Seeking the Help of Angels

As I was thinking about what I wrote the other day, about reaching out for help and friends, another thought occurred to me. The Savior, in the Garden of Gethsemane, fell to His knees and sought out comfort and love from an angel. With this in mind, I think of D&C 122:8 when I ponder on my stubbornness: "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than He?" Who am I, when the Savior of us all Himself sought out the help of angels, to not seek out the comfort, support, help and love of angels in my life? And when I say "angels," I'm referring to family, friends, neighbors, classmates and ward members. We are commanded to be like the Lord in all things. This includes being humble enough to seek out and recognize the hands of angels in our daily lives. They are there. They will help. And receiving help from them only better enables us to to the same for others, which is the ultimate goal in life.

General Conference

(D&C 124:22-55; 125; 127; 128:1-18)

“What can we do better than to show respect to our God by listening to His servant, by treating him with reverence, asking his counsel and seeking for his guidance? I know we pray to God for him, that he may be inspired from on high. Do you believe your prayers? Do you believe that God will and does inspire him? I hope you do; and I hope that having this feeling, you will be prompted to different action. … And shall we say that in some things we are willing to be guided; we think it right to be guided in matters of doctrine, etc.; but in other matters, just as important and necessary for the salvation and preservation of this people, we are not willing? Latter-day Saints, you cannot do it. You cannot get away from this authority and remain Latter-day Saints, for you sever yourselves from the Church of God, because everything you have is based on the recognition of this authority.” –George Q. Cannon

With General Conference approaching, I thought this quote that I read in my D&C manual to be especially applicable to my life right now. As the time draws nearer, we all need to ask ourselves if we believe that the words that will be spoken on Saturday and Sunday are true. I have come to realize over the past few months that I do a lot of asking and pleading for answers and not as much searching for them. Most of the answers we need are there. Though spoken to the multitude of millions, the words of God's living prophets and apostles are meant for the individual. It takes work and effort on our part--we must prepare ourselves with humble hearts to receive the word and His spirit, and then we must return to those words again and again, searching for the answers. Then, finally, the answers will come. The Lord has not left us alone in these latter days. I'm excited to listen to a prophet's voice this weekend so that I can know the will of the Lord regarding what He needs me to do with my life. It's kina' a cool thing to think that we have such easy access to knowing the will of God.

The Magic of Harry Potter

It started when I was eight. Each night, I’d eagerly ask my dad if he would come down to my room and read the books aloud to me, and he would. I have memories of laying in my bed right before drifting off to sleep, listening to his voice paint out the scenes. Privet Drive. The Forbidden Forest. Hogwarts. The Leaky Cauldron. He also introduced me to all the characters. Hagrid. Ron. Snape. Dobby. Hermione. Dumbledore. Harry. And then the group of us—Harry’s gang, my dad, and I—would go off on spectacular adventures in these magical places. It was positively splendid.

For me, picking-up a Harry Potter book, even if it’s just for a few minutes, feels like a little piece of childhood. Harry and I did, after all, practically grow-up together. When the first book was published in 1997 Harry was eleven and I was six. When the last Harry Potter book came out in 2007 Harry was eighteen and I was fifteen. These were the books that planted within me my love for reading and, as such, I read them multiple times growing-up. The first four books especially, I read like crazy. Book number two’s cover is bent and the pages are tattered. Book number four is so worn that the binding had to be fixed with packing tape. But I didn't care what the books looked like on the outside. I cared about what they looked like on the inside; inside my imagination, to be exact. That’s where the magic was.

I realize that by now I probably sound like one of those die-hard fans who walks around wearing a cape and who wonders why my acceptance letter didn't come in the mail when I was eleven, but I’m not. Really—as I sit writing this I’m wearing a sweatshirt and jeans and the only mail I've ever looked forward to getting are the birthday cards I get every year from Grandma and letters written by friends serving religious missions. But just because I don’t read fan fiction into the late hours of the night does not mean that the Harry Potter series does not hold a special place in my heart.

An Extremely (Probably Too) Long Post Wherein I Gab About Sunburns, Friendship and How the Two Relate

Heavens to Betsy goodness gracious! I was talking to my friend Charlotte last night about how we seem to learn something new every semester based on the experiences we have over the four months. Looking back on my last four months I realize that this semester, one of the things I have learned about it the value of friends. For a billion million really lame excuses, I have been extremely self-absorbed this semester. I have not been by thinking happy and outward normal self. No wonder I feel so crummy all the time! Nothing makes someone more unhappy than focusing on why they're justified in feeling unhappy. I can also testify that nothing makes you more lonely than being a "my problems/my life" focused fool. You don't have friends when you push those you already have away and exchange potential new ones for mounds of homework.