Writing a blog post about what I did to #LightTheWorld each day felt... self-aggrandizing. It was like tooting my own horn, writing about the good things that I did and sharing it with the world.That's why I haven't written about it here. …
Today I felt out of sorts with the suggestion to serve. The prompt is of living water - both physical (giving gifts of clean water) and spiritual (testimony). I hate bottled water, because of the impact it has on the environment... so I di…
I realized as I read the suggestions for today that I struggle to know who needs help, and how to help them. My first thought was, "give a fast offering - that goes to the people around you who need it, according to their needs." So I did.…
I'm doing the #LightTheWorld challenge this year. Every day of December, I'll go to and grab a motivational video, bible verse, and suggestions of how to make the world a better place. I did a little last year, but this year I'm going to d…
I was crazy sick for weeks, and in the time since I've felt... like my life is sort of stuck in the doldrums. I enjoy my ward, but I find that I feel disconnected (likely because I need to make a bigger effort on my own part). I enjoy my w…
Tl;dr: My dad had a heart attack and my family is supporting him in his new diet. Each of us can support the people around us in the good they do.I'm not really all that good of a guy. Sometimes I have aspirations of awesomeness, but most …
The day is at handThe darkness is spreading throughout every landBut a voice in the stillness still calls me to fightTo throw off the darkness and put on the armor of lightWe are warriorsWe're an armyAnd we stand for truth and rightAnd we …
Last night I found myself emotionally exhausted. The source isn't important. Whether from the stress of figuring out life/work/relationships or a mind still recovering from being sick, I felt awful. Anxious. Tired. Lonely.So much so that I…
I had a heartbreaking professional realization. I'm not sure where I belong.When I was younger I dreamed of having a 9-5 where I loved my work and could come home and rave about the things I did. A supervisor I loved working for, a busines…
I'm reading a book called "The Happiness Project." Long story short, it's really good. And simultaneously (likely because the author did the same) I've found the courage to do things I've wanted to do in life.First, I'm hosting a picnic fo…
One of my biggest concerns in learning to make friendships involves a fear of betraying the people I try to befriend. I sometimes... often... ok, pretty much every single time I want to get close to someone... feel that there is no possibl…
Research by Robin Dunbar and other happiness researchers indicates that the happiest people have five friends that they can turn to for everything. Of the thousands of people I may recognize, the hundreds I may know, and the dozens who are…
I'm awkward in the worst way possible. When social grace has any leniency towards actions and words, my actions fall neatly within the margin of error. I look normal, sound normal, feel normal to those who interact with me. But when lines …
I'm in love.And it is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. Literally everything else seems to pale in comparison......I got shot down.And I didn't fall. I'm pretty sure I didn't even feel it. And usually I feel it bad.There…
My earliest memory of love at first sight was in an apartment complex in Italy. I knocked on a door and a woman opened it. In an instant, it was like I had been hit in the gut. God loved this woman, more than I could have ever understood, …
Far too often, I find myself focusing on the things that I should do, instead of the joy that the Gospel brings. It can be hard. It can be incredibly hard to dance - perform the actions of the gospel - if I don't feel the same joy that it …
There's pleasure in playing sports and eating Cheetos. Smiles to be found in throwing pottery and making soap. Laughter that comes from stand-up comedy and rolling down grassy hills.And it's real.In the last few weeks, I've finally organiz…
And yet He is Risen.Jesus Christ - the Son of the Highest, God of the Universe, King of Kings and Lord of Lords - overcame death, sin, and sorrow. And through His Grace, so can I.There is enormous meaning in sorrow. There is beauty hidden …
But they had no idea how hurt I was inside.Keeping an open heart is being open to betrayal, to hurt, to loss and overwhelming pain. It's being willing to emotionally invest in people who might never give back, willing to believe in places …
But often that's not enough to overcome the feelings that undergird the rest.I feel like I'm broken.Specifically, I feel like a real friendship with me, a relationship with me, would never be enough for someone else, unless circumstances '…
I was sitting in my bedroom, and my mom came in. She said, "I know what you're going through... and I know what you've done. But I need to tell you that if you don't change you'll lose your ability to help your little brothers."Or somethin…
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With a guy.Yeah. I know. I wasn't ever expecting it to happen either.But falling in love is crazy.Looking back I've probably started to fall for a few guys in the past. Maybe almost fallen for 2 or 3, and crushed on a dozen more.Before you…
A friend asked me to pass this survey along. It takes about an hour to complete, and is being coordinated by a collaborative group with multiple perspectives... which is to say that some of the researchers are pro-religion and pro-celibacy…
<<<I've believed that goodness was measured by actions. That by looking at my spiritual and physical resume I could determine if I was on the right path.The important part, I thought, was the sum total of the things I had done. If…
I remember once overhearing a conversation among a group of LDS women - singles and leaders from my YSA ward. A woman mentioned that she knew someone who had just broken up with a guy who was attracted to other men. The responses of the ot…
Most days I find myself facing existential crisis. I don't use that term lightly... and I'm only writing about it because I have finally realized that my daily dose of crisis isn't all that normal. And because being vulnerable - understand…
I am sometimes really, really hard to teach.I want to make my own decisions. I want to do my own thing. I want to do what I want. And the feedback God was giving me was something I didn't want to hear.Not only was it something that I didn'…
I remember giving feedback to my autistic home teaching companion on something he had done. We had visited a family and he had mentioned multiple times that the room needed to be vacuumed, even going so far as to suggest that we could help…
So many people who, because of whatever reason, have decided to stop fighting.I get it. I get that it's hard to be alone, that culture doesn't accept me, that often it takes more faith than I feel I can give to trust in God when it seems l…
