Procrastinate Later!

     I was gonna write a blog about procrastination, but i think I'll do that tomorrow...

Natural Man and His Cookies

     I've learned through my relatively short time on earth that my brain doesn't work like a normal persons brain... lol.  I can memorize, remarkably well, random facts and useless information. Pointless information like music and movie trivia, my brain just eats up. The plastic things on the ends of shoelaces are called aglets, the dots that Indian women wear on their foreheads is called a Bindi, "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" is a one-hit wonder song by the band Cutting Crew, A baby giraffe is about six feet tall at birth. [That was a huge tangent.. I told you my brain is crazy!] My brain thinks about random things that seem useless as well.
     Like the other day I was reading the scriptures, then a thought pulled my brain away from what i was reading, then one thought lead to another and here i am reading the bible, thinking about the Cookie Monster!

[Don't judge me, I'm going somewhere with this.]

     We as humans have basic desires and instincts that come with our bodies. We cannot control them. But we can control how we react towards them. "Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions." -Elder Dalin H. Oaks. We call this "the natural man" [or the natural gal] The scriptures help us understand this principle. From the Book of Mormon we read:

     "19For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord..."

~Mosiah 3:19

Example:
     The Cookie Monster is a character on the children's show "Sesame Street". He is notorious for having an insatiable appetite for cookies and exercising incorrect usage of grammar. "Me want cookies!" is his famous eating catch phrase, as well as "Om nom nom nom" [said through a mouthful of cookies]  The Cookie Monster is NOT a good example of resisting the natural man. We know he does not use table manners, talks with his mouth full, and doesn't use correct forms of the word, "I" when appropriate. But i'd venture to say that he has broken all 10 of Gods commandments, as delivered through Moses, as ways to obtain more cookies! He, seemingly, worships cookies, he'd steal cookies, maybe even kill for cookies, he lusts after them, he'd bare false witness to get more cookies, and covets other peoples cookies to be his own.... Just to name a few!

How this actually applys':

     We can see from other peoples choices what can happen if we don't resist the natural man. But it all begins with our desires. If we take our desires away from "natural man" things like our addictions [in this case cookies:P] and turn them to "Jesus Christ" things, we can improve the quality of our lives and make ourselves more happy. Through the help of the Lord, and our own effort, we can keep our desires focused on good things that keep us in line with gods commandments. We can "Putteth off the natural man" and recieve the joy and happieness that follows. I know this is true!

LIFE vs. Real Life

     Who's a fan of board games? [I sure am!] Even though, at times, board games can end up getting way to competitive and you never end up finishing because your friend sold all his property to the person in last place for five dollars, and someone else ends up flipping the board over it. [It's okay, we didn't have to finish the game, i was gonna win anyways...]

Nevertheless!

      Board games don't always end up like that. A lot of the times they are excellent ways to bring families and friends closer together. Through "good, clean, fun!" A lot of board games are great family activities. My brothers and I would wake up in the morning and spend HOURS playing a rousing game of "Risk". [Our mom would usually stop the game cuz it was time to set the table for dinner...] It brought our family closer together.

     Now I may have a lot of good words to say for board games. However, I also have a vexation with them.

Lets put the game "Life" in the spotlight.
 

     Personally, I don't like the game "Life". Never have. Setting up the game takes twice as long as it does to play. Once you  find the correct places for all the buildings and bridges, you have to set up your life. And as soon as you draw the lowest salary and the highest priced home, you wanna quit. Trying to get the spinner to work right is a whole different aggravation. My point is, "Life" is not a pleasant game. My biggest objection toward the game is that, playing it as a kid, it didn't accurately prepare me for life at all! It doesn't mention anything about awkward situations, or rejection. It doesn't say anything about Satan's trials and temptations. And it certainly doesn't mention how our main goal in life is to live right so we can live as families with God in Heaven after we die. The classic American game "Life" doesn't include the only thing that really matters in this life, The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
     In life there's the famous question, "What is the meaning of life". The meaning of life is to prepare to meet God in the life that follows after we die. And we do this through becoming followers of  Jesus Christ, and  His Gospel, and doing the things that our Heavenly Father asks us to do. Those of you who don't know about Jesus Christs Gospel and would like to learn and feel for themselves the happiness it brings, please look me up on Facebook or click here.