A lighter thought for the day!

I just had to share a thought I had today as I was preparing my lesson in the Joseph Smith manual. I was in lesson 9 where it is talking about the gifts of the spirit. I was all serious trying to prepare a really good lesson and all involved in the text. As I got to the end, I was trying to think about the last paragraph that states:

"The Lord cannot always be known by the thunder of His voice, by the display of His glory or by the manifestation of His power; and those that are the most anxious to see these things, are the least prepared to meet them, and were the Lord to manifest His power as he did to the children of Israel, such characters would be the first to say, 'Let not the Lord speak any more, lest we His people die. '(See Exodus 20:19.)"

As I read that verse I pictured a loving Father who would be willing to do anything to help his children, and what do they ask for. They ask over and over for a sign. Show us a sign. We want a sign. Show us a sign. Finally the Father says, ok, ok, I heard you, enough is enough, I will show you a sign. It will be a tough one, but I will show you a sign. Tomorrow all who want a sign will wake up with chicken pox and you will have them for the rest of your lives. The next day, the people wake up with chicken pox as had been predicted, and what is their response? No more signs. We don't want any more signs. Please, Please don't show us any more signs!

Just thought I would pass that on as a little lighter moment of the day!

Additional thought on the Law of Consecration

I wanted to continue a little on my thought about the Law of Consecration and how it can be more applicable in our lives today. I was so glad to receive Andy's comments. Andy was my Elder's Quorum President in the 3rd ward at BYU-Idaho. We both met our wives from that ward and had great times together. I was his counselor and he taught me a great deal about the gospel. I thought his comments were of some great value so I am going to place them here for all to see and then I will continue on with my thought. I hope he doesn't mind me putting his comments here. He said, 1.) "I don't remember anywhere in the Temple where we are told that the law of consecration is on hold. In fact I don't recall any talk or message from the church stating otherwise. So we should live it now as much as we can. That means serving others and mentally living it by realizing all we have is given to us to help those around us and none are better than others because of money. 2.) We actually have to prepare a ZION society before it will be established. Its not that we are suddenly going to be rescued out of the world while we still toil to have more than others. There will need to come a shift on our thinking and behavior then the Lord will establish Zion and send the city of Enoch back to the earth to join an existing Zion society." I love those comments.
Now back to some of my thoughts. Considering for a moment that money is nothing more than a means of exchanging service from one person to another. If this is the case, then in all due reality it does not matter what means of currency we use. Obviously the best currency is one backed by a common value such as gold, but for the point I am trying to make, it really does not matter so much the currency as it does the service we perform. We do not need currency to exchange services among people who are of the same mindset and understanding. We all have talents and skills that we can share with each other. In a ward, in a stake, and in the church as a whole their are many things that we can do for each other that requires no currency exchange. What do we do as home teachers and as visiting teachers? We are taught to share our talents and skills with those we serve. As we serve, we are also served. In the church as a whole, we live far below our potential to serve and lift each other up.
How ironic is it that we will go to work for 8-10 hours a week and spend half the money on gas, food, babysitters, etc. and then we will go pay someone the other half of our day's paycheck to fix a simple appliance in our house. All this when the talents and skills to fix that appliance were right there within our ward or stake. It is even more ironic when you consider the fact that the very person who could have come over to fix your appliance will spend a good part of his paycheck to get the very service that you could have gladly exchanged for the fixed appliance. This exchange would have left both of you with more freedom, a chance to have served one another, and more time to have spent with your family. I am not saying we do not need to work at all on the outside since many services can only be provided by larger entities. I am saying that many times we could alleviate much of the heartaches we have by just living a simple version of the Law of Consecration.
When you think of groups of people who live this lower law better than anyone else, who comes to mind? It may be kind of hilarious, but college students at the church schools seem to live this lower law better than any other people. This is probably more by necessity in many cases than by desire, but they still show how it can be done. A college student has little money but quite a few resources and skills available to them. So what do they do with these skills and talents? They share and serve in as many ways as possible so that all can be blessed. In most all of these exchanges, their is no currency exchanged, and yet the service is still rendered.
Now why is this so significant? Their are two ways we can use this knowledge to bless our lives. First, right now we are all in wards and stakes and organizations with people who could use a helping hand with one thing or another. None are excluded from this category. Although many are not quite at the state where this law can be implemented in its entirety, we can rest assured that it will be implemented fully some day, hopefully sooner than later. But inasmuch as the law is able to be lived, it needs to be lived. We have our daily schedules that seem to be so busy, but why are they so busy. What if we spent Saturdays as ward members and as families serving one another? What a great family activity. Then on Sunday, as time permits, we can do the same. One of the reason's we seem to have no time is the very fact that we do not spend the time to give people time if that makes any sense. If we banded together as members of the church, we could alleviate much of the suffering and pain that is felt by many.
The second reason why this is so significant is that if something were to happen to our economy, we would have to realize real fast that we do not need an economy to perform the basics that will keep us alive and happy. The economy does provide for many luxuries, goods, and services, but it can never compensate for actual people helping people and serving one another. Service is eternal, but our currency and economy are very fragile and can fluctuate on a daily basis. If we truly and sincerely learn the essence of true service, which is the key ingredient to the Law of Consecration, we will be able to weather whatever comes our way. When others are fighting each other because things go sour, we can be serving each other and have smiles on our faces!

Current Condition of our Nation

As I sit here pondering on things that are going on in our Nation, I feel impressed to say a few words concerning our present condition. It may not be a popular topic, but yet it is one that is in serious need of discussion; not so much discussion as it does action. I must say before I get into my thoughts that overall I am an optimist. I know that a loving Father in Heaven looks after his children and will do the very best for them. With that being said, likewise their are times when action needs to be taken. We stand at a cross-roads in our Nation, one that will determine our fate in the future. Just as a child who loses a finger, you cannot just ignore it and pretend that it will go away because it will not. Action must be taken when things are seriously wrong. That is not being pessimistic, rather that is being realistic.
We have come to a time in our Nation when political answers will no longer do. Their are politicians on all sides of the debates saying this and that about different topics; some good, some bad. When a Nation gets to a point when they can no longer be governed by a Constitution, they can no longer be saved by a Constitution either, no matter how perfect that Constitution may be. When a Nation gets to this point, no matter what political practices are implemented, they will soon be defeated through some kind of corruption or another. The true answer to our Nation's problems and the only one that will have a lasting result on our Nation at this time is not a political solution, rather a spiritual one.
People must understand that their will be little or no return to the prosperous times we have been blessed with and are so used to unless we have a spiritual rebirth as a Nation. Prophets have warned us on numerous occasions, and we are now seeing the results of a Nation forsaking righteousness as a whole. The consequences of this are not just spiritual, but even more so natural consequences of secret combinations and the results of their actions. It is also a consequence brought upon by others participating in these works either knowingly or unknowingly.
Unfortunately our Nation is very sick right now and we can no longer get by with a patch on top of a patch to solve our problems politically. Until this Nation can learn to live under constitutional law, we will be bound to live under a law that is relative rather than absolute. As a Nation we can make that decision. We can either suffer as in times of old when people forsook the commandments, or we can repent as a Nation and have a loving Father in Heaven protect us and keep us safe as is the promise to all who live upon this land. If we cannot do this, then we have no promise and as a Nation we have some very tough times ahead. This being said, even if this Nation does not choose to repent, we can still individually receive the protection and blessings promised upon those who live in this Nation, if we will but listen to the prophets and live worthy of the spirit to direct us. That does not mean that we will be able to avoid much of what lies ahead, but as we do what is right, we will be guided to know what we need to do.
The Constitution of this land is no more relative than the commandments are. They are absolutes in a time when their are few absolutes. As was once said, we cannot break the commandments, we can only break ourselves against them.
Now as I began, I must tell you once again that I am an optimist overall, but the time has come for us to realize that all is not well in Zion. We have some difficult choices to make. For us to change the course we are headed as a Nation and as a people, we cannot do it outside of the framework of the church. We need the activity that comes from church membership, (Holy Ghost) church attendance, and in living what we are taught. Nothing short of this has the power to change the state of our Nation as it currently exists.
We can be optimistic that things will happen in our lives and in this Nation according to the dictates of a loving Heavenly Father. This does not change the fact that we can only last so long as a Nation under our current attitudes and actions. Their is mercy and their is also justice. Unfortunately as a Nation we are currently on the side of justice rather than mercy.
We must live under constitutional law if we ever want to return to the prosperity we have enjoyed in the past, but even more than that, we must return to our spiritual roots. Rather than getting drunk on the weekends, we need to serve others around us. We need to study the constitution. We need to study the words of the prophets and be active in following their counsel rather than just listening only. We need to forget the worldly things of this world, and rather use our resources to help those around us. Only in doing this will we be able to preserve our constitution and freedoms that are enjoyed under that document!

Sold on Fluoride

Those of you who know I am a Dental Hygienist may not be too surprised that I am writing about something I promote all day at work and have been taught in all my classes is a good product. It probably isn't a shocker to you if you keep up on the latest dental info that Fluoride is a very controversial subject, at least when it comes to water fluoridation and the recommended Fluoride treatments.

To those of you who may be interested I decided to do a bit of my own research. I am not saying I questioned Fluoride, I just decided to look at what people who where opposed to it had to say. I did this mainly so I would have a greater knowledge of how to respond to these people. Some of the negative points I have heard are: it is a waste product, it destroys cells, it is toxic, it depresses your system, etc. I even saw a very convincing video by a dentist stating that Fluoride was not good; however, after all my research I can honestly tell you that Fluoride is very beneficial and should be promoted and used as currently recommended!

As with all products there should be some comparison, such as the two different types of filling materials. Unfortunately there is not another product to compare fluoride to so all you can do is look at the long studies of fluoride. When we see people who have grown up drinking well water they have very healthy bodies. The fluoride in this water is typically right around the recommended dosage. These people typically have very few cavities in comparison to a person who has not had fluoride. These people also have less broken bones than a person who does not have fluoride and they live just as long of lives and are not killed by "fluoride destroying their cells". In addition there are many products that we use today that are waste products and they are still beneficial, just like fluoride.

Hopefully you can't see by this very concrete research that fluoride is very safe and beneficial when used at the recommended dosages. Fluoride truly does help our bodies and teeth!