Monday, November 9, 2009
Contradictions...It's Who We Are!
I’m going to tell you a secret. Are you paying attention? Girls are sensitive and emotional. I know, it’s not really that big of a secret! But apparently, sometimes, reminders are needed. We need to feel like our opinions and feelings are valid. Girls just want to be valued and respected and heard out. Yes, we don’t make sense! I acknowledge that and accept it, but can you accept it? Before you answer that you have to understand that that means that we may contradict ourselves, we may rant and rave about nothing, we might act fine when things are really bugging us, one day we might want to talk about things and the next we don’t. So, can you roll with the punches? Can you sit there and just listen and have compassion without making and imparting judgments? What a girl wants more than anything is to be accepted, whole heartedly, no questions asked. So…can you be a Man and do the job?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Prophetic Counsel-Elder Uchtdorf
Some Prophetic Counsel. This is from Elder Uchtdorf's CES Fireside on November 1st, 2009. There may be some errors in this transcription, but I will update them as I find them. Enjoy!
Now a second question we hear from you young people is, and again I quote "I’m so lonely, will I ever find my soul mate?". You were waiting for this question right? I have a number of things I want to say on this subject, but, let’s start with the concept of finding the one person you were meant to be with, the one person who’s perfect for you. There’s an old story about a young woman on an archeological excavation who discovers an ancient looking lamp. When she rubs it a Genie appears offering her one wish. She thinks for a moment and asks for world peace, that people would love each other and live in harmony forever. The Genie contemplates her request and finally says, “What you are asking for is impossible. The division among the people of the world is too deep and has existed for way too long. Please ask for something else, anything but that.” So the young lady thinks again and says “Somewhere out there is the one person I was meant to be with. I want to find him, someone who is handsome, thoughtful and has a sense of humor, someone who will help around the house, loves kids, doesn’t watch sports all the time, has a great job, thinks first about my happiness, someone who will go shopping with me and someone who can get along with my family.” The Genie considers her request for a moment, sighs deeply and then replies, “Let me see what I can do about World Peace.”
I know this maybe a disappointment for some of you, but I don’t believe that there is only one right person for you. I think I feel in love with my wife Harriet, who is here with me tonight, the first moment I saw her, never the less, had she decided to marry someone else, I believe I would have met and fallen in love with someone else. I’m eternally grateful that this didn’t happen, but I don’t believe that she was my one chance of happiness in this life, nor was I her’s.
Another error you might easily make in dating is expecting to find perfection in the person you are with. The truth is, the only perfect people you might know are those you don’t know very well. Everyone has imperfections. Now I’m not suggesting you lower your standards and marry someone with whom you can’t be happy, but one of the things I’ve realized as I’ve matured in life is that if someone is willing to accept me, imperfect as I am, than I should be willing to be patient with others imperfections as well. Since you won’t find perfection in your partner, and your partner won’t find it in you, you’re only chance at perfection is in creating perfection together. That is the secret.
There are those who do not marry because they feel a lack of magic in relationship. By magic I assume they mean sparks of attraction. Falling in love is a wonderful feeling, and I would never counsel you to marry someone you don’t love. Nevertheless, and here is another thing that is sometimes hard to accept, that that magic sparkle needs continued polishing. When the magic endures in a relationship, it’s because the couple made it happen, not because it mystically appeared due to some cosmic force. Frankly, it takes even work. For any relationship to survive both parties bring their own magic with them, and use that to sustain their love. Although I have said that I do not believe in a one and only soul mate for anyone, I do know this, once you commit to being married your spouse becomes your soul mate, and it is your duty and responsibility to work every day to keep it that way. Once you have committed, the search for a soul mate is over. Our thoughts and actions turn from looking to creating.
But what about those that despair of ever finding an eternal companion? First, don’t give up. Go to activities, meet people and do all that you can. I know that dating can be rough, rejection is one of the most painful things we can experience, trust me, I know how this feels. I feel with Harriet long before she fell in love with me, but this didn’t stop me, not at all. I found ways to be at the same place that she was at. When I was administering the Sacrament at the Church I arranged to pass it to her family. I was doing the best I could to impress her, but I think she found me just a little immature. The sparks simply weren’t there for her. I despaired of ever convincing her that I could be anything more than a friend, and who wants that, right? So I went away, joined the Air Force and travelled half a world away to attend Pilot training in the United States. It wasn’t until I returned to Germany having completed my training as a fighter pilot years after I had first met her that this beautiful young woman looked at me and said those magically words I had been longing to hear, she said, “You have matured since the last time I saw you.”. When I heard this I moved quickly, and within a few months I married the woman I had loved for a long long time. So don’t give up Brothers and Sisters. Just because you have been rejected a time or two or three or four or a couple hundred times, don’t despair. Brethren, the secret to finding the girl of your dreams is to get to know many of them, and then when you fall in love and it feels right, ask her to marry you! If she says no, you continue to search and to pray until finally you will arrive with a young woman at the altar of the Temple. So don’t give up.
Now Sisters, be gentle. It’s alright if you turn down requests for dates or proposals for marriage, but please do it gently. And Brethren, please start asking, ok? There are too many of our young women who never go on dates. Don’t suppose that certain girls would never go out with you, sometimes they are wondering why no one asks them out, just ask, and be prepared to move on if the answer is no, but ask. One of the trends that we see in some parts of the world is our young people are only hanging out in large groups rather than dating. While there’s nothing wrong with getting together often with others of your own age, I don’t know if you can really get to know individuals when you’re always in a group. One of the things that you need to learn is how to have a conversation with a member of the opposite sex. A great way to learn this is by being alone with someone, talking without a net so to speak.
Dates don’t have to be and in many cases shouldn’t be expensive and over planned affairs. When my Wife and I moved from Germany to Salt Lake City one of the things that most surprised us was the elaborate and sometimes stressful process young people had developed of asking for and accepting dates. We couldn’t believe it. Relax! Find simple ways to be together. One of my favorite things to do when I was young, and I know this was a long time ago, and when I was looking for a date was to walk a young lady home after church meeting. Now, did you bring a date to this meeting here tonight? No one is laughing, there they are. I hope you did, or walk someone home afterwards. Remember, you goal should not be to have a video of your date get a million views on YouTube. The goal is to get to know one individual person and learn how to develop a meaningful relationship with the opposite sex.
Now there are those among you fine young members of the church, who might never marry although they are worthy in every way, they may never find someone to whom they will be sealed to in the Temple of the Lord in this life. There is no way for those who have not experienced this despair to truly understand the loneliness and pain and you might feel. I know of many women who want more than anything else to be a wife and a mother, and they cannot understand why their prayers have never been answered. There are many single men who, for whatever reason also find themselves alone. First, let me tell you that your prayers are heard. Your Father in Heaven knows the desires of your heart. I cannot tell you why one individual’s prayers are answered one way while someone else’s are answered differently. But this I can tell you, the righteous desires of your hearts will be fulfilled. Sometimes it can be difficult to see anything beyond the path immediately before you. We are impatient and do not want to wait for a future fulfillment of our greatest desires, nevertheless, the brief span of this life is nothing in comparison with eternity and if only we can hope and exercise faith and joyfully endure to the end, and I say joyfully endure to the end. There in that great heavenly future we will have the fulfillment of our righteous desires of our hearts and so very much more than we can scarcely comprehend now. In the meantime, do not wait for someone else to make your life complete. Stop second guessing yourself and wondering if you are defective. Instead seek to reach out to your potential as a child of God. Seek learning, become engaged in a meaningful career, and seek fulfillment in service to others. Use your time, your talents, your resources to improve yourself and bless those around you. All of this is part of your preparation for having a family. Immerse yourself in your ward or branch and seek to magnify your callings no matter what they may be. The great purpose of this mortal existence is to learn to fully love our Heavenly Father and our neighbor as ourselves. If we do this with all our might, mind and strength our eternal destiny will be glorious and grand beyond our capacity to imagine. Be faithful and things will work out for you. That is his eternal promise to all who love and honor him.
NOW: Get out there and date! :D
Now a second question we hear from you young people is, and again I quote "I’m so lonely, will I ever find my soul mate?". You were waiting for this question right? I have a number of things I want to say on this subject, but, let’s start with the concept of finding the one person you were meant to be with, the one person who’s perfect for you. There’s an old story about a young woman on an archeological excavation who discovers an ancient looking lamp. When she rubs it a Genie appears offering her one wish. She thinks for a moment and asks for world peace, that people would love each other and live in harmony forever. The Genie contemplates her request and finally says, “What you are asking for is impossible. The division among the people of the world is too deep and has existed for way too long. Please ask for something else, anything but that.” So the young lady thinks again and says “Somewhere out there is the one person I was meant to be with. I want to find him, someone who is handsome, thoughtful and has a sense of humor, someone who will help around the house, loves kids, doesn’t watch sports all the time, has a great job, thinks first about my happiness, someone who will go shopping with me and someone who can get along with my family.” The Genie considers her request for a moment, sighs deeply and then replies, “Let me see what I can do about World Peace.”
I know this maybe a disappointment for some of you, but I don’t believe that there is only one right person for you. I think I feel in love with my wife Harriet, who is here with me tonight, the first moment I saw her, never the less, had she decided to marry someone else, I believe I would have met and fallen in love with someone else. I’m eternally grateful that this didn’t happen, but I don’t believe that she was my one chance of happiness in this life, nor was I her’s.
Another error you might easily make in dating is expecting to find perfection in the person you are with. The truth is, the only perfect people you might know are those you don’t know very well. Everyone has imperfections. Now I’m not suggesting you lower your standards and marry someone with whom you can’t be happy, but one of the things I’ve realized as I’ve matured in life is that if someone is willing to accept me, imperfect as I am, than I should be willing to be patient with others imperfections as well. Since you won’t find perfection in your partner, and your partner won’t find it in you, you’re only chance at perfection is in creating perfection together. That is the secret.
There are those who do not marry because they feel a lack of magic in relationship. By magic I assume they mean sparks of attraction. Falling in love is a wonderful feeling, and I would never counsel you to marry someone you don’t love. Nevertheless, and here is another thing that is sometimes hard to accept, that that magic sparkle needs continued polishing. When the magic endures in a relationship, it’s because the couple made it happen, not because it mystically appeared due to some cosmic force. Frankly, it takes even work. For any relationship to survive both parties bring their own magic with them, and use that to sustain their love. Although I have said that I do not believe in a one and only soul mate for anyone, I do know this, once you commit to being married your spouse becomes your soul mate, and it is your duty and responsibility to work every day to keep it that way. Once you have committed, the search for a soul mate is over. Our thoughts and actions turn from looking to creating.
But what about those that despair of ever finding an eternal companion? First, don’t give up. Go to activities, meet people and do all that you can. I know that dating can be rough, rejection is one of the most painful things we can experience, trust me, I know how this feels. I feel with Harriet long before she fell in love with me, but this didn’t stop me, not at all. I found ways to be at the same place that she was at. When I was administering the Sacrament at the Church I arranged to pass it to her family. I was doing the best I could to impress her, but I think she found me just a little immature. The sparks simply weren’t there for her. I despaired of ever convincing her that I could be anything more than a friend, and who wants that, right? So I went away, joined the Air Force and travelled half a world away to attend Pilot training in the United States. It wasn’t until I returned to Germany having completed my training as a fighter pilot years after I had first met her that this beautiful young woman looked at me and said those magically words I had been longing to hear, she said, “You have matured since the last time I saw you.”. When I heard this I moved quickly, and within a few months I married the woman I had loved for a long long time. So don’t give up Brothers and Sisters. Just because you have been rejected a time or two or three or four or a couple hundred times, don’t despair. Brethren, the secret to finding the girl of your dreams is to get to know many of them, and then when you fall in love and it feels right, ask her to marry you! If she says no, you continue to search and to pray until finally you will arrive with a young woman at the altar of the Temple. So don’t give up.
Now Sisters, be gentle. It’s alright if you turn down requests for dates or proposals for marriage, but please do it gently. And Brethren, please start asking, ok? There are too many of our young women who never go on dates. Don’t suppose that certain girls would never go out with you, sometimes they are wondering why no one asks them out, just ask, and be prepared to move on if the answer is no, but ask. One of the trends that we see in some parts of the world is our young people are only hanging out in large groups rather than dating. While there’s nothing wrong with getting together often with others of your own age, I don’t know if you can really get to know individuals when you’re always in a group. One of the things that you need to learn is how to have a conversation with a member of the opposite sex. A great way to learn this is by being alone with someone, talking without a net so to speak.
Dates don’t have to be and in many cases shouldn’t be expensive and over planned affairs. When my Wife and I moved from Germany to Salt Lake City one of the things that most surprised us was the elaborate and sometimes stressful process young people had developed of asking for and accepting dates. We couldn’t believe it. Relax! Find simple ways to be together. One of my favorite things to do when I was young, and I know this was a long time ago, and when I was looking for a date was to walk a young lady home after church meeting. Now, did you bring a date to this meeting here tonight? No one is laughing, there they are. I hope you did, or walk someone home afterwards. Remember, you goal should not be to have a video of your date get a million views on YouTube. The goal is to get to know one individual person and learn how to develop a meaningful relationship with the opposite sex.
Now there are those among you fine young members of the church, who might never marry although they are worthy in every way, they may never find someone to whom they will be sealed to in the Temple of the Lord in this life. There is no way for those who have not experienced this despair to truly understand the loneliness and pain and you might feel. I know of many women who want more than anything else to be a wife and a mother, and they cannot understand why their prayers have never been answered. There are many single men who, for whatever reason also find themselves alone. First, let me tell you that your prayers are heard. Your Father in Heaven knows the desires of your heart. I cannot tell you why one individual’s prayers are answered one way while someone else’s are answered differently. But this I can tell you, the righteous desires of your hearts will be fulfilled. Sometimes it can be difficult to see anything beyond the path immediately before you. We are impatient and do not want to wait for a future fulfillment of our greatest desires, nevertheless, the brief span of this life is nothing in comparison with eternity and if only we can hope and exercise faith and joyfully endure to the end, and I say joyfully endure to the end. There in that great heavenly future we will have the fulfillment of our righteous desires of our hearts and so very much more than we can scarcely comprehend now. In the meantime, do not wait for someone else to make your life complete. Stop second guessing yourself and wondering if you are defective. Instead seek to reach out to your potential as a child of God. Seek learning, become engaged in a meaningful career, and seek fulfillment in service to others. Use your time, your talents, your resources to improve yourself and bless those around you. All of this is part of your preparation for having a family. Immerse yourself in your ward or branch and seek to magnify your callings no matter what they may be. The great purpose of this mortal existence is to learn to fully love our Heavenly Father and our neighbor as ourselves. If we do this with all our might, mind and strength our eternal destiny will be glorious and grand beyond our capacity to imagine. Be faithful and things will work out for you. That is his eternal promise to all who love and honor him.
NOW: Get out there and date! :D
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