The Buck Stops Here

Today is Easter and instead of a thoughtful lesson in Church on the gift of life made possible by the sacrifice of my Savior, Jesus Christ, the class I was in had a spirited defense of the other god of this world.  In other words, money.

Don't get me wrong, the lesson did get straightened out, but it took a while.  But the discussion on money had me a little bent out of shape, of which I had to repent.

It is truly amazing to me how much we try to defend our dollars in our lives.  It is a very difficult thing to have any discussion of money without treating it like it is a living thing.  We treat it as if we have given it life.  We talk about it as if it is something that grows and needs nourishment and tender care.  How quickly and easily can money become a rival in our lives to the true God.

Discussion on money will invariably feature phrases such as, "We can't survive without money" and other justifications.  The next time these phrases are brought up in Church, substitute the word 'money' for 'cigarettes' in your imagination.  It makes the rational for riches seem thin indeed.

The Book of Mormon has, what I believe, the appropriate approach to wealth:

But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.
And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.
Jacob 2:18-19

Elsewhere, the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob had noted:

But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.
But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.
2 Nephi 9:29-30

The trouble with riches is that we are tempted to keep them.  But we aren't supposed to build our wealth.  We are supposed to give it away.   I believe that as we give our riches away, it will be restored to us at a rate we are not able to comprehend.  And it will be given to us for the purposes of giving it all away again.

The scriptures do not teach what is to be the threshold of where the line is supposed to be between what I need for my own survival and what amount of wealth is too much.  For this we need to use our own discretion.  Because of the easy way pride enters our lives, I personally would recommend not setting the bar to high.

We are taught that we can buy about anything with enough currency.  This is a counterfeit salvation.  Anything in the world can be ours with the cash.  But we aren't here to enjoy the fine things of the world.  LDS Church President George Albert Smith had noted,

What is our trouble? It is that we have sought the creature comforts, we have sought the honors of men, we have sought those things that selfishness puts into our souls. We have sought to set ourselves up and have preferred ourselves to our Father’s other children.
Let us not be lulled to sleep, let us not be deceived by the abundance of good things of this world; for what doth it profit a man though he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? [See Mark 8:36.] Let not the object of our creation be overlooked; but let us labor for the salvation of our souls.

But you ask, and rightfully so, how are we to survive?  This is up to you to decide how to act appropriately before God.  His Apostles were taught to live off what was sufficient for their needs.  Doctrine and Covenants 82:22 teaches:

And now, verily I say unto you, and this is wisdom, make unto yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, and they will not destroy you.

Of course we need to be wise and prudent and careful of our money.  But it shouldn't be at the expense of the soul.  

I plan to continue to be generous with my offerings to the Lord and to the poor while taking care of myself.  If he continues to bless me with more money, I pray for the strength to continue in blessing others and not to fall into the pitfall of a windfall.

I think the parable of the sower is a good analogy for our wealth:

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Matthew 13:22-23

This seed is the word of the Lord which is frequently called wisdom.  If we receive wisdom from the Lord, we can have it bear fruit, some hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.  The analogy is a good one.  Fruit on a tree will rot if not harvested.  The best use of the fruit is to feed ourselves and give the rest away.  We cannot eat all of the fruit ourselves.  Our learning and our riches will rot with us if we do not generously share.

We had just noted Jacob's teachings on wealth.  His views on learning and wealth are identical.  Learning and riches are good to obtain if they are used to advance the work of the Lord.  Just as our learning will be counted as foolishness if we hearken not to the counsels of God (2 Nephi 9:28) our wealth will perish with us if we do not hearken to the the needy.

The Wisdom of Levi Edgar Delk

Twits and Tweets

I'm slammed at work, but I need a quickie minute to vent.

Argh! I hate being slammed at work! Man, these students get on my nerves sometimes.

OK, rant over.

Speaking of expressing myself, you can now follow me on the twitter. Just search for markjohnson1138 so you can follow all of my mundane goings on.

Oh, one last thing. I was digging through old newspapers looking for obituaries of dead relatives when I discovered that this twitter business isn't all that new.
























The more things change...

Well, back to work. Lunch is over and this mountain of paperwork isn't going to do itself.

And I will hang my head low...

Today would have been the first anniversary of my marriage had it lasted that long. I was thinking for a long time about what I wanted to report about it all. I have come to the conclusion that it really isn't anyone's damn business. If you want the straight story, talk to me in person. I am not going to put it online for the world to see.

It hasn't been easy these last few months, but I am getting better. I understand what I have done wrong, what I could have done better and what things I had no power over. I am sad things ended up they way they did, but I don't regret the decisions we made. We had to stop hurting each other.

I have been berating myself all morning. I listened to The Decemberists "The Crane Wife" and Sheryl Crow's "Perfect Lie" to put into words some of the things I feel I have done wrong. And now I am done.

Homer Simpson once advised Marge, saying, "Marge, you can't blame yourself forever. Blame yourself once and get on with things". So I acknowledge that I have done some if not many things wrong, but I am done blaming myself. I am getting on with things.

Sometimes I feel like a huge hypocrite. And that mostly comes out of me getting all preachy. Because invariably, I end up being guilty of the sins I'm preaching against. This is why I prefer to shut up about such moral items, but sometimes I can't help myself.

I used to carry a small sign in my scripture case that read "hypocrite". Back in the day when I taught a lot of lessons in the Sunday School, I'd be talking up the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy or always giving thanks for your meals, I'd pull out the sign and wear it around my neck before continuing. Granted, it was mostly a joke, but it also felt good to realize I was a mortal and as human as everyone else. After a while, others would borrow the sign if they were making comments on things they were struggling to improve themselves.

This brings us to this year. One of my favorite moral vices to rail against has been TV addiction. And I suddenly get hooked on the show 'Heroes'. I've also taken a stand against video games as addictive and time consuming, and here I am totally addicted to 'Guitar Hero'.

So I'm wondering what the lesson that needs to be learned here. The easy lesson is to keep my mouth shut; but I don't believe that is the right answer. Moderation, I think, is the right one. My big reason for video game avoidance is I've known folks who spend all their time in the basement playing Halo 2 or World of Warcraft. It becomes a false god to them. I've even seen a few couples break up over it because the guy got stupid and didn't realize what he had until she left. Since I can't figure out the whole girlfriend thing yet, this might not be a problem. Still it is about priorities.

TV is a little different. While there is certainly the addiction possibilities, I think the biggest reason I avoid it is the exposure to all the murder, violence and sex. There are some things I just don't want to put in my head. They stay there for a long time when I ought to be thinking of better things. Besides, like most of us, I've already got more than I need on my memory. If I want to dig up some trash, I know I already have plenty archived. Who needs to feeding the garbage bin when you don't have to even be around it in the first place? So maybe I'll stick with the current season of Heroes and see how it goes.

Achy Breaky Muscles

So I'm recovering from a nite of country swing dancing. And I think I did pretty good for a dumpy white guy. Now that I think about it, that describes all the guys there.

Scary thing is, I realized how much I feel like George McFly* when I'm mixing it up. Mostly that was because of just awkward dancing style. But then I realized it was I am just content to dance in the corner instead of subjecting the ladies to my horrible swing moves.



You're George McFly!

Take the Which Person from Back to the Future Are You? Quiz
Also try my other quizzes.

But like George, I'm getting better. I actually was able to practice some moves with a beautiful young lady. Which was appropriate I suppose, because she had asked me to go in the first place.


*Wow, that review of me is a bit harsh. Loser? Not always. And maybe I'll get to do the rest of those things too.

Self-deprecation

In my seemingly futile attempt at self improvement, I've come to realize that I've got to stop putting my self down, even if I think it is under the guise of a good joke.

My old self used to write stuff like this:

Bullets for Breakfast

Sugar coated goodness
with a bitter aftertaste.
Big, heaping, self-depreciating
spoonfuls are shoveled down
to fill an empty soul.
An important part of
my unbalanced psyche,
these tasty jabs
give me the energy I need
to sludge through yet
another mediocre day.


Can I just say I am sick of being that guy? So the new goal is to find the fine line where I know I'm awesome but I don't always have to tell everybody about it. Wish me luck!

"Television has brought murder into the home. Where it belongs."
-Alfred Hitchcock

I've been mulling over a blog entry on TV and hypocrisy, and with today's 9 Chickweed Lane, it seems like the perfect place to start.



I'm in the middle of making a graphic for this, so I'll post the rest later...

This Space for Lent

Well, sports-fans, it's Lent again. Last year, I gave up a chunk of bitterness and it has stuck for the most part. Granted, I might have developed a bit of hope where there was none, but that's a different story.

Anyhoo...

So this lent, I'm giving up the caffine. All of it. The Mountain Dew for breakfast, the Dr. Pepper for lunch, the other Dew for dinner. The chocolate, the tylenol, the whole shooting match. At least I think the chocolate. Mostly, it is 40 days without the soda. Usually, I'm on Mountain Dew, but for the next 40 days (and possibly longer) it's













So far so good, although I felt like I was under water for most of the day. Ick. I'm gonna get another glass of OJ and hit the sack.

Remember, its good to give stuff up for a while.

I've been mulling over possible New Year's Resolutions for the past week or so and I don't think I'm in the mood to follow through with any. I have a few items in mind that I will do, but they are kind of personal, so I'm sure you will forgive me if I don't post 'em here. The big problem I am having with the resolutions is that I was looking over last years resolutions and I don't think I hardly made a dent in anything I was going to do. I think I lost maybe 10 lbs. I worked on everything else, but nada. Granted some items were out of my hands (like get published or get engaged, because this requires the free-will of others), but generally I got close but not close enough. I don't know if I'm in the mood to give everybody false expectations of what I want and then not follow through. If I'm gonna be a loser, why advertise it? You will have to figure that out on your own.

Oral Fixation

So I'm back from a 5 and a half hour turn at the dentist. Trust me, it's as every bit as fun as it sounds. About a 3.0 on the Schmidt pain index. It felt like this:



On the plus side, I've got a bit of hydrocodone helping me on the ride. And I get to stay home from work today. Maybe a big price to pay for a day off, but I'm making the most of it. I'll be back tomorrow with the month-end report. Now excuse me, the room is spinning and I need to get back to the couch and the curse of the Sudoku.

Ed McMahan, George Costanza and Chewbacca?

That's right, these guys are in the top 5 of Entertainment Weekly's Top 50 sidekicks. What am I doing reading Entertainment Weekly? Don't ask. However, the list was an interesting read because it offered a glimpse into what makes a good friend. Maybe it is something we all could use.

Check it out here

Everything I've Got In My Pocket

Ah, the foibles of the human condition. We get 75 or so years on this planet to prepare for the next million+, and what do we usually spend most of our time doing? Trying not to look like some doufus. I'm not even sure how to spell doufus. It really makes me wonder if we spent more time thinking about how to bless the lives of others than worry about ourselves. Occasionally I remember how to do this. But most of the time, well you get it. Two examples:

1. I went out to pick up some binders and other things I needed. Store number one didn't have everything I needed, so I picked up what they had. And a candy bar. All the stuff goes in the car, the candy in my coat pocket. I'm half way through store two's check out when I realize I am carrying a candy bar in my pocket that I don't have a receipt for. So now I am doing all but actually shoplifting, trying not to look suspicious. All the stress without actually committing the crime.

2. I don't know how many hours I have thought about riding the light rail and never having to show my pass. For some reason, they haven't checked. Why? Who cares. Maybe next week, I'll strike up a conversation with somebody instead of just staring off into space. A lot of good that does. I'm gonna have a tough time brightening the lives of those around me if I keep it all to myself.

I am a Loud Speaker!


Well, I've finally done it. After years of being left behind, I thought I'd finally earn all those merit badges that I didn't get when I was an Eagle Scout. So this month, It was Public Speaking. Now, as a 'grown-up' with a big mouth, this was an easy one. Next month, maybe Sailing.