Sabbath Pearls of Wisdom

Since moving home I have had a great chat with each of my parents regarding life and things. In the course of these two discussions my parents have imparted great wisdom. I would like to share some of what I learned from them and some things I found interesting from today's conference. It's not religious so much as it is human:

You cannot expect people to react the way you want them to react to anything, ever. Period.

Humans are diverse and unique, though often predictable. I know most of my friends and family well enough to guess with relatively high accuracy how they will react to something I say or do. Here's the kicker: I still find myself expecting them to react differently. I'll help someone out and expect them to say thank you because it makes sense to me; that's not the way the world works. Sometimes people just don't say thank you. It's usually because they forget, not because they weren't appreciative or hate your guts.

My latest goals include limiting the amount of expectations I impose upon others in my mind. This should dramatically improve all relationships and interactions.

Today during stake conference (large area meeting at church) we heard from an authority regarding several topics. Almost in passing he gave the greatest explanation for why members of our faith community do not use the cross to remember Jesus Christ. I had always heard or assumed that it was because we believe in a risen Christ and the cross is a symbol of death. Then Dr. Huntsman shared with me that other faiths use the cross to remember Christ's suffering and most use an empty cross to symbolize that He had risen. I was left wondering why we don't use the cross. This man explained today: We were instructed by Jesus to use the sacramental emblems of bread and water to remember Him. "This do in remembrance of me," was the command. It makes so much sense in my mind. I had never considered this alternative. I appreciate my Christian brothers who do wear the cross to remind them, and I'm glad to have the sacrament to remind me.

The speaker also shared three quotes with us that I wrote down because I found them impressive:

First, when speaking about a woman who had occasional tiffs with her husband he cited her words, "Do you want to be right or do you want to be married?" I love that. My dad always said, "It's better to be kind than to be right." True principle.

Second, he said, "The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none." Word.

Finally he gave this quote: "Success is going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm." He used Thomas Edison as a prime example. I feel like Edison is often overused in the context of failure, but this quote seemed to appropriately capture the essence of his creative and vivacious nature.

As you can see I've been richly blessed with some awesome knowledge from three great people, two of which I love dearly. I hope you could enjoy these pearls for what they are worth. I will be working on applying them promptly.