With Each Brushstroke...

Art used to bore me more than curling in the Winter Olympics (I am kidding, I do enjoy a good curl). I don't really know why, but you need to understand that I grew up in the era of the camera, and if I wanted something to look real, I squeezed my right finger on my Nikon and I could outdo any Picasso. But I realize now that not all art is about the reality of the painting, but is about the detail.

Experiment: Okay, now I want you to stick your nose against your computer monitor and look at the brush strokes; Retract your face from the screen. Each one of those strokes alone is somewhat ugly up close, but from afar the image is so much more clear. That is what awes me more than anything; how each individual brush stroke works together to make a beautiful scene of nature.

I start to reflect on myself and think about how much I do miss in my life because I have my nose up against my computer screen, or in other words, I am not enjoying the little things in life enough. Prayer helps us captivate these moments and slow down time. There are little blessings every day that God puts in our paths so that we can be happy, and through prayer and patience God will show us the meaning. I feel that as we enjoy and pray in each moment the big picture will become more beautiful.

Social Creatures

This is just an introduction and a first taste-test of what there is to come from my blog posts. I am no scholar or A+ English student, but I do have some thoughts that I want to share.

Lately, and I think I can say that for the majority of my life, I have loved animals and how they naturally all have tendencies and instincts. I love how the house cat catches and attacks every living and moving things in the house that looks like string, or how you hear the same bird calls every morning. Nature is so beautiful! It is simple and constant. There is one "constant" that is natural in every living thing and that is that we love to communicate with one another. 

We (we are animals too, right?) create websites, blogs, shout from rooftops, bark at one another, or all of the above. We are creatures that need this communication to stay alive and sane. If we don't have this way to express ourselves and relay information to one another, we turn into Tom Hanks in "Castaway" and start talking to volleyballs.

Now, how does this link to a spiritual thought? Well, I am working on that. The other day I was walking out of the Napa County Library, and crossed paths with a man named Ted in the parking lot. We talked briefly about future LDS presidents (which I had no clue about), but the conversation soon switched over to God, and how we can know what is true. Ted openly told me that he was agnostic and he believed in a God, and then began to ask me how I know that what I am doing is right. This question took me back and made me think, "Why do I believe these things?". The only thought that could break through this thick skull of mine was how I felt when I prayed. I don't think my response really satisfied him, but it does me. We ended up going our own ways and I kept thinking about prayer/meditation and the power behind them.

Our spiritual thoughts and feelings sometimes cannot be explained by words and if we can't express them we might go crazy! I know for me prayer is a key to why I am sane because I can get personal answers from God in order to guide my actions. I know if there is a "Big Guy Upstairs", and if I pray to him, submit my thoughts, and am open for guidance, He will guide because I have allowed him to. We are all social creatures, we all need to speak to someone, and we always can when we pray.