Back in the Gym Again1

Last night Rich and I went to the gym...tonight too.  It feels so good to get back to familiar patterns.  We have had a series of difficulties since April that have kept us out - other than meeting with our trainers - and finally we are moving in the right direction again.

Yesterday Rich had an appointment with Dr. Dimeo (his pulmonologist) to determine lung function and if the pneumonia had gone.  It hasn't - although it is markedly improved and hence the exercise.  He is on another antibiotic course and another round of steroids and will see Dimeo again in a couple of weeks...but the improvement is good.

For me - I had been pretty sick and experiencing some horrific vertigo.  Couldn't figure out why.  However, I had gone to the dentist between Wisconsin and Oklahoma because I was experiencing intermittent tooth pain.  The dentist discovered a tooth that needed a root canal even though I wasn't experiencing pain or any other symptoms...the tooth that was bothering me was cracked and in Oklahoma it actually broke and gave me quite the relief.  To make a long story short...I had the root canal last week and work done on the other tooth for a crown and now the vertigo is almost gone.  I don't know whether it was the infection and since I have been on an antibiotic that has helped or what...just grateful to be able to hold my head up or lay down and not have the world spinning! :)  And, since I can do that - I have been able to exercise the last couple of days without falling...yea!

And - as I long have learned - when the exercise is in place somehow, for some reason, diet becomes much better managed.  I have theories...but what is more important is that it is actually a fact.

Dr. Dimeo cautioned both of us to take the come back very, very slowly.  He told Rich that if he thought he could do 10 minutes then to shorten it to 5 instead.  And intersperse the aerobic with a couple of minutes of strength exercises so that his body has a chance to catch up.  Said it is the fastest way back to our peaks.  Yesterday I did 20 minutes on the bike and then an additional 10, and then 30 minutes in the pool.  Tonight I did 22 minutes, some abs and triceps work and then an additional 8 minutes on the bike.  But, tonight I traveled more distance - did 6 miles.   On our way home we noted that our bodies are so amazing - they are so quick to give up the strength and fitness...but they are so quick to respond to good care too. 

Yesterday, at lunch, there were a couple of guys sitting behind us discussing America and freedom.  They were obviously foreigners - sounded Russian, Czech, or something like it - but speaking English.  I didn't mean to eavesdrop but the conversation started softly and grew loud enough that not hearing would have been impossible.  Anyway - the nuts and bolts of their discussion was that you achieve what you get in the future by doing those things you need to do to achieve the result today...in essence today determines both the future and the past, especially since today becomes the past tomorrow.  That what is so wonderful about living here is that we really do have the freedom to choose what we will do with today to achieve what we want in the future.  I have thought about the wisdom of these young men in their discussion.  Too often we want the results of our intentions rather than having to do the work...and it doesn't work that way.  It doesn't work in weight loss and fitness, charachter building, education, getting out of debt, food storage...or any other endeavor.   Today is all we have.  I love Emily Dickinson's "Forever is composed of nows."  Or Emerson who said, "We are always getting ready to live but never living."  Or Charlotte Perkins Gilman's, "Eternity is not something that begins after you're dead.  It is going on all the time."  Truly, if you worry about what might be and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is...  It is nice to not be ignoring today in my quest for better health...or planning to do better "tomorrow"...because today is all that I have.

Social Media

This morning I was running an errand and was listening to talk radio (surprise!  surprise!  LOL).  Anyway - there is a local talk show called the Haloran Hilton Show which discusses local and national stories but takes phone calls and input from locals, as you would suppose.  Today the story they were talking about was the abysmal economy and lack of jobs coupled with a new trend from employers to do background checks on potential employees using a company that investigates and scours the internet of ALL social media on a candidate - including the honors and great things along with anything you have said, done, or joined that may be negative.  The background check is very thorough and goes back for seven years.  The obvious places you would think of - facebook, my space, twitter, etc. come to mind - but flicker, photo sharing sites, clubs, blogs, interaction with individuals via the internet in emails, texts, etc. all come to bear.

The host of the program had asked what the listening audience thought...especially considering privacy rights and that so many of the younger generation seem to have so little thought about putting EVERYTHING out there with so little regard for personal privacy and understanding how easily some very innocent things can be twisted into something so bad, or we just grow up...or, on the flip side...had Anthony Weiner had a background check would his wife have married him and would his constituents voted him into office.

As I listened to the interaction my thoughts reflected over and over again on an old movie our family had watched many years ago called, Defending Your Life.  It had Meryl Streep and Albert Brooks in it and it always felt to me kind of like how I thought the judgement may be.  There was a judge and a prosecutor, using "video tape" of their lives, to determine their worthiness of future happiness and placement in the next life.  As the video replayed in certain areas they would have to explain why they made the decision or did what they did. 

I don't really remember much specifically about the movie - just the premise - but always felt like it was a pretty good representation of the plan of salvation and knowing that the Lord is omniscient.  Through the years I have often thought about the movie, especially as I pondered scriptures such as Alma 12:14-15,
       "For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condmen us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.
       "But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion , and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance."

As the radio program ensued a caller stated the obvious - that if you don't do, say, or think anything that you wouldn't want God to witness - then you have nothing to fear...

But then I realized that there was so much more than not fearing and not wanting damnation to motivate me... there is the desire to become like my Father in Heaven and Savior...and the Lord himself told us how in D&C 88 -
        "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you....
        "And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.
        "Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.
        "Remember the great and last promise which I have made unto you; cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you....
        "And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.
        "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;
        "That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High.
        "Therefore, cease from all your light speeches, from all laughter, from all your lustful desires, from all your pride and light-mindedness, and from all your wicked doings....
        "See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires.
        "Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.
        "And above all things; clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.
        "Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come. Behold. and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen."

I love this quote from Bruce R. McConkie, "It is one thing to know about God and another to KNOW Him.  We know about Him when we learn the He is a personal being in whose image man is created; when we learn the Son is in the express image of His Father's person, when we learn that both the Father and the Son possess certain (specific) attributes and powers.  But we KNOW them in the sense of gaining eternal life when we enjoy and experience the same things They do.  To KNOW God is to think as He thinks, to feel as He feels, to have the power He possesses, to comprehend the truths He understands, and to do what He does.  Those who KNOW God BECOME like Him and have His kind of life, which is eternal life."

Our lives really are a running recording of our thoughts, deeds, and desires...and it is from this record that we will be judged...with the blanks brought about by our sincere repentance.  Obviously, as we repent, school our feelings and desires, and do the Lord's will there will be fewer and fewer gaps in the tape until such a time that we will be able to show the entire movie to the Nephis', Moses', Abrahams', and Josephs' of our posterity...and our daughters too.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2

Last night Rich and I went to the last Harry Potter movie for our Family Home Evening.  The theater was practically deserted and we enjoyed not having to share it with the craziness that was probably the scene over the weekend.

During the day I had read a talk by Melvin Ballard given in1928 at the Tabernacle and reprinted in the New Era in 1984.  The talk, "Struggle for the Soul," is extraordinarily powerful...especially to me as I struggle to overcome the flesh and become my best self.  But as I watched Harry Potter I almost was mesmerized by the images that came before my eyes and I found myself reflecting over and over again on the prophetic words of the Lord through Elder Ballard.  I marvelled about how many best-selling books and movies are out right now with the immortal theme of good vs. evil - how J.K. Rowling had captured the hearts and minds of literally millions around the globe in this classic tale and how seriously true the tale is - in a metaphorical way.   It is even more sad to me that so many who love this story will view it just as a metaphor rather than recognizing the truths it contains.  At one point in the movie one of the characters refuses to not call the devil by his true name, thus recognizing his power and his war upon good and in so doing sets up the ultimate battle for the very soul of each and every character in the movie - only he who will see it, recognize it. call it what it is, and engage in the battle against it...only he will be victorious in the end.  

Speaking of the real-life battle we're all in, Elder Ballard noted:
    "When the first of the Father's faithful sons and daughters were about to come into earth life, they were undoubtedly warned and cautioned; for we were to have TWO new experiences.  First, we were to come into possession of a mortal tabernacle.  Never having had one before, it was all strange to us.  We were charged that we were to take possession of that mortal tabernacle and make it our servant, and were to be master over it, to honor it and yet to subjugate it.

    "[Second,] we were to be in the presence of the enemy who was now a majority.  If our eyes were only opened to see the powers that are about us, that seek to influence us, we could not have the courage to walk alone and unassisted.  These powers are about us, using their influence for the accomplishment of certain well-defined ends to win the coveted place for their chief, the fallen son of God.  When he fell the heavens wept over him, and he became Lucifer, the devil."

    I had to chuckle when Neville stood in the safety of the dome and mocked the evil mobs that sought to destroy him and all those at Hogwarts...because how often have I felt that same smugness in the protection and safety I have been in without realizing the true peril that was about to engulf me.  And it was with pleasure that I watched Neville stand against all that raged, knowing that he'd given his all, and if it required his life, so be it...but he could do so knowing that he had chosen for all that was good and right.  He had stood fast, firm, and immoveable.

    The portrayal of the dementors was also pretty fascinating to me.  The special effects, the music, and the darkness and forboding told the tale of their desire to destroy the very souls of mankind.  Elder Ballard said, "It is not bodies, it is immortal spirits that the devil wants.  And he tries to capture them through the body, for the body can enslave the spirit, but the spirit can keep the body a servant and be its master."

    There are so many things I can point to throughout the movie that vividly portray this war we are in...it is a haunting tale for sure...but perhaps the thing I was most struck with was the idea that in order to completely overcome evil Harry had to let the evil in him die...like Elder Maxwell once said..."Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar.  Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!"  It is only then that we are truly free from bondage and able to have the peace and happiness that comes from keeping the commandments of the Lord. 

    At the start of the movie I knew the outcome.  Even as I read the first book of the series I knew the outcome of the last.  It is the same with the real-life war that has been and continues to rage through the eons of time.  As Elder Ballard said, "Who fears the outcome?  Only he who is a deserter. But those who are on the Lord's side will close the ranks, fortify themselves, adhere to the standards, live in harmoney with those blessed principles of the gospel which Christ has given, depending absolutely upon his leadership.  And as sure as we live, victory shall come for Christ and his own."