The Sublime Roundabout

Main Entry: hyp·o·crite Pronunciation: \ˈhi-pə-ˌkrit\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English ypocrite, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokritēs actor, hypocrite, from hypokrinesthai Date: 13th century 1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion 2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings So apparently some people can't play nice. I don't understand. I can't understand. But I also can't allow this kind of vitriolic venom to spew into my world. So comments will be moderated before they get "out there". It is a very strange time for me. I hardly know which end of the world is up any more. I am being called things I have never been called before, with accusations being made that don't make any sense to me. My only conclusion is that they are false. Luke: You told me Vader killed my father. Obi-wan: You father was seduced by the dark side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin

Love, the Eagles... Get Over It I turn on the tube and what do I see A whole lotta people cryin' "Don't blame me" They point their crooked little fingers at everybody else Spend all their time feelin' sorry for themselves Victim of this, victim of that Your momma's too thin; your daddy's too fat Get over it Get over it All this whinin' and cryin' and pitchin' a fit Get over it, get over it You say you haven't been the same since you had your little crash But you might feel better if I gave you some cash The more I think about it, Old Billy was right Let's kill all the lawyers, kill 'em tonight You don't want to work, you want to live like a king But the big, bad world doesn't owe you a thing Get over it Get over it If you don't want to play, then you might as well split Get over it, Get over it It's like going to confession every time I hear you speak You're makin' the most of your losin' streak Some call

Helaman 5: 12 - And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation ; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo , because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. Having been through the mighty storm, this scripture takes on a new meaning. We can each of us relate to this symbolism - we have all felt the strength of the storm beating on us, our homes, our lives, our minds. We have all felt the incredible and very real power of the adversary. And perhaps the most scary of all is the soft tendrils of destruction that insinuate themselves into our lives, weakening our defenses, our self-esteem, our feelings of worthiness and

This is the Korean National Flag. In Korean it's called the 태극 ( tae - guk ). I really appreciate the symbolism. I don't understand it all, but here's the gist: The four black symbols represent the four opposing elements of fire, water, earth, and sky. The symbol in the middle, however, is familiar to all of us. In Chinese it's called the 陰陽 - Ying and Yang, while in Korean (and the red and blue representation is a Korean adaptation) is 음양 - Eum Yang. It has the same meaning, however - the sun and the moon. It further means the ideas of male and female, strength and meekness, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, etc. In the Korean adaptation, the red specifically represents the sun and sky while the blue represents the sea and the earth. But more than that, it is the representation of the opposition that is found in the world, both internally and externally, on a personal basis as well as in society at large. Each of us finds ourselves in a struggle for domi

This blog is my blog. I am not enabling "comment moderation" for two reasons: 1. We should each be our own editor. Hopefully you will carefully consider what you are writing and add it as a comment. I would prefer not to focus on negative things if at all possible, so: 2. If I deem something to be offensive, negative, or distracting, or all three, your comments will be deleted. Actually, it's a little trash can, so I get to trash any/all comments I don't like. You may certainly post whatever you would like on your own, but this is a happy, safe place for everyone. So, If you have something constructive to add, questions to ask/answer, or just a general comment, please feel free. If, however, you feel that this is a place to snipe at each other, please find another place to do it. Thanks for respecting my wishes. Jesus said love everyone, Treat them kindly, too. When your heart is filled with love Others will love you.

A rose is a most interesting flower It can be understood at once And take a lifetime to appreciate. As a whole, the rose is a symbol of peace, of beauty; It also means hope, life, and sweetness But when given from the heart It has the deepest meaning of all: I love you. When considering the rose It is important to remember how the rose forms It is made layer on layer And is revealed slowly over time. The bud is just the promise A hint of things to come Of hidden treasures, meaning, life, and understanding. As the rose opens Warmed by the sun A fragrance emits which is lovely and pure It permeates everything; Enticing. Inviting. When the rose is fully formed And maturity is reached The petals stretch across a wide expanse. As it continues to grow (For growing it is!) The rose sheds its petals Across the barren land Giving a taste of loveliness and gentleness To the land below. Is it any wonder that flowers are strewn At the feet of lovers At the marriage celebration? It's a symbol o

Spring in Texas is gorgeous. Since it never really gets terribly cold here spring kind of sneaks up on you. Suddenly you look out the window at trees with new growth and leaves, flowers blooming along the roadsides, and little dirt mounds everywhere. For those of you who are not familiar with this, fire ants are some of the worst animals alive. Compared to mosquitoes, cockroaches, or even snakes, these fire ants are everywhere. They build these mounds that look like little piles of dirt initially. I have seen them very large (up to 12 inches high and 24 inches in diameter). Those ones are pretty easy to avoid. It's the smaller guys that you have to be aware of... Because if you so much as brush up against one of these hills, you'll know it. They swarm, these little guys, and they bite. Hard. It itches like crazy at first and then starts to burn (hence the fire in "fire ants"). Then the bites form infected little pustules. That look like zits. If you break the heads

I think that there may be some people who are interested in the economy but are not sure what's going on. I am by no means an expert, but if you are interested in my opinion here goes: (This is not a jab at Wal -Mart. Most of you know how I feel about Wal -Mart anyway. That's the subject for another post). Let's rewind to October 1929. The stock market is nervous. There have been many years (since WWI and the influenza epidemic) of rapid growth and expansion, fueled mainly by an excessive euphoria about America and her new-found industrial might. People were spending money like water and a lot of heavy speculation into heavy industry and other banking and economic interests. America was great and booming, things were looking great for the foreseeable future. Underpinning all of this was a huge weakness in Europe. Inflation was so out of control in post-WWI Germany that people were writing party invitations on billion-mark notes because they weren't even worth the paper

Lu Shun, the revolutionary Chinese author, wrote a short story about a father who was writing for a scholarly journal about a Happy Family . He was constantly being interrupted in his writing by people who demanded his attention: his wife and his children. I think the irony of the story is clear just from those two sentences . But the take home message for me is that a happy family is the one you have. That doesn't mean there won't be unpleasant interruptions. Perhaps it's these unpleasant interruptions that are what life's all about anyway. A family is a unique social situation. When you work with people, if you don't like it you can quit. If your acquaintance is no longer satisfactory, you can break off communication with little pain. But a family, especially in the LDS tradition and faith, is an eternal thing. That's something that I don't fully understand and which at turns scares me to death and gives me the greatest hope. How long is eternity, anyway?

I am a pretty down today. I don't know why people have to say mean things. For some reason, I don't really understand why, people say mean things that hurt a lot. Sometimes those things need to be said, I guess. But it really, really hurts. And some things are best left unsaid. Not because they're such a big secret, but because they are just too unpleasant and painful to discuss. Conversely, there are some things that are too sacred and holy and beautiful to ever comprehend. Like a relationship between a child and his father. Or a child and his Father. We have learned to call God our Father. Just as the thought that I am the child of a heavenly Father gives me a sense of strength, so does my earthly father make me proud to be his son. I am not ignorant of my father's weaknesses. I choose not to focus on them. If that makes me myopic and pollyanna - ish , so be it. But I extend the same to everyone, even you. I love to forgive because I so desperately need to be forgiven

My mission president used to tell us: Sacrifice is giving up what you want for something you really need. Hymn number 27 teaches us: Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven... What is it that you want? What is it that you need? What are you willing to give up to get it? One of the most powerful passages of scripture is found in Alma relative to the conversion of the king of the Lamanites . Remember this one? On his first encounter with Ammon , he was ready to give up half his kingdom if Ammon would spare his life. Later, when Aaron came to teach him about the gospel, he was ready to give up his entire kingdom for just the knowledge of the truth. Finally, he admitted to God that he was willing to give up all of his sins to know Him. I don't think I am there yet. I have my own personal sins that I like to hold on to. I wish I were. Oh, how I wish I were. I wish I could speak more gently and lovingly to my wife and children. I wish I could treat others with the kind of respect

... ere the winter storms begin... This past weekend was our Stake Conference. I like stake conference quite a bit. It's good to be able to get together as a Stake and hear the inspired words of our leaders. We have a great stake presidency. They are able to see the needs of our stake and have the inspiration and talent to speak to them. This was brought home to me in a particular manner this time around. Our corner of the country is experiencing the concerns of our current economic downturn as much as anywhere else. People are struggling and hurting and afraid. This is not a good way to run our lives and our country. As long as I can remember our church leaders have promoted self- reliance . We should live within our means and save for a rainy day. We should reach out to those who are impoverished. We should remember that people's financial needs may be secondary to unseen spiritual needs and concerns. So in all our efforts, it is important to reach out in temporal AND spi