all *deserve* it... sooner rather than later.
And when it doesn't happen? When Happily Ever After doesn't come in the Disney world, it's because I haven't truly tried hard enough. Or, more likely, because a seemingly-good-but-actually-evil villain stands in the way.
Either way, someone is at fault... because I haven't gotten what I truly deserve.
It's a lie.
And yet I believe it...
Along with everyone else in today's world.
It's easy to connect the dots and see how a universal belief in Happily Ever After is ravaging those whose lives are more complicated than the Disney model. Like mine - I'm only attracted to men and I definitely feel like I have given my all for years. If I believe that God (the Universe) will give me Happily Ever After (usually interpreted as marriage and eternal bliss with someone I love) while I'm still young, then anyone who tells me otherwise, or stands in the way, is the evil villain.
Disney teaches that I deserve someone to love who loves me back. That I should work my hardest to achieve it. And that nothing should stand in the way of love, raising a family, and having someone to come home to.
Reality is different.
Reality is that following God will help me find greater happiness than any other alternative. Reality is that I deserve better than just mortal love... and that God's love and presence can actually compensate for not having love here in life. Reality is that it is through His Grace (and not my work) that all blessings come. And that I am the only thing that can stand in the way of His love.
And the final reality?
Happily Ever After isn't something I receive. It's not a gift that someday God or the Universe will give me, the result of finding someone to love, or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It doesn't come with "I do" at marriage to someone who loves me back. It's not even the reward given by God at the end of putting in all I can.
That's because Happily Ever After isn't something I get, find, or obtain.
Happily Ever After is something I *become*.
It's finding the happiness that God has.
It's becoming like God.
And that's both why it could never be gifted from on high... and why turning away from God to find it will never work.
That's why putting in all my effort isn't ever enough. That's why I can ask God for blessings and the prayers seem unanswered as my life gets harder. That's why I face insurmountable trials that smash me flat.
Because I'm not like Him yet.
And if I haven't yet become Happily Ever After, it's simply because I still have more to become. And this trial, this blessing, this life was designed to help me become like Him - so of course God wouldn't just take it away.
There is one extra complication:
God does actually promise me the Disney Happily Ever After.
Just on a different time table... and according to His ways.
He promises that, eventually (sometime before the Resurrection), if I've done my best for my entire mortal life (a whole lot longer than 90 minutes), I'll find someone I love who loves me back with whom to have a family.
But just because God promises a Disney ending does not mean that a marriage like in Disney movies = Happily Ever After. As I said before, Happily Ever After is not an action or a gift. It is something I become, and nothing else.
And now & in the meantime, He promises that I will find greater happiness by following Him than any other alternative... even if another path seems to offer exactly what I think I want.
Those are powerful promises. They're especially intense given how badly I want a family of my own. And how I can't remember ever really being attracted to a woman. And how old I am in Mormon family culture. And how alone I've spent most of my life. And how difficult it is for me to even make and keep friends, let alone find a spouse.
God doesn't promise that I'll become Happily Ever After today, or tomorrow, the next day, or even fifty years down the road. He doesn't claim that life will be easy, idyllic, or fair. He doesn't claim that happiness won't seem possible somewhere else. He requires total sacrifice of everything I hold dear, every dream I dream, every wish of my heart.
And He promises that I really will become Happily Ever After - as I slowly change and become like Him.
But while Disney films may inspire magic and lift hearts, protect morals and preserve childlike imagination, their happy music and fairy-tale endings belie a much darker side.
And I'm not talking about secrets or hidden messages.
I betray my childhood with the statement that comes next.
Happily Ever After is a lie.
But it's more than just a lie. I already knew that the Happily Ever After of a Disney story was a fairy tale. Enchanted taught me that, along with Frozen's candid assertion of the absurdity of marrying someone you met the same day.
And yet, while a few recent films have added tongue-in-cheek references to its fantastic reality, Happily Ever After is still central to the Disney franchise... and the vast majority of Disney movies still pay homage to its power.
It's unlikely that Walt Disney could have imagined how influential his films would become. What began with Snow White and Cinderella has grown to become a cultural icon... to the point that today's world - my generation - grew up fed with Disney stories. I knew the songs for every movie, watched some of them dozens of times... and since I was old to enough to dream, dreamed of my own Happily Ever After.
While the idyllic Happily Ever After may be an obvious stretch of reality, it has shaped my culture. Today, even though I laugh at the tongue-in-cheek references where Disney makes fun of itself, I find that I actually believe in Happily Ever After. And so does most of my generation.
And on the outset, that doesn't sound too bad. Disney's Happily Ever After comes when I give my best effort. When I do everything right. When I wish upon a star, try harder than ever before, put myself out there, serve and work and give everything I have. And then, shortly thereafter, I find my true love and we spend the rest of our lives in Happily Ever After - a gift from the universe as proof of my effort. It pushes me to try harder, to believe in God, and to ask for blessings and miracles. It gives me hope when times are hard, and it encourages me to literally give everything.
But what about when I apply my belief in Happily Ever After to real life? Real life lasts a whole lot longer than the 90 minutes of a feature-length family film. What happens when the promised Happily Ever After doesn't come?
And what about when even getting to Happily Ever After seems impossible by following God? When 90 minutes, or just as many years, have passed and the future seems just as impossibly bleak?
And here we find the darker side of Happily Ever After. Disney teaches that anyone will get Happily Ever After if they work hard enough... and that those who give their all *deserve* it... sooner rather than later.
And when it doesn't happen? When Happily Ever After doesn't come in the Disney world, it's because I haven't truly tried hard enough. Or, more likely, because a seemingly-good-but-actually-evil villain stands in the way.
Either way, someone is at fault... because I haven't gotten what I truly deserve.
It's a lie.
And yet I believe it...
Along with everyone else in today's world.
It's easy to connect the dots and see how a universal belief in Happily Ever After is ravaging those whose lives are more complicated than the Disney model. Like mine - I'm only attracted to men and I definitely feel like I have given my all for years. If I believe that God (the Universe) will give me Happily Ever After (usually interpreted as marriage and eternal bliss with someone I love) while I'm still young, then anyone who tells me otherwise, or stands in the way, is the evil villain.
Disney teaches that I deserve someone to love who loves me back. That I should work my hardest to achieve it. And that nothing should stand in the way of love, raising a family, and having someone to come home to.
Reality is different.
Reality is that following God will help me find greater happiness than any other alternative. Reality is that I deserve better than just mortal love... and that God's love and presence can actually compensate for not having love here in life. Reality is that it is through His Grace (and not my work) that all blessings come. And that I am the only thing that can stand in the way of His love.
And the final reality?
Happily Ever After isn't something I receive. It's not a gift that someday God or the Universe will give me, the result of finding someone to love, or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It doesn't come with "I do" at marriage to someone who loves me back. It's not even the reward given by God at the end of putting in all I can.
That's because Happily Ever After isn't something I get, find, or obtain.
Happily Ever After is something I *become*.
It's finding the happiness that God has.
It's becoming like God.
And that's both why it could never be gifted from on high... and why turning away from God to find it will never work.
That's why putting in all my effort isn't ever enough. That's why I can ask God for blessings and the prayers seem unanswered as my life gets harder. That's why I face insurmountable trials that smash me flat.
Because I'm not like Him yet.
And if I haven't yet become Happily Ever After, it's simply because I still have more to become. And this trial, this blessing, this life was designed to help me become like Him - so of course God wouldn't just take it away.
There is one extra complication:
God does actually promise me the Disney Happily Ever After.
Just on a different time table... and according to His ways.
He promises that, eventually (sometime before the Resurrection), if I've done my best for my entire mortal life (a whole lot longer than 90 minutes), I'll find someone I love who loves me back with whom to have a family.
But just because God promises a Disney ending does not mean that a marriage like in Disney movies = Happily Ever After. As I said before, Happily Ever After is not an action or a gift. It is something I become, and nothing else.
And now & in the meantime, He promises that I will find greater happiness by following Him than any other alternative... even if another path seems to offer exactly what I think I want.
Those are powerful promises. They're especially intense given how badly I want a family of my own. And how I can't remember ever really being attracted to a woman. And how old I am in Mormon family culture. And how alone I've spent most of my life. And how difficult it is for me to even make and keep friends, let alone find a spouse.
God doesn't promise that I'll become Happily Ever After today, or tomorrow, the next day, or even fifty years down the road. He doesn't claim that life will be easy, idyllic, or fair. He doesn't claim that happiness won't seem possible somewhere else. He requires total sacrifice of everything I hold dear, every dream I dream, every wish of my heart.
And He promises that I really will become Happily Ever After - as I slowly change and become like Him.
Sunday, July 24
Planting Seeds
My aunt posted a photo on Facebook about her emotions watching her son prepare to leave for college.
And I feel torn.
I'm grateful for the rare glimpse into someone else's life. For the emotional connection it gives me.
I still feel torn.
The post was short, brimming with emotion, full of untold stories. It hinted at an incredible depth of relationship and the mixture of pride, joy, pain, and grief that my aunt feels from watching her son grow and now move to another stage of life.
It made me look at my life - at my job, my calling, my recreation, my blog. And painted in letters bright enough that even I can see it, is a pattern repeated over and over and over again.
At The Soap Factory, my passion is trying to find ways to teach people new things. To open their hearts to new experiences and push them into new territory. It works - I have amazing opportunities to teach about Jesus Christ, to share stories about health (and sometimes soap), and to give advice on every topic under the sun.
In my calling, I greet people who are new to my ward and try to quickly make them feel at home. In a community where there's a huge amount of turnover, and in a ward with boundaries that sometimes feel enormous, my role is helping people instantly be at ease... so that they won't just disappear or hop to another ward the next week. I'm not as good as this one, and I probably won't usually end up being a great friend in the long run, but at least I can tell who's new and who is visiting. And if I'm the only person to shake someone's hand each week, maybe know their name, and share an honest smile, at least one person touched them.
Here at (G)MG I write about my life and then send it into the unknown. People from all over the world read (G)MG - from Malaysia to Africa. I try to accurately capture all the things that happen to me, dig down deeply into my own soul, encapsulate what God is teaching me, and then just push "Publish."
The story repeats itself throughout my life. I find ways to touch people and their lives - to cut through the bulk of social barriers and get close enough to break through and make a difference, sometimes where it's been hard to make a difference before. Even my little sister tells me that every time she's with me, she learns something new.
But it comes with a major caveat.
In most cases, those instant relationships don't last very long. Rarely do they develop into something else.
There are a few major exceptions. My current best friend has somehow survived the chaos of my life and is still here. I'm getting closer to my family as well. There are a few people in my ward that I could and should probably call friends. And there are others.
But, for the vast majority of people I meet, I feel like my social world is the same one where I garden.
I love gardening. I dream of being able to grow beautiful, awesome, unique things that change the world. I wanted to go into horticulture when I was little. Today, I buy heirloom seeds, organic soil, and do everything right. The seeds are planted at just the right depth. Within a few weeks, all sprout and grow beautifully. They get sunshine, just the right amount of water, and an enormous amount of love.
Everything seems right. Even the hardest seeds can sprout with love, patience, and work - from ancient tomatoes to rare Italian Cedro.
And then the hundreds of healthy sprouts just stop growing - completely and totally stop. There are thousands of different reasons why, but by the time I figure out which one it was this time, everything is dead. The garden at my shop had to be moved to the roof because of an infestation of fungus gnats that didn't respond to every possible intervention. When I moved to my current home, I replaced all the soil in my flowerbeds because it was too alkaline, then the next year removed the even more toxic soil I had just laid down (it was literally floating on a thin layer of muck). I stopped composting because the walnut leaves that fell from my trees would just kill everything. And, just recently, we removed the garden completely... and filled it in with lawn.
I am awesome at starting things, at planting seeds.
I can make anything sprout - from the hardest seeds to the most closed hearts and minds.
But only once in a thousand tries do I even dream of being the one to see fruit - like the emotional depth my aunt wrote about with her son.
...
But that's my role, right? Someone prepares the soil, someone plants seeds, someone nurtures them, and someone gathers fruit. I plant seeds. From my blog - which allows me to scatter my thoughts across the globe - to my shop - which allows me to break through and learn about people's needs - my life is all about planting seeds.
And that's ok. Where I plant seeds (and can't get them to grow), someone else can nurture plants but doesn't have the tools to get them started. I have my own place on the pathway to Salvation - and I was given talents to do my part. Today is Pioneer Day here in Utah - a celebration of people whose lives were dedicated to planting real seeds, along with those of faith, work, foundations, and society.
Maybe that's where I've gone wrong in gardening. I think that next year I'll start seeds for gardens... and then give them away to people who can make them thrive.
And, if I'm lucky, maybe they'll share fruit with me.
And I feel torn.
I'm grateful for the rare glimpse into someone else's life. For the emotional connection it gives me.
I still feel torn.
The post was short, brimming with emotion, full of untold stories. It hinted at an incredible depth of relationship and the mixture of pride, joy, pain, and grief that my aunt feels from watching her son grow and now move to another stage of life.
It made me look at my life - at my job, my calling, my recreation, my blog. And painted in letters bright enough that even I can see it, is a pattern repeated over and over and over again.
At The Soap Factory, my passion is trying to find ways to teach people new things. To open their hearts to new experiences and push them into new territory. It works - I have amazing opportunities to teach about Jesus Christ, to share stories about health (and sometimes soap), and to give advice on every topic under the sun.
In my calling, I greet people who are new to my ward and try to quickly make them feel at home. In a community where there's a huge amount of turnover, and in a ward with boundaries that sometimes feel enormous, my role is helping people instantly be at ease... so that they won't just disappear or hop to another ward the next week. I'm not as good as this one, and I probably won't usually end up being a great friend in the long run, but at least I can tell who's new and who is visiting. And if I'm the only person to shake someone's hand each week, maybe know their name, and share an honest smile, at least one person touched them.
Here at (G)MG I write about my life and then send it into the unknown. People from all over the world read (G)MG - from Malaysia to Africa. I try to accurately capture all the things that happen to me, dig down deeply into my own soul, encapsulate what God is teaching me, and then just push "Publish."
The story repeats itself throughout my life. I find ways to touch people and their lives - to cut through the bulk of social barriers and get close enough to break through and make a difference, sometimes where it's been hard to make a difference before. Even my little sister tells me that every time she's with me, she learns something new.
But it comes with a major caveat.
In most cases, those instant relationships don't last very long. Rarely do they develop into something else.
There are a few major exceptions. My current best friend has somehow survived the chaos of my life and is still here. I'm getting closer to my family as well. There are a few people in my ward that I could and should probably call friends. And there are others.
But, for the vast majority of people I meet, I feel like my social world is the same one where I garden.
I love gardening. I dream of being able to grow beautiful, awesome, unique things that change the world. I wanted to go into horticulture when I was little. Today, I buy heirloom seeds, organic soil, and do everything right. The seeds are planted at just the right depth. Within a few weeks, all sprout and grow beautifully. They get sunshine, just the right amount of water, and an enormous amount of love.
Everything seems right. Even the hardest seeds can sprout with love, patience, and work - from ancient tomatoes to rare Italian Cedro.
And then the hundreds of healthy sprouts just stop growing - completely and totally stop. There are thousands of different reasons why, but by the time I figure out which one it was this time, everything is dead. The garden at my shop had to be moved to the roof because of an infestation of fungus gnats that didn't respond to every possible intervention. When I moved to my current home, I replaced all the soil in my flowerbeds because it was too alkaline, then the next year removed the even more toxic soil I had just laid down (it was literally floating on a thin layer of muck). I stopped composting because the walnut leaves that fell from my trees would just kill everything. And, just recently, we removed the garden completely... and filled it in with lawn.
I am awesome at starting things, at planting seeds.
I can make anything sprout - from the hardest seeds to the most closed hearts and minds.
But only once in a thousand tries do I even dream of being the one to see fruit - like the emotional depth my aunt wrote about with her son.
...
But that's my role, right? Someone prepares the soil, someone plants seeds, someone nurtures them, and someone gathers fruit. I plant seeds. From my blog - which allows me to scatter my thoughts across the globe - to my shop - which allows me to break through and learn about people's needs - my life is all about planting seeds.
And that's ok. Where I plant seeds (and can't get them to grow), someone else can nurture plants but doesn't have the tools to get them started. I have my own place on the pathway to Salvation - and I was given talents to do my part. Today is Pioneer Day here in Utah - a celebration of people whose lives were dedicated to planting real seeds, along with those of faith, work, foundations, and society.
Maybe that's where I've gone wrong in gardening. I think that next year I'll start seeds for gardens... and then give them away to people who can make them thrive.
And, if I'm lucky, maybe they'll share fruit with me.
Thursday, July 21
Everything Gone Wrong, Gone Right
This last week was tough. I gave a fireside for my ward on Sunday. In the days leading up to it, everything in life just seemed to go wrong.
Well, not *everything* - just enough went wrong to make life uncomfortable, but not impossible. In reality they were all little, insignificant things. But the combination definitely matched up with the adage that blessings come after the trials.
My laptop was the first death. I somehow dropped my backpack in the parking garage, and the five-foot fall to concrete smashed the corner, ejected the battery, and messed up the ports on the HP laptop I've nurtured for years. It still worked, but only sometimes. Thankfully, I have some personal property insurance as a birthday gift from my dad each year. The insurance company warned that if the fix was too time-consuming or expensive, they wouldn't fix it. Or return it. They'd just send me a check to buy a new one. So I backed up the data and sent it in. They'll get back to me by the first week in August. In the meantime I was supposed to send artwork to someone. Man.
The air conditioning unit in my shop was the next casualty. Monday morning it just didn't work. The Soap Factory is a second-floor store, so I, my best friend, and all our customers have had to brave 89-degree heat while making soap each day. It sounds far less awful on paper than it was in reality. I almost bought an evaporative cooler. One day I bought 100lbs of ice and just set huge bags of it on the tables out front, trying to cool the room down. Our chocolate melted. Thankfully, after a third of the truffles in the store turned into mush, I approached a restaurant next door. They were willing to let us store chocolate truffles & bars there so the rest would be safe. The A/C tech our landlord uses was crazy busy, but he was able to make time for us. There ended up being two different leaks in piping for our A/C unit, which is (hopefully, as of 9:30 last night - 10 days after it went out) fixed! I am so grateful for air conditioning now. I should have given all my customers free ice-cold water. That idea came a day too late.
Then my phone broke. In reality, all of my charging cables broke, not my phone, but since it was at 10% when they all bit the dust, it may have well been the phone itself. I bought a phone off of KSL. It wasn't new, though, and while it seemed perfect, I realized after a few days that the battery life on the new phone was... about 2 hours on standby. And the cord the guy supplied me with doesn't charge the phone. I had to cut my SIM card to fit inside though, so there was no going back. I tried to buy a third phone as a replacement, but it ended up being locked to the wrong carrier. After talking with customer support reps for over 4 hours, I gave up on that one and just sold it again. I bought another (this is phone #4 in one week) one to try out a new carrier, but then spent another 4 hours attempting to get it activated. It finally worked, and I'm happy with the service, but the process was so painful that I'm wary of porting my phone number over. And somewhere along the way I had to cut up my best friend's SIM card, too - to appease a customer support rep who wasn't even able to do much. Being on the phone that long helped me realize something: I am so grateful that I work with happy people, doing happy things.
Institute was next. Usually I'm on time to Institute - it's a really important part of my week and helps me put things into perspective. Last Wednesday, though, the heat and the constant stream of customers (oh. And the broken phone(s) probably) distracted me until 7:35. I missed half of class and had to sit out in the foyer. Our institute teacher is so popular that his class fills the entire half of the cultural hall and overflows onto chairs and couches outside the doors. I had seen people sitting out there before, but I had never realized how hard it was to hear comments or participate in the lesson. And as I walked out of the shop, a huge group walked in, so as soon as the prayer finished, I went back to work.
Two of our three sinks were next. I walked into the back room halfway through the Friday rush and the sink had somehow emptied itself onto the carpeted floor, which was now sopping wet. I had dozens of customers, and no idea what had happened. I actually still don't know what happened. With *this* much happening, it was pretty obvious that everything that could go wrong, would. The sink in the front stopped draining, but an hour of alternating baking soda & vinegar (not really convenient with a full store, but whatever) fixed that. I mentioned to a customer that likely my microwaves would break next. Not both of them - because that would make work impossible - but one of them, probably the one in front, to make life a little bit harder.
Called it.
Saturday, after hosting a family reunion, our main microwave stopped heating. It still turns on, but nothing gets hot... And I definitely didn't have the time or emotional wherewithal to take it apart. I am über-grateful we have a backup. Having to walk to the back of the store is inconvenient, but at least we can work.
There was more. Half a dozen flies flew in when we opened the windows and doors to create airflow. The soaked carpet added mugginess to the already overwhelming heat. The EMV chip reader on our credit card terminal broke. Someone poured a cup of soda into the carpet. I connected one of my interim phones to the wifi hotspot for a few minutes and it used over a gigabyte of data and suspended the store's data plan (which meant we had to create a hotspot from the phone that has a 2-hour battery life). The price we pay for grape seed oil at our current supplier jumped. I arrived at a grocery store to buy important supplies and realized I had no cash, and they didn't take credit cards. I almost got hit twice by people playing Pokemon Go in their cars. My best friend's mom went to the hospital for pneumonia. The brand-new sod in my back yard turned brown even though we ran the sprinklers according to the company's suggestions. And then I couldn't sleep Saturday night.
I think God really wanted me to be humble. And since I'm naturally proud, He had to do a lot to get my attention. I'm grateful to have a Father who's willing to let me go through rough times.
Hopefully it worked as well as He had intended.
The fireside was a huge success. The little front room we met in was packed with people, mostly from my ward with a few friends. I shared some of my story, then took questions anonymously (people wrote them on notecards and I answered them from my personal experience). We got through most of the questions, then ended and had refreshments. It was simple. The response, though, was enormously positive - both in person and in the days since.
Was it worth it?
Yeah. It was.
It's likely that being humbled made me more receptive to the Spirit as I spoke on Sunday night. Partway through, I got a question that asked for personal advice. I had thoughts about what to say, but, as sometimes happens, I felt that I shouldn't share them. I realized that while I was the one speaking out loud, God is the One who answers questions. He's the Source of light, clarity, and peace... and, in all cases, going to Him will get the right answer. And getting close to Him is the whole reason we have this journey. The fireside was His, not mine, and I'm glad that I could be there to watch Him touch the hearts of people I love.
In the days since, life has gone better. In addition to a now-fixed A/C unit, I've had some crazy awesome experiences with customer service that have made me smile from ear to ear.
But that's probably for another post. This one is probably too long already.
Well, not *everything* - just enough went wrong to make life uncomfortable, but not impossible. In reality they were all little, insignificant things. But the combination definitely matched up with the adage that blessings come after the trials.
My laptop was the first death. I somehow dropped my backpack in the parking garage, and the five-foot fall to concrete smashed the corner, ejected the battery, and messed up the ports on the HP laptop I've nurtured for years. It still worked, but only sometimes. Thankfully, I have some personal property insurance as a birthday gift from my dad each year. The insurance company warned that if the fix was too time-consuming or expensive, they wouldn't fix it. Or return it. They'd just send me a check to buy a new one. So I backed up the data and sent it in. They'll get back to me by the first week in August. In the meantime I was supposed to send artwork to someone. Man.
The air conditioning unit in my shop was the next casualty. Monday morning it just didn't work. The Soap Factory is a second-floor store, so I, my best friend, and all our customers have had to brave 89-degree heat while making soap each day. It sounds far less awful on paper than it was in reality. I almost bought an evaporative cooler. One day I bought 100lbs of ice and just set huge bags of it on the tables out front, trying to cool the room down. Our chocolate melted. Thankfully, after a third of the truffles in the store turned into mush, I approached a restaurant next door. They were willing to let us store chocolate truffles & bars there so the rest would be safe. The A/C tech our landlord uses was crazy busy, but he was able to make time for us. There ended up being two different leaks in piping for our A/C unit, which is (hopefully, as of 9:30 last night - 10 days after it went out) fixed! I am so grateful for air conditioning now. I should have given all my customers free ice-cold water. That idea came a day too late.
Then my phone broke. In reality, all of my charging cables broke, not my phone, but since it was at 10% when they all bit the dust, it may have well been the phone itself. I bought a phone off of KSL. It wasn't new, though, and while it seemed perfect, I realized after a few days that the battery life on the new phone was... about 2 hours on standby. And the cord the guy supplied me with doesn't charge the phone. I had to cut my SIM card to fit inside though, so there was no going back. I tried to buy a third phone as a replacement, but it ended up being locked to the wrong carrier. After talking with customer support reps for over 4 hours, I gave up on that one and just sold it again. I bought another (this is phone #4 in one week) one to try out a new carrier, but then spent another 4 hours attempting to get it activated. It finally worked, and I'm happy with the service, but the process was so painful that I'm wary of porting my phone number over. And somewhere along the way I had to cut up my best friend's SIM card, too - to appease a customer support rep who wasn't even able to do much. Being on the phone that long helped me realize something: I am so grateful that I work with happy people, doing happy things.
Institute was next. Usually I'm on time to Institute - it's a really important part of my week and helps me put things into perspective. Last Wednesday, though, the heat and the constant stream of customers (oh. And the broken phone(s) probably) distracted me until 7:35. I missed half of class and had to sit out in the foyer. Our institute teacher is so popular that his class fills the entire half of the cultural hall and overflows onto chairs and couches outside the doors. I had seen people sitting out there before, but I had never realized how hard it was to hear comments or participate in the lesson. And as I walked out of the shop, a huge group walked in, so as soon as the prayer finished, I went back to work.
Two of our three sinks were next. I walked into the back room halfway through the Friday rush and the sink had somehow emptied itself onto the carpeted floor, which was now sopping wet. I had dozens of customers, and no idea what had happened. I actually still don't know what happened. With *this* much happening, it was pretty obvious that everything that could go wrong, would. The sink in the front stopped draining, but an hour of alternating baking soda & vinegar (not really convenient with a full store, but whatever) fixed that. I mentioned to a customer that likely my microwaves would break next. Not both of them - because that would make work impossible - but one of them, probably the one in front, to make life a little bit harder.
Called it.
Saturday, after hosting a family reunion, our main microwave stopped heating. It still turns on, but nothing gets hot... And I definitely didn't have the time or emotional wherewithal to take it apart. I am über-grateful we have a backup. Having to walk to the back of the store is inconvenient, but at least we can work.
There was more. Half a dozen flies flew in when we opened the windows and doors to create airflow. The soaked carpet added mugginess to the already overwhelming heat. The EMV chip reader on our credit card terminal broke. Someone poured a cup of soda into the carpet. I connected one of my interim phones to the wifi hotspot for a few minutes and it used over a gigabyte of data and suspended the store's data plan (which meant we had to create a hotspot from the phone that has a 2-hour battery life). The price we pay for grape seed oil at our current supplier jumped. I arrived at a grocery store to buy important supplies and realized I had no cash, and they didn't take credit cards. I almost got hit twice by people playing Pokemon Go in their cars. My best friend's mom went to the hospital for pneumonia. The brand-new sod in my back yard turned brown even though we ran the sprinklers according to the company's suggestions. And then I couldn't sleep Saturday night.
I think God really wanted me to be humble. And since I'm naturally proud, He had to do a lot to get my attention. I'm grateful to have a Father who's willing to let me go through rough times.
Hopefully it worked as well as He had intended.
The fireside was a huge success. The little front room we met in was packed with people, mostly from my ward with a few friends. I shared some of my story, then took questions anonymously (people wrote them on notecards and I answered them from my personal experience). We got through most of the questions, then ended and had refreshments. It was simple. The response, though, was enormously positive - both in person and in the days since.
Was it worth it?
Yeah. It was.
It's likely that being humbled made me more receptive to the Spirit as I spoke on Sunday night. Partway through, I got a question that asked for personal advice. I had thoughts about what to say, but, as sometimes happens, I felt that I shouldn't share them. I realized that while I was the one speaking out loud, God is the One who answers questions. He's the Source of light, clarity, and peace... and, in all cases, going to Him will get the right answer. And getting close to Him is the whole reason we have this journey. The fireside was His, not mine, and I'm glad that I could be there to watch Him touch the hearts of people I love.
In the days since, life has gone better. In addition to a now-fixed A/C unit, I've had some crazy awesome experiences with customer service that have made me smile from ear to ear.
But that's probably for another post. This one is probably too long already.
Sunday, July 17
Questions / Answers
I gave a Q&A Fireside tonight in my ward. We got through most of them, but I promised I'd answer the rest of the questions we didn't have time to cover in person here on (G)MG. Here they all are.
How do you stay strong, and what advice would you give to someone with similar struggles?
I stay strong one day at a time. When temptation comes, I try to get physically away if possible - get up and get moving - or I drop to my knees and pray for help until it passes. What advice? Focus on being as good as you can be, love yourself, forgive yourself, and be willing to let yourself get back up when you fall. Look forward instead of back. Let God take care of your problems instead of worrying about them yourself. Serve others and follow God, and trust that He will make it all work out, even and especially if you don't understand.
What do you do to help you through the downs of your depression?
I don't have depression anymore. But I learned a bunch of coping skills. Some were better - playing a piano outside my home for hours, or forcing myself to exercise until I almost dropped dead. But those required effort that I couldn't always summon. Sometimes I would play video games because they could keep me from turning to addiction for relief, and from wanting to die, for long enough that when I finished I could go to sleep. The best things? People who pulled me out - who came to my house and got me up and took me somewhere they could show me love, doing something I usually enjoy. It didn't make me happy, but people are far better at distracting or coping than even video games. But that didn't happen often.
From your blog experience and interactions, do you feel most people with same-sex attraction want to get married to the opposite gender... or is that too difficult and complicated?
I know that, in my case, I just want to love, be loved, and have a family. There were definitely times that, if I could have snapped my fingers and fallen in love, I would have done it. Marriage has people strongly on both sides. And yet, at least from my limited perspective, getting married seems to be far less important than loving/being loved/having kids in the faithful, Mormon, same-sex attraction community. There are lots of men and women with same-sex attraction who make the decision to be married, and plenty who also decide that waiting on the Lord for that miracle (which may not even happen in this life) isn't worth it. At the beginning of their journey, I think most members of the Church want to be married in the temple, even if they don't understand how it will be possible. As they become more disenchanted with the gospel, it seems like that desire lessens greatly.
Would you say there's a connection between pornography, bipolar, and same-gender attraction? Or are they all different?
I definitely think they're both - totally separate parts of life, but totally interconnected in my life. The lows of bipolar could trigger intense temptations to pornography. Exposure to pornography could influence temptations in same-sex attraction. A lack of understanding about same-sex attraction, or feelings of guilt about pornography, could potentially trigger depressive mood swings. And yet each one can also act completely independently, even in opposition to the direction in which the others are traveling.
What has been the response from the gay community about your blog / choice to live Church standards?
I get ridiculed by people sometimes who claim that my decision to be true to God is not "authentic" to who I "really" am. When I began blogging, some people didn't think I was real at all. One person claimed I was a group of BYU professors, another wrote that I was probably a General Authority undercover. Obviously both were far from the truth. Some people have told me that my existence is a major threat - since I'm faithfully religious, still single, and only attracted to men - apparently my life invalidates some of the assumptions underlying their own. Most probably don't even know I exist, and some reach out to me with questions - wanting to better understand their religious friends or family.
Would you adopt? How do you plan on facing that issue?
I want to have my own kids. Yes, I'd adopt if I needed to, but I'm not going to marry a woman if I'm not interested in having a family with her (and all the prerequisites to making that happen). That wouldn't be fair to me or to her.
How has your life changed since you learned you were attracted to men, and accepted that as part of your life?
I'm a lot more forgiving of myself now. I used to treat myself incredibly harshly. Now I realize that I make mistakes, but so does everyone. The important thing is getting back up and trying again. Another thing that's changed is that I also have a really hard time dating. I used to date a ton. Since I've shared my experiences openly, I haven't gone on dates with many people. It was a lot easier to just not have to say anything - now I feel like I'd have to explain, "I'm not physically attracted to you, but I thought I'd ask you out anyway." - and that just doesn't sound appealing.
I heard it a gay guy who married a friend of his (girl) even though he wasn't attracted to her. What do you think about that? Right/wrong? Would you consider doing that?
Marriage is a totally personal choice. Other than the requirement of man and woman, there are tons of variables in each one. I know that for me, I feel that I'll need to be deeply attracted to a woman to be able to marry her - so I feel I have to wait until I fall in love. It's possible that this guy got a spiritual confirmation that she was the right person even though there wasn't attraction... but I'd be wary. Marriages with same-sex attraction are incredibly difficult even with love and attraction. Without it, they may be beginning one step closer to potential problems.
Do you think viewing pornography led you to be attracted to men?
I don't. I was only ever attracted to the same sex. But the fact that I chose pornography about same-sex relationships, and never viewed or read pornographic material involving women, was actually exacerbated by cultural norms. I learned in Church that women's bodies were sacred and that pornography was seeing them naked. I wasn't ever taught that men's bodies were sacred, and no one ever spoke about male pornography... and so there were times that I honestly told myself (pretty convincingly) that what I was doing wasn't as bad, because there were no women involved.
How have you been able to overcome social difficulties with autism?
For me, the biggest key to overcoming my social failures is having a "role" to play. At Church, I'm a greeter - so I talk with people. I'm a ward missionary. At work, I actually created my own role - one that focuses on the things I love to do best. In relationships.... Um... I'm awful. I can communicate well with people until they get to a certain point of closeness, and then often communication is really hard. My best friend and I have tons of trouble communicating. One thing that has helped, though, is to learn how other people communicate. Just look up autism and social dynamics studies like priming, peer pressure, sarcasm, honesty, candor... it was really eye-opening for me to realize how different "normal" was from my own experience.
My brother just left the Church. How do I answer when he criticizes the Church and its doctrine?
Just bear testimony. Use first person and talk about your own experiences. Don't ever try to conjecture about what someone else feels or why they did what they did. Pray for guidance. And sometimes, if the Spirit prompts you, just be quiet. If your brother already knows your feelings, he might just be looking for a confrontation. Soft words, or silence, can be golden.
Thursday, June 30
I Love My Job
Someone mentioned to me that I haven't blogged about my shop in a while... and that made them concerned that something was wrong. Part of the reason I don't blog about work much is it feels almost commercial... and I promised myself years ago when I began blogging that (Gay) Mormon Guy wouldn't have ads or commercials or whatever.
That said, this is a post about work.
Yesterday work was tough.
So. Many. People.
Wednesday has traditionally been an under-the-radar kind of day for The Soap Factory. It's not as slow as Monday, which sometimes is so quiet that I think about closing. It's nowhere near as busy as Saturday. It's just Wednesday.
Except for the last few weeks.
For whatever reason, with the beginning of Summer tourist season, Wednesday in the early afternoon has risen to the busiest time of the week. Last week I thought we were going to drown in customers... and this week had even more people.
I don't run The Soap Factory to make money. If my goal were to make money, I'd be in a different business. I run it because I love it, and because I love being able to interact with people and teach them about life. I love teaching the Gospel to people, testifying about Jesus Christ, and talking about how much He means to me. I love being able to meet people from all over the world, hear their stories, and find ways to help them find happiness and peace.
So, above the requisite number to break even, more customers doesn't mean that business is better. It just means that business is busier.
To be honest, when there are more than 15 people in the store I feel like I lose my ability to really make deep connections with people. Like early yesterday afternoon. People still have a great time, and they write great reviews, but they check out and I feel like I don't even know them. I almost feel like giving them a discount because it feels like they missed out on the personal interaction part of The Soap Factory experience, and indubitably I apologize for being so busy. Contrast that with the times when the shop is quiet and I can talk with people about anything.
Financially, The Soap Factory is in the black. I don't pay myself much... I usually just take home the cash tips from the tip jar... but it makes enough money to pay employees, rent, and all the rest of the costs. Cool new development though: I think that my new budget shows that I might even be able to pay myself minimum wage.
That'll be a first. :) I've never been able to pay myself hourly in my own business before.
All in all, I find that I love my work. I love the view of the temple outside my window, I love working with my best friend and little sister, I love being downtown Provo, I love meeting new people each day.
I think I love everything.
Well... almost everything. I could do without the summer heat.
Sunday, June 19
Hope & Trust in God
Sometimes God asks me to believe in what seems impossible.
I'm physically attracted to men.
And physically repulsed by women.
That's a rough thing to write. Repulsion usually carries a deep, painful connotation - I'm repulsed by the smell of rotting garbage, or the offer of drugs or alcohol, or maggots. To say I'm physically repulsed by women, and to put all those in the same category... doesn't seem a very nice thing to do.
But the times I kissed a girl, albeit on stage, I felt almost the same way. The times I tried to imagine myself falling in love with a girl, the feeling came back. It's strong enough to almost want to say, "If you're interested in me, please don't touch me. Please don't kiss me. And please, please, please don't wear revealing clothes in my presence."
All that taken into account, it's hard for me to see myself falling in love with a woman.
But I could fall in love emotionally, or in other ways. It's much harder to see myself being physically attracted to a woman.
And yet God promises that, if I'm faithful, patient, and live my life according to His commandments, someday that'll happen to me. I'll fall in love with a woman, get married, and have a family.
Do I believe it will happen? Yeah.
Do I understand how it will happen? Not at all.
Do I know when? Absolutely no idea.
All that, combined with my current repulsion, sometimes makes it a little hard to find peace in the fact that God has my back.
Part of hope and trust in God is realizing that He has my best interests at heart... and hence He cares about my feelings the same way I do. Earlier this week I was trying to phrase my feelings the right way so that God's promises are most compelling. Wording is pretty important... because choosing the wrong words can make the most beautiful, awesome promise into garbage.
The promise that "Someday I'll be forever in love with someone I currently find repulsive, showing love in ways that would make my stomach curdle"...
That's not really a promise I want.
And while the words may technically be accurate, they aren't wholly true to the promise that God has made me.
"Someday I'll fall in love with a woman God has chosen for me, get married, and raise a family. And while I don't know who she is or how it will happen, the promise is that it will happen, and and be awesome, and pursuing that path will make me far happier now, then, and after than any other road I could follow."
It's the same promise, but it definitely sounds a whole lot better.
The world around me would tell me I don't need to wait - that I should find a guy to fall in love with and chart my own path. But they don't see the reality. God exists. He is real. He knows me personally. He also knows EVERYTHING. And loves me and wants me to be as happy as possible. That's why He has outlined the Plan - His Plan - and why He wants me to follow it. While I probably could find a guy to love, God knows, and I know deep inside because He has confirmed it to me, that finding and falling for a guy wouldn't be worth selling my soul. God will take care of me, in His time and His way, if I follow Him.
Perhaps that's one reason why I live the life I do - to learn patience. I must have had a lot of patience to learn. :)
I know that following the path God has revealed, no matter what He asks, will always bring the greatest happiness. I have tough days where I wish that my life were simpler. I have moments where I wonder what life would be like if I answered the call of the world. I realize how easy it really would be to turn away from God and leave it all behind. He will never leave me... and, thankfully, I haven't left Him. Hopefully I never will.
Sunday, June 5
Don't Read This Post.
I'll be honest.
I'm not perfect.
I'm actually nowhere near perfect.
I know that may come as a shock since (G)MG often only shows resolution of the more complex pieces of my life... and doesn't really highlight the times I'm frustrated for reasons too stupid to write about or some of the "lesser" things I wish I could change.
Probably because I know that, by writing about it, it will push me into doing the right thing. And sometimes I don't want to. Or I don't want to try and fail and disappoint myself again.
One of those things is scripture study.
The face-saving part of me - the part that wants David to look and sound perfect for some unknown and probably irrational reason - wants to interject here and say for the record that I read and study the scriptures. It wants to convince you that, while I'm about to tell you something beautiful about myself, you should gloss over the harsh reality that the story actually uncovers. He doesn't want you to read this post at all. The reason actually isn't irrational. The face-saving part of me wants you to like me, and it believes that by pretending to be perfect, or at least softening the imperfections, I'll be more likable and less likely to get hurt.
Don't listen to the face-saving part.
The reality is that even though I think about the scriptures, quote them to people, teach people about the gospel, and even have them on the lock screen of my phone, my personal scripture study has been sorely lacking.
That means nonexistent.
I've started and stopped new ideas and projects and commitments, from "ponderizing" to reading early in the morning to reading late at night to listening while I exercise, but each time something would break the habit and it would die. Early mornings I fall back asleep. Late nights are too late. Exercise buddies move away or learn they shouldn't be exercising.
And the scripture study linked in the mix gets lost.
I don't want to gloss over that reality, because I think it's a vital part of understanding me. As good as my intentions may have been, they weren't actually doing anything for me when it came to scripture study. I wasn't reading daily, and because I wasn't reading daily, God couldn't give me the guidance and blessings He really wanted to.
That's why what has happened in the last few weeks has been so different.
First I started attending Institute.
I usually work every night of the week. But something happened one day - I think someone new in my ward told me they wanted to go - and I felt the desire to go to Institute. That meant making sure that I don't need to work that night.
So I made plans, told my best friend so he could work that night, and gave my little sister a ride.
And while the actual class I'm attending in Institute is, as it always seems to be, anticlimactic, just being there allows me to think, quietly focus, and receive revelation for my life. (Face-saving David wants to tell you that the Institute teacher is incredibly well-versed, prepares for each lesson, has lots of background information, and is obviously effective at motivating people to come to Institute as the class is packed)
Since then I've made sure to be at Institute each week... even currently riding my bike from work. And it's worth it.
The second thing I've done I also learned about at Church. Someone mentioned that they had heard about someone who, every day after arriving at work a bit early, would take time to study the scriptures.
My work is just across the street from the temple grounds... so each morning after I arrive, I walk across the street, find a shady spot, and read.
In Institute the class I'm currently in is studying the Old Testament. So I started at the beginning of the Bible and began to read.
And it's amazing how enjoyable it's been.
The first week my mind would wander as I sat down to read. I'd get thoughts about work, or life, and after fighting with them I decided to simply take time to write them down.
But since then, as I've taken time to find a place away from worldly distractions (though only a hundred yards away), the stories of the scriptures have come alive again... in a way I remember but hadn't been able to reawaken.
I find myself laughing at Leah & Rachel's bitter struggle for their husband's affection, mourning the Flood, and feeling intense love for a changed, forgiving Esau when Jacob returned home after being gone for 20 years. And Abraham's lifelong desire to be a father and the blessing of Isaac after 100 years of patiently, faithfully waiting helps me realize that God really does keep His promises - in His own time.
Reading the scriptures each day has made a powerful, positive difference in my life. It's a little bit easier to choose the right when temptations come, and a lot easier to see the hand of God around me.
I think the key for me was scheduling a daily and weekly habit that took me outside of my normal schedule, and took me away from distraction.
I'm glad it happened.
Now hopefully I can keep it up.
Sunday, May 29
Some Thoughts
I felt jealous this week.
It was actually last week, but this blog post has sat on my phone, languishing, along with countless others of its (unfinished) kind.
Or at least a twinge of something somewhat like jealousy. Or longing. Or desire. Or whatever.
It was Friday night, and my shop was packed with people. Earlier in the day had been utterly quiet, with only a handful of people walking in. By 8pm, though, almost ten different groups were scattered throughout the process that is Soap Factory.
Usually watching people is just a cognitive process for me: This group seems to be having a good time, that group probably needs some help because their conversation skills seem lacking. This person may be going through a difficult life experience - they'd probably benefit from some extra attention. I'm a host, and my job is to make sure that people have a great, hopefully transformative experience within the process of making soap... and while my emotions are there, I'm a host first and foremost.
But something inside me broke open on Friday, and a flood of emotions burst out.
It's ironic.
I run one of the coolest date spots in Provo.
We were just recognized as a top location on TripAdvisor with their "Certificate of Excellence" award.
But I can't remember the last time *I* went on a date.
And the last time I had plans other than work on a Friday night sounds just as long ago.
But, I choose to work on Friday nights. I could have someone else work just as easily... and part of the reason I work on Fridays is so that I'm distracted.
The problem is that I don't know what I want.
Maybe that's not completely true. Part of me never gave up on the want for my life to be normal, to fall in love with a nice girl, to have a family of my own, to have my share like Job of intense but perishable life trials, and to do all the things that everyone else seems to take for granted.
But most of me knows that stubbornly wanting something doesn't mean it will just come true... no matter how faithful I am or how much I want it.
And isn't my life already incredibly valuable? I mean, if 100 people came to my shop out of all the other things they could do, doesn't that mean that I'm providing a valuable resource to the community and the world? Yes, they go home with memories, better relationships, and their own creations... but I go home knowing that I was instrumental in helping it happen. I watch people who've been hurt find healing, other open their hearts that have been closed, and many laugh when laughter has been gone for far too long. In my shop, parents raise their children and others find a sense of wonder long since lost.
It sounds beautiful.
And it really is.
Which ironically, makes the feeling of, "Is it worth it?" that much more poignant when it comes.
I really, really, really want a family of my own.
To the point that I read the entire Utah statute on foster parenting in the past few weeks... and everything the Church has ever written on the marginal subject of being a single foster parent.
I believe that someday I'll get married and have a family.
I've been reading the Old Testament over the last few weeks, and the story of Abraham spoke to me. My patriarchal blessing talks about Abraham... and how if I'm patient like he was, I'll receive the same blessings he did. He didn't get married young, or have children young. His son Isaac didn't, either. And yet God helped them find happiness... and He also helped them make an impact in their worlds.
So the thought about fostering is there, but it's not a "I'll never get married, so this is the next best." It's more like, "There are kids out there that need someone they can rely on... and while all of them deserve a family with a mom and a dad, some of them are kids that those parents won't or can't currently take. I don't have a family of my own, so I have the ability now to maybe help in my own way."
I don't know how my family would react to that. Or my best friend. Or the people around me. And I'd need not only emotional but real support from them to make it work.
But if I get caught up in too much introspection, this post will die again... but something brought me back to it today. So I want it to survive.
There it is.
I feel like I just found an answer to a question I've had. Last week in Church God told me I needed to move. Where and when and why and how to make that choice have been stirring in my head and heart... and while fostering may not actually be the end destination God has for me in mind, thinking about that direction offers me plenty of guidance in moving.
It doesn't fix the longing, or even address it. God does that to me often - instead of telling me what I want to hear, He tells me what I need to hear... and eventually I find the answers along the way.
And perhaps there's nothing wrong with feeling a deep and powerful longing. When people come into my shop, my need to help others manifests itself there. If I had a family of my own, it's unlikely that I'd spend so much time away from home. Perhaps God simply needs me where I am... or I need to learn something from the people I meet each day.
Either way, He knows what He is doing. And while the longing is still there, so is a deep and abiding happiness. Life is good. God is in control.
Sunday, May 8
Becoming a Parent Someday
My mother is a hero.
She studied rocket science at MIT. Between winning regional diving championships and cooking mass meals for the Institute, she met my dad, who was studying business. He had a year left, and she had two... so she did what her advisers thought impossible and completed her junior and senior years together, taking classes that overlapped and somehow being in two places at the same time.
Her colleagues became astronauts and scientists.
Her rivals won Olympic gold medals.
She became my mom.
Some parents aren't fully present in their children's lives. Many work, spend time with adult friends and family, and spend time in church callings away from home. Somehow, I don't remember that happening with my mom. When my dad lost his job, I always asked to go on excursions to find the sales to restock the food storage we lived on. When I had crazy ideas, she helped me make them work. We built a 12-foot tower from a piece of paper and a foot of tape one night for school, folding and creasing tiny strips into telescoping triangles. I followed her to stake choir practice, to Homemaking, everywhere.
She, like me, has always had trouble making close friends, and we lived hundreds of miles from her family... so she was always there for me. Not overbearing or hovering - I spent plenty of hours hidden in corners reading books and didn't often talk to her about school - but always available when I wanted or needed her help.
Watching my parents has fanned a flame in my own heart - a desire deep inside me that defines me more than anything else in my life - the desire to be a father. To have my own children, to be there in their lives, and to live adventures with them. To teach someone else to build intricate towers late into the night from K'NEX or look through telescopes on the roof at Orion or split hostas and irises until there's nowhere else to put them.
It colors everything I do, everything I plan, everything I want.
I've only ever wanted one thing more:
To be good... and to do the right thing.
In the beginning, I thought I'd get married young, have lots of kids, and live happily ever after with my family. I dated a ton, even though it didn't really work out and caused chaos for everyone involved. I even avoided study abroads and international trips because I thought that I'd have a better chance finding a spouse at home... and wanted to save money for when I did.
As time went on, my concern grew and eventually became enormous. I was getting older, everyone around me was getting married, and I wasn't anywhere close. I realized I had problems that I faced - specifically being attracted to men instead of women - and I hit a wall when I realized that I needed to trust God and let Him worry about the timing of my life. My zealous passion for dating subsided, and I focused, instead of on finding someone, on becoming a better man so that someday I could be a good husband and dad.
I feel like I've made progress.
I've gone to school and learned about myself and others, and found ways to make a difference in the world. I've beaten bipolar and gained enough coping skills that most people can't tell that I have autism. I don't have a lot in financial savings, but I've learned the importance of giving freely and often.
I'm a better man than I was a few years ago. As I've grown older, my dream to be a dad doesn't change, but the possibility of it being realized seems to get smaller and smaller.
Last week I was down on myself as I thought about my life... comparing what I want with what others have... and in my conversation with God He reminded me of the story of Abraham. Abraham was like me. Our childhoods were different, but he wanted to be a dad just like I do. So he did the right things, trusted God, and waited. A few pages later, when Abraham was 100 years old, his son Isaac was born.
The story gave me hope. If God could do miracles for Abraham, He can do miracles for me.
It also opened up my eyes to something that could have saved me a lot of grief. In my patriarchal blessing, it promises that if I "endure to the end," someday I'll be a father. That phrase has always made me wonder. Usually I think of "endure to the end" as something that comes after. I make covenants, see blessings from God, and then endure to the end through the ensuing trials of life. Endure to the end, from that perspective, is a pithy statement that means "stay faithful until I die." How am I supposed to endure to the end before I get married and have kids in this life?
The answer was right there. I was given the same promise that was given to Abraham. And while God always keeps His promises, I have to do my part as well. Abraham waited 100 years for Isaac... which is definitely long enough to count as "enduring to the end" in my book. Maybe that's why waiting is a difficult part of my life, too.
I'm grateful for a mom that has been there for me. For parents who helped me want to be a parent myself. But, most especially, for their focus on doing the right thing. Yes, I may have to wait... but God always keeps His promises, in His time and in His way, yes, but a promise is a promise. If I'm faithful, keep my covenants, and endure to the end, I'll be a dad someday.
She studied rocket science at MIT. Between winning regional diving championships and cooking mass meals for the Institute, she met my dad, who was studying business. He had a year left, and she had two... so she did what her advisers thought impossible and completed her junior and senior years together, taking classes that overlapped and somehow being in two places at the same time.
Her colleagues became astronauts and scientists.
Her rivals won Olympic gold medals.
She became my mom.
Some parents aren't fully present in their children's lives. Many work, spend time with adult friends and family, and spend time in church callings away from home. Somehow, I don't remember that happening with my mom. When my dad lost his job, I always asked to go on excursions to find the sales to restock the food storage we lived on. When I had crazy ideas, she helped me make them work. We built a 12-foot tower from a piece of paper and a foot of tape one night for school, folding and creasing tiny strips into telescoping triangles. I followed her to stake choir practice, to Homemaking, everywhere.
She, like me, has always had trouble making close friends, and we lived hundreds of miles from her family... so she was always there for me. Not overbearing or hovering - I spent plenty of hours hidden in corners reading books and didn't often talk to her about school - but always available when I wanted or needed her help.
Watching my parents has fanned a flame in my own heart - a desire deep inside me that defines me more than anything else in my life - the desire to be a father. To have my own children, to be there in their lives, and to live adventures with them. To teach someone else to build intricate towers late into the night from K'NEX or look through telescopes on the roof at Orion or split hostas and irises until there's nowhere else to put them.
It colors everything I do, everything I plan, everything I want.
I've only ever wanted one thing more:
To be good... and to do the right thing.
In the beginning, I thought I'd get married young, have lots of kids, and live happily ever after with my family. I dated a ton, even though it didn't really work out and caused chaos for everyone involved. I even avoided study abroads and international trips because I thought that I'd have a better chance finding a spouse at home... and wanted to save money for when I did.
As time went on, my concern grew and eventually became enormous. I was getting older, everyone around me was getting married, and I wasn't anywhere close. I realized I had problems that I faced - specifically being attracted to men instead of women - and I hit a wall when I realized that I needed to trust God and let Him worry about the timing of my life. My zealous passion for dating subsided, and I focused, instead of on finding someone, on becoming a better man so that someday I could be a good husband and dad.
I feel like I've made progress.
I've gone to school and learned about myself and others, and found ways to make a difference in the world. I've beaten bipolar and gained enough coping skills that most people can't tell that I have autism. I don't have a lot in financial savings, but I've learned the importance of giving freely and often.
I'm a better man than I was a few years ago. As I've grown older, my dream to be a dad doesn't change, but the possibility of it being realized seems to get smaller and smaller.
Last week I was down on myself as I thought about my life... comparing what I want with what others have... and in my conversation with God He reminded me of the story of Abraham. Abraham was like me. Our childhoods were different, but he wanted to be a dad just like I do. So he did the right things, trusted God, and waited. A few pages later, when Abraham was 100 years old, his son Isaac was born.
The story gave me hope. If God could do miracles for Abraham, He can do miracles for me.
It also opened up my eyes to something that could have saved me a lot of grief. In my patriarchal blessing, it promises that if I "endure to the end," someday I'll be a father. That phrase has always made me wonder. Usually I think of "endure to the end" as something that comes after. I make covenants, see blessings from God, and then endure to the end through the ensuing trials of life. Endure to the end, from that perspective, is a pithy statement that means "stay faithful until I die." How am I supposed to endure to the end before I get married and have kids in this life?
The answer was right there. I was given the same promise that was given to Abraham. And while God always keeps His promises, I have to do my part as well. Abraham waited 100 years for Isaac... which is definitely long enough to count as "enduring to the end" in my book. Maybe that's why waiting is a difficult part of my life, too.
I'm grateful for a mom that has been there for me. For parents who helped me want to be a parent myself. But, most especially, for their focus on doing the right thing. Yes, I may have to wait... but God always keeps His promises, in His time and in His way, yes, but a promise is a promise. If I'm faithful, keep my covenants, and endure to the end, I'll be a dad someday.
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