Die Empty

"Alas for those that never sing, 

But die with all their music in them."  

- Oliver Wendell Holmes 

We received this book today at work from our Innovations team - aka, the big ideas team. Todd Henry, the author, spoke at Celebration about the need to live a full life... to explore and try every new idea that comes so that you can die knowing you lived. Really lived. I haven't started reading the book yet, but I'm already excited about the concept. I am a fan of pursuing possibilities and expanding them out. Arguably, it's how I've lived my life to this point. There's certainly more ground to cover, and I'm excited for those experiences as well. 

Day 26: What is prayer to you?

If you've paid close attention, you'll realize that I didn't do my math very well. I thought 25 days would get me through the end of February, but I find myself blessed with an extra day! Due to my December eye condition returning, the late hour, and the BYU basketball game that filled the preceding 3 hours, I'm going to opt for something easy, but thought-provoking. 

I saw this on Facebook today - actually my mom found it and mentioned it to me - and I just had to find it and share. Corrie Ten Boom is an inspiration woman who had her own profound learning experience with prayers. If you have never read her book,  The Hiding Place, I highly recommend it. She and her sister help Jews during WWII and eventually get caught and sent to a concentration camp. Her sister has great faith and devotion and really utilizes prayer and their small Bible to sustain her. Corrie's "conversion" to her sister's point of view takes time, but I think it reflects many people's journey towards faith and God. We go step by step, sometimes more than a little skeptical. I feel that our desire to move on that path will eventually lead us to the moment shown above, where we ask ourselves what prayer means to us. And I bet for many of us, it really is a steering wheel that guides us, not just a spare tire in case of emergency. 

I will be honest. Despite the many things I was facing during the autumn months (jobless, still getting over heartbreaks and disappointments, not sure where to live etc) I wasn't really driving my life with prayer. It was a spare tire. I was doing many other things right - reading scriptures, attending the temple weekly, attending church and activities, etc - but I was letting prayer fall by the wayside. It was just hit or miss. Perhaps it will be one of those things that I just have to really focus on and make it a priority in my life. I've really appreciated this opportunity to focus on it. 

This is starting to sound like my recap, but it's very late and I'm very tired. I'll wrap everything up with a conclusion for ya'll... but mostly for me! I've loved that this blog has been a way to kind of chart my progress, and I'm excited to go over it and give the big wrap up. And I'm excited to pray and go to sleep!! 

Drive your life with prayer, people! It's way better than a spare tire. Love you all, thanks for reading. 

:)

Dear Secret Admirer..

... if you actually were to exist, you would be getting me an amazing Valentine's day gift. Because that's how wonderful you are! You know me well, and I just have to share with everyone what you would get me! 

You'd start off my morning with breakfast in bed (along with an early wake up call so I'd have time to eat it). Eggs, toast, bacon, orange juice... you're saving the sweet things for later, of course! There's a flower or bouquet to brighten the cold morning as well. And what's that you just carried in behind your back? A gift! 

Smart man. This is where I hug you, kiss you, and tell you just how wonderful I think you are. I'll head off to work, on could nine as I contemplate seeing you again at the end of my day. 

Well, it's the end of the day and we are meeting downtown to grab dinner. We might go to a fun, unique ethnic restaurant, or head on over (with everyone else, I'm sure) to Cheesecake Factory. Actually, scratch that. We're grabbing dessert from Cheesecake Factory, but then we're driving home so I can make you your favorite dinner! We love cooking together... okay, I mostly cook and you mostly try to distract me and be the taste-tester. We'll eat, tidy up, then take our desserts and watch a fun flick, or maybe head back out for a performance. As a final surprise, since you know I've been rather obsessed with deep, turquoise shades of blue, you'll whip this out. Just because you think I'm worth it. 

http://www.bluenile.com/london-blue-white-sapphire-ring-sterling-silver_33505?gclid=CIac387IsrUCFWlxQgod1jEAfw&click_id=67308146
(size 6, fits perfect!)

Well, my darling admirer, I hate to part ways with you, but alas I must bid you adieu. If you feel so inclined to show up on my doorstep with any and/or all of these gifts, I can promise you flat out you'll get a wonderful Valentine's kiss! 

Confession

I have a problem.


I am obsessed with books. 


It's a good thing that I have a Kindle so I can feed my obsession at minimal cost, aka none. The free collections are my saving grace. Admittedly, some of the promotional items lack literary value, but many are quite good and make for great, quick escape reads. And the classics? Well, those are my joy anyways! 


I binged again today. "Bought" more books. 


I have over 100 books on my Kindle by now, and I'm sure at least half have not been read. But that's okay. They'll get read eventually. Until then, I will keep splurging on Amazon Kindle books every few times a month. 


Books are good for you. 


Read them.


Binge wisely. 


:)

Liter-at-ure, Litrachur, Littachur

I have never considered myself to be a big quoter. Take movies, for example. Sure, I watch movies and pick up on the funny lines in them. But very rarely do I use movie lines in my general conversations with people; nor do my general conversations trigger thoughts of movies in my mind. I'm even worse with song lyrics because half the time I don't know what the lyrics really say. I listen to the music of the music, not the words of it, generally. But books... well after today I think that I just may be something of a word nerd. 


I had a few instances today where various short phrases triggered thoughts of different literary works in my mind. (Of course, I got interrupted between the time I started blogging and the time I got to these examples, so I only remember the most recent one.) For some reason, I thought that bar exam results were announced today. My brother took the bar exam, so it's sort of a big deal for him to know if he has passed the bar. Despite not being particularly versed in the poem (haha, versed in a poem, haha) I immediately thought of "Crossing the Bar" by Alfred Lord Tennyson. 


Man, I wish I had focused, because this was going to be such a smart little blog entry, and now it's sort of..... odd and short. 


In other news, I have started reading David McCullough's 1776 and I'm pretty sure that I'm already in love with it! And I have some job testing tomorrow and potential interviews with DYNO (submitted a resume to a special contact person). Things are starting to roll... now if only I knew which way they were going!