It Is Better to Look Up

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

It Is Better to Look Up, by Carl B. Cook
Of the Seventy


Long ago I approached a saleswoman in a LDS bookstore. I was looking for the CD that contained a certain song I had heard. After brief describing the song, she assured me that she knew exactly which album I was looking for. I asked her if she recommended it, because I was hesitant to purchase a CD if I had only heard one song. "Oh yes," she reassured me, "in fact, there's another song that I like even more. Just thinking about it gives me excited chills right now!"

Which song inspired such a reaction from this helpful woman?

It's called Look Up!

I was looking for the song, Sacraments and Symbols, but found a great album that I still listen to today. (It's "Come to the House of the Lord", by Steven Kapp Perry, link.)


The Look Up! song encourages us to remember who we really are, and where our course really lies. Its message is similar to something that Elder Cook shared from an encounter with President Monson.

While riding in an elevator after a difficult day, Elder Cook stared at the floor. Someone entered at another floor and asked, "What are you looking at down there?" It was, of course, President Monson. After a brief noncommittal response, President Monson reminded, "It is better to look up!" When later leaving the elevator, he reminded, "Now remember, it is better to look up!"


Look up!

In addition to the encouragement to "exercise our faith and look to God for help," the two words, look up, remind me of something I heard LDS speaker John Bytheway say. While speaking of references in scripture that contain these very words, look up, John asked listeners why the directionality was included.

"Why would we look up?", he asks.

When we ultimately see/meet Christ, if we are prepared, we will be on our knees and trying to hide under a rock.

That's why we'll look up.

We'll literally look up to Christ then if we live our lives looking up to Him with faith!

As President Monson taught Elder Cook in an elevator, "It is better to look up!"

A Time to Prepare

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

A Time to Prepare, by Ian S. Ardern
Of the Seventy


I'm using my lunch break to review these general conference talks and record my impressions of them (thanks for reading, btw). What a great use of my time!

Time is never for sale; time is a commodity that cannot, try as you may, be bought at any store for any price. Yet when time is wisely used, its value is immeasurable.

Before I pat myself on the back and congratulate myself on mastering this talk's central purpose, I had better study a bit more.

Elder Ardern encourages us to wisely use our time. In fact, while listening to him give the talk live, I wanted to know more about who Eldern Ardern is. You see, I was intrigued by his soothing Kiwi (New Zealand) accent. Pulling out my smart phone, I turned to Wikipedia to look him up.

Right as my mind drifted from the message to read about the speaker, I heard him say something that caught my attention—you might say I was smartphowned!

It is wonderful to have the means of instant communication quite literally at our fingertips, but let us be sure that we do not become compulsive fingertip communicators. I sense that some are trapped in a new time-consuming addiction—one that enslaves us to be constantly checking and sending social messages and thus giving the false impression of being busy and productive.

I was caught! Sure, I had deleted many games from my phone six months earlier after realizing how much time I was wasting (read more here), but I still found ways to be distracted by that thing!

I paid much closer attention to the rest of his talk after being caught red-handed. I particularly liked the following:

I know our greatest happiness comes as we tune in to the Lord (see Alma 37:37) and to those things which bring a lasting reward, rather than mindlessly tuning in to countless hours of status updates, Internet farming, and catapulting angry birds at concrete walls. I urge each of us to take those things which rob us of precious time and determine to be their master, rather than allowing them through their addictive nature to be the master of us.

I don't think I can write much more now that I'm reminded of the value of time—both yours and mine! I don't know if reading this is a waste of your time, or if there are better things you should be doing, but I'll end here and get back to work.

But I'll still write more tomorrow. Because it's nice to take time to be reminded of how I can improve.

Children

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

Children, by Neil L. Andersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles


As I write this post, you can tune in to a news station or point your browser to a news site and find reports relating to children and family planning in the US political arena. Some republican candidates are calling for contraceptives to be banned, while the democratic-led national leaders are calling for women's health services to be available to all employees (including contraception)—with the notable exception of church-employees. (I wrote about a similar topic in my first blog post)

It's an interesting time to be alive.

As my wife and I discussed last night what little we had heard of these conflicts, we agreed with something that I happened to read in Elder Andersen's talk today:

When to have a child and how many children to have are private decisions to be made between a husband and wife and the Lord. These are sacred decisions—decisions that should be made with sincere prayer and acted on with great faith.

Whichever side of this ideological divide you may find yourself, this statement from an apostle may easily be used to support your views. However, before shaping this statement into a weapon to hurl at opponents, consider Elder Andersen's later restatement:

The decision of how many children to have and when to have them is between a husband and wife and the Lord. We should not judge one another on this matter.

Strange how much of the fervor of an argument disappears when judging stops.

Okay. I need some humor to fill the void that's left now that argument is off the table. I liked the funny story Elder Andersen shared, mostly because I can imagine it happening to our family!

A young mother got on a bus with seven children. The bus driver asked, “Are these all yours, lady? Or is it a picnic?”

“They’re all mine,” she replied. “And it’s no picnic!”

It's funny because it's true!

I love my children. And I love their mother even more! You may have heard/read my praises of her in the past—if you haven't, either you don't know me, or I'm not being a good husband!—but I'm going to do it again (and again, and again):

I love my amazing wife! Each school day she single-handedly gets our four children ready for the day, rides her bike (with one child in a seat behind her and another in a trailer) with the two oldest to school, plays with the youngins, loads everyone back up to ride back to school in the afternoon, and smiles the whole time! (She'll claim that she only smiles most of the time.)

On top of all of this, she is funny, great to talk to, gives lots of hugs (and amazing kisses!), and is oh so beautiful!


The only thing I can't figure out is what she sees in me!?


If we're ever asked why we have so many children, I can honestly say, "With the world as crazy as it is now, it needs as many of the type of children we can give it as it can get!"

And by "we," I mostly mean my wife.

The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn, by David A. Bednar
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles


What amazing technological advancements do you think this quietly-learning three-yr-old will see in his next fifteen years? In addition to looking entirely cute, he's learning! Right now he may visit starfall.com for a fun way to learn his ABC's, but what will he use technology for in the future?


Consider a timeline of technology (example here). It's hard for me, as a member of the Church, to not see a correlation between the Restoration (including the necessary preparation for the Restoration) and the Industrial Revolution. As the heavens were once again opened, it seems technology propagated all over the world!

Perhaps these innovations were to aid with the spreading of the gospel.

While some may avoid technological advances like the Internet because of their inherent bad side, others have embraced them for sharing hope, love, and the gospel of Jesus Christ (here's an example—from the good side—my Mormon.org profile). Here's what Elder Bednar had to say about it:

It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.

It sounds like computer literacy among young people is a preparation for family history work!


After supplementing his alphabetic instruction at starfall.com and applying math and physics through fun games at coolmath4kids.com, my children—and yours—may point their browser at lds.org/familyhistoryyouth or familysearch.org and unlock whole new doors of opportunity.

Perhaps even the doors of the temple. . .


. . .and the doors of eternity!

The Sustaining of Church Officers

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

The Sustaining of Church Officers, by Henry B. Eyring
First Counselor in the First Presidency


*Raising my right hand.