Garnish

4 October 2012, 4:44 pm by Giggles
Categories: Gospel, Musings

Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith,
and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly;
then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God;
and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
Doctrine & Covenants 121:45

This is one of my favorite verses of scripture. It is so full of meaning, counsel, and promise. Recently I spent time pondering the part about virtue being a garnish.

What is a garnish? Every time I hear the word I think of the line in You’ve Got Mail (1998) about the caviar garnish.

When my dad was in college, he and his roommates collected all the parsley from the cafeteria during dinner once to make corsages for their dates. They had real corsages in the cars waiting for them.

Garnish must be more than a decorative addition to a dinner plate. Especially if it is virtue that should be garnishing my thoughts. Virtue should have a larger role than a decorative addition to my life.

The word “garnish” comes from Old French where it meant provide, furnish, defend. Before that it came from a pre-Germanic language and meant to be cautious or guard.

Virtue doesn’t just make your thoughts look good, it protects them. It defends them. With virtuously guarded thoughts my faith and trust, my confidence in my God can grow strong, my understanding can increase.

I may never look at parsley the same again.

3 Shared thoughts

On the road again

2 October 2012, 2:27 pm by Giggles
Categories: Life

I hit an important milestone this morning.

In April 2006 I bought my second car, Squid. I’d bought my previous car, Squirt, for $1000 and got $700 on a trade in for it, not bad. It was still a functional car, but after my axle almost snapped on my way back from a road trip to Texas the previous Thanksgiving, nobody was that excited for me to take any more road trips in that car. And in the mean time I’d met someone in Arizona and was itching for a road trip. That was my first debt. And it’s paid off. 🙂

Squid had about 24,000 or so miles on it when I bought it. I’ve got a thing for palindromes (you’d think that word should be one). And I’ve had fun celebrating all of them on the odometer. Today I hit two within two miles, and the mile in the middle was pretty good too.

It’s a good car. I’m excited for the six digit adventures we’re going to have.

4 Shared thoughts

Sacred Respect

28 September 2012, 3:20 pm by Giggles
Categories: Family, Gospel

In my last post I wrote about planning a temple wedding. So I thought I’d share a bit about what a temple means to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), and how it’s different from our chapels. But what could I say better than what has already been said?

Take for example this wonderful video with Elder William R. Walker. With beautiful images of inside and outside many different temples, he explains the sacred nature of what we do inside the temples. At about 7:25 in the video he starts talking about the sealing rooms where marriages are performed.

And then here’s some articles too:

Brett wrote an article when we got married to help us explain to others why getting married in a temple was so important to us.

While entrance into a LDS temple after it has been dedicated is limited to members of good standing holding a valid recommend, everyone is always welcome at our meeting houses for our Sunday worship services or for any of our activities during the week. Check out this article and infographic about the difference between our chapels and temples.

We’re not secretive about our temples, but we treat them with sacred respect.

1 Shared thought

How to Plan a Temple Wedding

26 September 2012, 12:12 pm by Giggles
Categories: Family, Gospel, How To, Relationships

Walking through Deseret Book a while back I saw a “temple wedding planner” book that cost about $20. I had to flip through it because I couldn’t believe that topic required a whole book. Flipping through it though I discovered that, other than a few pages, it was about planning the reception afterwards, not planning the wedding. I told Brett I could write a whole pamphlet on the topic, and I’d even provide it for free! (click for downloadable pamphlet)

Here’s the basics of how to plan a temple wedding, in ten easy steps:

1. Live a clean and virtuous life. That includes morality, integrity, chastity, modesty, honesty. Planning a temple wedding starts long before you are even planning a first date. It’s a way of life that gets you to the temple and the most important step.

2. Find someone of the opposite sex who has also lived a clean and virtuous life. See above.

3. Make the choice to love that person. Admittedly, this choice should not be a hard one. It should follow naturally during an appropriate courtship. It is important to recognize it is a choice and one you will be making every day for the rest of forever.

4. Choose to be married to this person. With it’s corollary, they need to choose to be married to you.

5. Decide together on a date and a temple to be married in. Yes, both parties have equal say in this, even if one says simply, “I like your choice of temple.”

6. Call the temple and schedule the ceremony. Recognize this is a sacred ordinance and not an elaborate to-do. Treat it with reverence and respect. Respect the size of the room when deciding who to invite.

7. Read, and follow, the letter the temple sends you. It will tell you when you should arrive, what you need to bring, what you can wear, and what is not allowed.

8. Meet with your bishops and stake presidents. Get your living ordinance recommends.

9. Go to the appropriate government office and get the legal marriage license. This is the only thing that costs any money in a temple wedding (unless you need to rent temple clothing, generally for under $10).

10. Get married.

Here are things you do NOT do for a temple wedding:

1. Choose a wedding party. There is no role for a maid of honor or best man in a temple wedding. You are not to ask guests to wear matching outfits or tuxes for a temple wedding. Guests simply wear Sunday best. You can honor friends with wedding party titles for a reception if you would like, but it is not part of the ceremony. There is also no “walking down the aisle” (there’s no aisle) or “giving away” of any sort in a temple wedding.

2. Flowers. You do not carry, wear, or otherwise use flowers for a temple sealing ceremony. You can have flowers for photos or receptions afterwards, but they are not part of the ceremony.

3. Photographers/Videographers. They are not allowed in the temple. Period. End of story. You can take photos/videos on the temple grounds or at your reception, but they are not part of the ceremony.

4. Tuxes/fancy gowns. You wear simple white clothing. If you want to wear a wedding gown you need to keep in mind that it must be strictly white (no ivory or other colors), if it has a train it needs to be able to be bustled, modest neckline and long sleeves are required, beading and other embellishments must be within reason. You also do not wear a wedding veil for the ceremony.

5. Food. The entire ceremony is less than 5 minutes. You can do food at a reception, but it isn’t part of the ceremony. That goes for cake too.

6. Large guest lists. Sealing rooms, where the ceremony occurs, can generally fit between 15 and 40 people. This is a solemn, reverent, occasion. It is not a time to invite everyone you’ve ever met and plan on there being standing room only. But for a reception, invite whoever you want.

7. Music. There is no music for the ceremony. And there is definitely no dancing afterwards. So you don’t need a DJ or play list.

8. Wedding favors. Give everyone who comes to the sealing a hug and a smile. The giving of gifts, to guests or the bride and groom, is not part of the wedding ceremony.

So you see, planning a temple wedding is really quite simple. Planning the reception after could take some work though. Just keep the two separate, and focus on the former.

The most important single thing that any Latter-Day Saint ever does in this world is to marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority.
– Elder Bruce R. McConkie
“Agency or Inspiration?” New Era, Jan. 1975, p. 38.

See also:

8 Shared thoughts

It’s below me.

24 September 2012, 9:35 am by Giggles
Categories: Life, Science & Tech

I’ve been coming to the realization lately that the generation gap is below me now. Life’s been hinting at it for a while, but lately there have been a few things that have made it glaringly obvious. Take for example:

I have to listen to NPR to find out what the latest cool words are, like YOLO.

I’m with the teacher on this one – BC Comic, 5 September 2012. Not only do I not tweet my entire summer vacation, but I really don’t need to hear about anyone else’s that way either. I find the need to instantly update the entire world about everything a bit bizarre. My life is perfectly official without having to put it on twitter or facebook.

And I don’t feel the need to have my cell phone become a permanent part of my body. I generally know where mine is, but it isn’t generally with me. It’s interesting how these devices that are supposed to bring us together are actually widening the social gulf between people. For a particular study they had two strangers talk to each other with either a notebook or a cell phone (that didn’t belong to either person) on the table. If they talked in the presence of the cell phone they weren’t able to connect. I’d rather connect with people than things.

The fact that I look at that study, and one about social media negatively effecting how pre-teen girls feel about themselves, and want to run around and take all the cell phones and social-media accounts away from them all probably truly puts me above that gap now.

I think I’m okay with this above the gap thing though. I always wanted to be an old fuddy-duddy when I grow up. Can a person be a Luddite and a technophile at the same time?

6 Shared thoughts

I’m all made of hinges?

22 September 2012, 9:11 am by Giggles
Categories: Health

I’m all made of hinges ’cause everything bends
From the top of my neck way down to my ends.
I’m hinges in front, and I’m hinges in back;
But I have to be hinges, or else I would crack!
(“Hinges,” Children’s Songbook, #277)

I never understood that song when I was little. Sure, I’d stand up and sing it with the rest of them and I’d bend forward when I sang I was hinges in front and I’d bend backwards when I sang I was hinges in back just like everyone else. But I’m not all hinges. My ribs don’t bend. My shins don’t bend. My femur and ulna don’t bend. I am clearly not all hinges. That song bothered me in it’s inaccuracy when I was just a kid.

Side note: You should ask Brett how he felt about being asked to “get the wiggles out” when he was in Primary. Traumatized kid there. Something about a young Brett thinking wiggles were a tape-worm type parasite.

A week ago one of my hinges stopped working. Specifically, the hinge at the base of my neck that connects to my left shoulder. Some mean little imp was stabbing me with a hot knife right in that hinge. I’ve had herniated disks in my neck before so I knew what that felt like and this definitely felt like that again. Oddly, I didn’t want to go to the doctor for it because I really didn’t want to try and schedule physical therapy like I did last time. But after waking up in the middle of the night on Sunday in too much pain to sleep, and waking up Brett with my moaning and tossing, we decided I should probably see someone.

I don’t have a general practice doctor. So they couldn’t get me in at the clinic near our house. Instead I want to the “Insta” clinic 12 miles away. After waiting in the reception area for 50 minutes and then sitting in an exam room for another 40, a physician’s assistant came in and examined me for two or three minutes, declared me neurologically okay, and gave me prescriptions for anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers.

That hinge still feels tight and in need of a good scrub down and some WD40. But I’m sleeping better now. And I can even look at you if you sit on my left side again.

But I’m still not all hinges.

3 Shared thoughts

Last Flight

20 September 2012, 2:19 pm by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things, Science & Tech

This morning I drove to a park near the university. There were more people there than I’d ever seen before, especially since the students at the high school across the street and the kids from the pre-school across the street were there. I sat down in the shade of a small tree.

After several minutes a man called out, “There it is!” Everyone looked up where he was pointing. It came from the north-east, banked south a bit, and then banked east again. I got a little misty.

I saw the shuttle/747 combination on the ground at the Air Force base in El Paso when I was in high school. This time I saw it in flight. I always wanted to go to a shuttle launch. I’m grateful for this last chance to see a shuttle soar.

Thank you Endeavour, and all the shuttles and the brave men and women who flew you, for the dreams and inspiration.

3 Shared thoughts