Godly Happiness

I had one of my best nights ever at the temple this week. I was officiating for a session and the temple coordinator brought down to the endowment room a young couple to be the witness’s. It was their first time attending the temple since their marriage two months before and their first time as the witness couple. The coordinator in a very serious tone told the wife that she was allowed to cross the aisle and punch her husband in the arm if he falls asleep and misses his cue to go to the altar. Then he cracks this great big smile and says some other funny things and just brought a warm and happy tone to the start of the session. I also jumped into the conversation and we all were smiling when the session filled up and got started.

I stood in front of these noble saints and thought no guilt for the laughter we enjoyed, in fact it felt great. I realized that the Lord’s house is a place to be joyful and happy. If the gospel is “good news” then the temple as the “House of the Lord” should be one of the happiest places on the earth. I listened to the movie and several times it mentioned “happiness”, “joy”, and “rejoicing”. I viewed the whole session differently. As I look out over the patrons there was this one tall guy who couldn’t stop smiling during the whole session. There was also a lady who was always smiling and both of them brought such a happy countenance to the endowment. Sometimes all you see are sad, droopy, sleepy faces, but during that session it seemed so bright with a lot of reflection on the joy of the gospel. It made me very thankful to be able to be in the temple and be presented with godly happiness.

Saturday we had some fun when Danica and Jensen both aged about 3 years old came to visit and rolled around in the huge pile of leaves in the front yard.
I had a great trip to the aquarium where I became best friends with another Moray Eel, maybe its my new hair gel. The aquarist said she had never seen an eel act so friendly, but she warned me not to stick out my fingers. It wasn't my fingers I worried about when he dove down between my legs. Mom and I found a new and fun bike trail in the afternoon and then we played games over at Danica's at night. We topped Sunday off with a Sunday with Chad Greenberg and family. His 5 year old boy is crazy over sharks and so he and I had a fantastic time swapping shark stories.

The ups and downs of life

It has been another wild week in the stock market, up 900, down 750, up 400, down into the Tylenol bottle to sooth my headache in trying to follow this crazy time. With the global market meltdown, energy turbulence, war, and deep distrust of our political and business leaders it sounds similar to a few scripture references to the last days when “the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard”, “perilous times shall come”, “men’s hearts shall fail them”, “then shall be great tribulation”. You get the picture. Thank goodness our wise and blessed country will select a mature and seasoned patriot to lead them during these tough times and not an empty suited, inexperience, indecisive, well spoken young man with no real credentials. What are we doing to ourselves????

Maybe I’m sore because I’m sore. Tiana’s new boyfriend, Preston, came to visit and he being a weight lifter taught me a few new exercises. Well, I’ve been hurting and limping all week from the silly thought that I am 20 years younger and can bench press 200 lbs. You can’t fool Mother Nature.

Luckily I wasn’t sore enough to stay off the bike and mom and I had a great ride on Saturday afternoon to the top of a bluff high above Highlands Ranch.

I peddled all the way up to the top without stopping, not too bad for someone in my crippled condition.

I was also able to take some of my frustration about the market out on the dead tree in the backyard. You will notice that we were excellent lumberjacks and had the tree fall perfectly where it wouldn’t hurt either the fence or the deck. We even made sure that all the small children were out of the way when the tree toppled over. There is the promise of a rousing campfire with oozing s’mores left in this tree earthly legacy and then she’ll be ashes.

Ceiling Tiles

Not much of a blog today, I’m just glad to have the past few weeks pass into history and hoping that we can get away from the bouncing of the crazy stock market and the election year which is causing great distress with so many of my clients.

Mom and I had a chance to get away this weekend to Boulder to go biking and catch some of the fall colors. It was a perfect Friday and Saturday – BYU won, we found the motel in the dark, a free hot breakfast, the weather was ideal for biking, the trail was a gentle slope up this beautiful mountain, the intense fall colors were brilliant, and best of all it was so wonderful to ride along the trail talking with mom and enjoying the scenery.

I had listened earlier to a radio show about happiness. The caller had told of a beautiful room with a tiled ceiling. Unfortunately one of the tiles of this gorgeous ceiling had fallen out and was missing. The caller lamented that she didn’t have a tile to fix the ceiling and worse she couldn’t take her mind off of the missing tile. She had a difficult time appreciating the pleasant artwork laid out by the all the rest of the tiles. All she saw was the blank space and it ruined the room for her. Too often in life the one missing tile effects our ability to appreciate and enjoy all the other tiles that are in place and can bring great pleasure. I need to get past the missing tiles in life (a rocky stock market, court cases, partnership issues, general frustrating things) so I can appreciate the remaining beauty of the blessings we can enjoy in this life.