Talk in Church

I had a talk in church today. Topic was "How being humble leads us to obedience".

The intro to my talk:

Looking for lasting happiness? Want better relationships with others? Need more of the Spirit in your life? Then here's an important key. Be Humble. Remember the Six B's from President Gordon B. Hinckley's November 2000 address to the youth? Be grateful - Be smart - Be clean - Be true - Be humble - Be prayerful.

An excerpt from my talk:

Somewhere in that spirit is the key to freedom. We should put ourselves in a position before our Father in Heaven and say, individually, 'I do not want to do what I want to do. I want to do what Thou wouldst have me do.' And because what we are does affect what we do, our submissiveness will be reflected in our reverence, gratitude, and willingness to accept callings, counsel, and correction.

I remember when my daughter was in Primary and Brother Mattoon was the chorister. After having the calling for awhile, he was released. Audrey said on the car ride home from church that she was sad because "Brother Mattoon was let go". How often do we feel that way when we are released from a calling? How often do we wish "our will" were in place when callings are issued? I have had a recent personal experience with this very issue. I thought I had a "safe-from-being-released" calling since I played the organ during Sacrament meeting. While I knew our ward has other wonderful organists (Dan, Pauline & Jessie), I knew that Pauline was moving soon and not a lot of our ward members play the organ - or just keep quiet about it! But then I was called to be the Primary pianist and released as one of the organists. I too felt like I was "let go" and was not sure I would enjoy the primary calling. Boy, was I wrong! I absolutely have enjoyed getting to know both the children and adults in primary, and especially working with Brittney, our primary chorister. I love listening to the things the kids share and watching them learn about the gospel. I am glad "my will" did not prevail.

Another helpful perspective on humility can be obtained by examining its antithesis - pride. Just as humility leads to other virtues such as modesty, teach-able-ness, and un-pretentiousness, pride leads to many other vices. President Ezra Taft Benson delivered a conference address declaring that pride is "the universal sin, the great vice." He taught that pride is essentially competitive in nature and made reference to this quote from C.S. Lewis: "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich,  or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone."

Speaking about competitiveness...When I was in high school I played the flute and piccolo. Our band director allowed players to compete for 1st chair in our respective sections. The moment I was in 1st chair, my arch nemesis Shelley would challenge me for the spot. This included playing a specific passage and allowing the band director to decide who was best. We spent a lot of time my Sophomore year of high school playing musical chairs between 1st and 2nd spots. I did not like Shelley! Someone gave me some advice to be kind and say only nice things about her. Basically humble myself. Guess what? Shelley and I became fast friends, found out we had much in common, and spent a great deal of time together during our remaining high school years.

Consider the climate that would exist within a marriage or family - or any organization, for that matter - if through genuine humility mistakes were freely admitted and forgiven, if we were not afraid to praise others for fear they might gain on us, and if all were able to listen as well as we now verbalize.

"Being humble means recognizing we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others." - Gordon B. Hinkley

After church someone came over and said "I can't believe how wonderful your talk was. Unbelievably awesome".

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

We went to see the new Jack Ryan movie with John's brother, Steve, while his wife (Angela) and daughter (Katie) saw another movie (Saving Mr Banks).

I did not know this, but the Jack Ryan character has been around for awhile - Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October; Harrison Ford in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger; and Ben Affleck in The Sum of All Fears. This movie stars Chris Pine as Jack Ryan with Kevin Costner and Kiera Knightley in main roles. Jack as a covert CIA analyst uncovers a Russian plot to crash the US economy with a terrorist attack. It was a enjoyable way to spend a Saturday!

Gift Basket

My Columbia District store managers sent me this wonderful surprise today!

Tomato Basil Soup

Tomato Basil Soup
3 x 15 oz cans of petite diced tomatoes, with juice
1 cup diced celery
1 cup finely chopped carrots
1 cup finely diced onions
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup fresh basil, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup flour
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 cups half and half, warmed
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Put tomatoes, celery, carrots, onions and chicken broth into a stock pot. Cook on stove until carrots are soft. Make roux in a separate skillet. Melt butter over low heat and add flour, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. Slowly add in 1 cup of hot soup and mix thoroughly. Add roux mixture into soup mixture in stock pot. (If you like, you can use immersion blender to smooth out some of veggies.) Stir and add Parmesan cheese, half and half, salt and pepper. Add in oregano and basil. Cover and let cook on low for about 30 minutes or until heated through.

Free Cafe Rio !

Cafe Rio Mexican Grill finally came to Spokane! Thanks to someone posting on Facebook, I was able to snag a coupon for a pre-opening event held this evening. The coupon entitled 2 people to order free food. Since the 3 of us went, we just ordered two meals - the 2 taco plate and the enchilada style burrito plate, plus an order of Tres Leches cake. Come to find out when we handed her the coupon, we could have ordered anything (and everything) on the menu - it was basically free food to those in the restaurant. But sharing the two meals was plenty of food, since they came with rice and beans and drinks. The restaurant was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, so running into a ton of friends from church was not a surprise! Every time someone headed to Utah, they always had to get their Cafe Rio "fix". It was fun to see the Cleavers, Nelsons, Conrads, and Whalens. Thankfully we got there pretty early - - the line snaked outside the door and into the parking lot!!

Busy Weekend

John's weekend was busy with the Klondike Derby on Friday night and all day Saturday. Who thinks of this stuff.... camping in the snow? He came home with everything soaking wet and smelling like a campfire. I know it is to teach outdoor survival skills, but perhaps the bigger lesson is a grateful heart for the warm clothes and home to return to?

While John froze, Audrey and I went downtown to Aunties Bookstore to pick up a particular journal Audrey needed in one of her EWU classes. Then we drove by the Display House and stopped to check out their going-out-of-business sale. The store has been in business for 30 years and was always a fun place to browse or purchase party supplies and costumes. With other retail options available to consumers, they have had to cut back in recent years and finally close their doors in early 2014. We were able to buy some fun costumes at a great deal (Muppets, Munsters, Werewolf).

When we got home from our errands, we had a message from the Thompson's inviting us to see the Saratov Approach at the Garland. The Saratov Approach recounts the true story of two missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were abducted in Russia in March 1998. While following up on a teaching contact, Elder Tuttle and Propst arrive at an apartment, are jumped and beaten by two captors and taken to a remote location. The missionaries find themselves in the middle of a terrifying hostage situation with a $300,000 ransom. Even though I knew the outcome, it was still interesting to watch the plot unfold. After the movie they had a Q&A session with Andrew Propst. It was interesting to hear his answers to some of the questions that were not addressed during the film. Thanks to the Thompson's for inviting us!

Saving Mr Banks

We went to the Valley Mall to see Saving Mr. Banks today. I love everything about Mary Poppins, so was rather excited to see this movie. Having Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson in the movie was a plus. It is the story of P.L. Travers very reluctant meeting with Walt Disney as he seeks to gain the rights for and adapt her Mary Poppins book into a movie. From the trailers it seemed like it would be a fun, light-hearted movie about the 'making' of Mary Poppins. However, it was full of emotion and depth in addition to music and humor. We got a glimpse into Traver's childhood in Australia, her relationship with her father, and why she was so against Disney transforming her story into a film. Bring a hankie!