Seven.

Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. - Exodus 34:21.

Rest: to cease from the usual pattern of activity; to find relief or freedom from worry, fear, pain, anxiety, etc.

Sabbath, day of rest: Cessation from worldly activity in order to pursue spiritual/religious activity.

Today, I found rest in temple work; it was marvelous.

Six. Concerning friends.

One of the most hopeful scriptures in the Bible, I think, is this promise:

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.   (Matthew 18:20)

I have experienced many times the blessing of being with friends - not only for the sake of companionship and friendship, but also because gathering together in the name of God allows the Spirit to speak to us in different, and sometimes clearer ways.

That, I think, is one of the important reasons for activities and events and meetings in the Church; our unity allows the grace and Spirit of God to flow into our lives in ways it otherwise could not. So too today; my family home evening group, small and informal as it is, was a significant blessing to me in enabling the Spirit to come more into my life.

 

Five. Momentum

Fiction:

Atrophy: degeneration, decline, or decrease, as from disuse.

It had been six years since he had sung with any degree of professionalism. For a former vocalist, that period felt like a lifetime, and he was no longer "in voice." He no longer truly remembered how to be in voice. The first practice session had been intensely painful - not due to vocal damage, but from the stark realization that he could no longer produce the rich, vibrant tone he assumed of himself; rather, he was forced to confront the fact that the shallow, breathy tones he heard were his own.

That first practice session almost discouraged him from singing at all, but with an application of will  - and the spectre of a performance looming - he kept at it. The tone did not return to its former beauty; his timbre had changed, apparently forever. But the notes smoothed; breath control returned - painfully slowly - and he began practicing proper posture with fewer conscious reminders.

Today, this day, he sang. When he opened his mouth, the notes were flat and shake. His voice was unsupported. His pallet wasn't raised.

He didn't care - it felt like he was singing again, and that was all that mattered; for the first time in years, he was again a vocalist.



Afterward, the audience applauded and thanked him for being willing to sing. Then, they asked him to sing again.

Four. Brief

Evidence of God's hand:

I was put in a place where I could talk to someone about hard experiences - and discovered that they are going through now that out of which I have just come. It made my previous struggles more meaningful as a preparation to serve others, and it gave me a chance to put that preparation into use.

Best of all, God blessed me through this to gain a new friend, for whom I am most grateful. God sets the beautiful pattern for our lives, and pain is part of the pattern, too. I see that more clearly now.  "All things work together for ^agood to them that love God" (Rom 8:28).

Three. Spiritual, failure.

Once ,when speaking with a very attractive woman, I found all of my social ability draining from me, in a most frustrating way. Before you dismiss such as standard male experience, first allow me to accuse you of accepting current female chauvinist cultural tropes suggesting that men are generally buffoons. Shame on you for being so insensitive.

Now that we have that out of the way, I will also relate that this was a particularly frustrating experience because the girl was not someone I of whom I am afraid. Indeed, we are good friends and have enjoyed spending time relaxed time together; falling apart should not have occurred whilst I spoke with her.

In something like exasperation, I said a prayer to the effect of, "Sheesh, please help me out here."

The response was quick, but friendly: 'I AM helping you out here."

And, in the intervening weeks and months, I have seen what He meant; the person is happily involved with someone else, and we would have made a very poor couple had I convinced her to pursue a different route.

One of the few works by MC Escher in the public domain, but
I think it shows what I mean.

Viewing God's hand is perhaps simplest in the positive spaces: we pray for a blessing and we receive it; we see it, and we give thanks.

Yet, there exists an entirely different, and equally important line of blessings in the negative space, in the things the Lord does not let us do; the things He prevents us from experiencing, the times He removes our abilities for our benefit.

This was my experience today. I saw God's hand many times, but primarily in keeping things from occurring; though I do not entirely know  why.

It is a trial of faith, I suppose, to wait for the hand of the Lord to be revealed. Once, I had an opportunity to go to Paris. I had purchased my ticket, a large group of my friends were going, and I was excited to join them. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the ferry station, I discovered that I had left my passport in my apartment... an hour's train ride away. Needless to say, I missed the trip and was rather sad about it. But, I had felt previously that the Lord did not really approve of my going, and so I chalked it up to His action and assumed things would work out.

Missing Paris was a major blessing. My friends experienced criminal negligence and consumer abuse at the hands of the Parisian agents of the travel company; it made my blood boil just to hear about it after they had all returned safely (some of them days later than intended). I would not have kept my composure had I faced such treatment, I think. Moreover, I would have missed several important academic, emotional, and spiritual experiences I had while everyone else was gone.

In sum, the Lord knows what He is doing - and His actions to prevent and protect are just as merciful, and important, as His actions to prosper and provide. It is good to know that when the positive space in my life does not seem to be what I want it to be, there is probably design in the negative, in the lack.

(Non) Fiction:

There are treasures

to be found

in the forgotten pockets

of suitcases.

We publish books. On

our website, see text, not pics.

Buyer verdict? Lame.

Photo-sites, theme sites:

Graphic design makes crazy.

Programming does too.

(And no, the first is not and was not intended to be haiku; the haiku were inspired by the eighteen syllable couplet, not the other way around.)

Two. On miracles.

I witnessed a miracle today. Experienced it, in fact - a breakthrough in my corporate endeavours that came as a direct result of my prayer for a miracle. It was a breakthrough in sales - which, honestly, is the first thing that has gotten me nauseatingly scared in some time. Half the miracle was working through the fear, and the other half was being blessed with success. Not a big deal to some. In my life, this was roughly the equivalent of someone parting a personal Red Sea.

I've heard a cliche'd quote that one can go through life either viewing everything as a miracle, or nothing as one. I'm not sure that's true, but it does bring up a good point: a miracle is a personal experience, not just an objective, transcendental lifting of natural or social or psychological or neurological laws. In this regard, the most powerful miracles are not ones in which mountains depart, but ones in which things we thought impossible are brought to pass.

In the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, the tailor Motel (MOTT-uhl) sings it perhaps better than I can write it.

Of all God's miracles, large and small,
the most miraculous one of all is the one I thought would never be...

 - whatever that thing is.

Thus:
"Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven ... giving us consolation by holding forth that which is to come, confirming our hope!

Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!"

(D&C 128:19-22, emphasis added).

You may wonder why I am titling each of these daily posts with a number, or, indeed, why I am posting daily now at all when my wont has been to post once a week or less. The number is an expression of faith in another miracle I am hoping for; I am sharing the number with the denizens of the ether as an added incentive for me to keep it increasing.

More importantly, it follows a hometeaching message from Pres. Eyring, a prophet of God: as we seek to see the hand of God, in our lives and working through others, we will be blessed to see it increasingly often. These daily posts, the daily count, and the fiction, are part of my record of that.

As with today, I will only record those evidences in appropriately vague terms; I cannot describe the complete effects of my experiences to you, nor am I inclined to try.* But I would be remiss in my duty to my fellowman were I to hide the record of my experiences with God.

This is my search for truth and my associated musings about it.

*(For a more thorough psuedo-secular explanation of this, see Kierkegaard's discussion of man's subjective relationship with the divine. For a more accurate explanation: oversharing things that should be kept personal can offend the Spirit.)

One

Thus begins a daily post series for the immediate and forseeable future. Though I generally despise fiction writing on blogs, I have decided that I may subject you all to some of it. Excoriating, defenestrating, exfoliating (yes, that was intentional) remarks concerning my writing are welcome, of course.

I will, however, promise one piece of non-fiction to help make the fiction more palatable. A piece of non-fiction a day keeps the shrink away, as they say, so I shall pave the way for my fiction with a brief musing today.

Today: I gained a testimony of Institute. I have not always attended Institute consistently, but today- late, under-dressed, and hungry - I decided to go. I am very glad I did. I missed more than half of the lesson, but the parts I did hear were exact answers to several very intractable-seeming problems with which I've been grappling over the past few days. Scripture study, temple service, and prayer had not been able to dislodge these issues; forty minutes of Institute did. The Lord moves in mysterious ways, indeed.

And now, for fiction:  (repeat: the following is not true in anything but a literary or metaphorical or symbolic sense. Think of it as a thought experiment, or skip reading it altogether.)

I've decided to start a new diet. I know from experience that avoiding meat leads one to feel lighter, happier, etc. ... so, meat is out. I've decided to follow my friend's advice and change my diet for moral reasons. Animals deserve not to be eaten unnecessarily - it's painful for them, and painful for us.

Anecdotal evidence: several vegetarians I know look young for their age. Several vegetarians I don't know and have never seen claim to look young for their age. Advantage: Being vegetarian, coupled with exercise, may help me look and feel better.

Problem: Exercise is difficult to perform on a vegetarian diet.
Solution: Stop exercising. Wait a minute...

Problem: Exercise is necessary for good health. Protein is necessary for exercise.
Solution: Eat ... scratch that, - choke down non-meat protein.

Problem: Eggs are really gross.
Solution: Barbecue sauce.

Expected result: Short term: Meat withdrawal: stomach ache. General grumpiness. Heightened frustration during mealtimes. Sluggishness.

Mid-term: Gastro-intestinal complications. Reduced food expenditures. Social adaptation leading to positively-altered friendships.

Long term: Lean muscle mass. Heightened mental alacrity (if sufficient fat is ingested). Decreased reaction time. Psuedo hipster-hippy-earth-love status.

Very long term: Nirvana. Possible levitational powers.  

Yeah, this will be good. No problem, really.
(/fiction)