Sincere Repetitions

Most weeks I make a little progress in this year's reading of the New Testament; (obviously speed is not my priority here, but I promise to do better.)  Reviewing the Sermon on the Mount, I paused at one verse --
Matthew 6:7 "when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do ..."  Though I've read it many times, a different interpretation came to my mind --one which maybe never before occurred to me.

It's almost embarrassing to think of how frequently I have repeated many phrases since I started praying as a little boy.  My good friend recently told me his son Adam (age 8) frequently thanks Heavenly Father for what He will do for the family --in the future; (I wish my faith were that strong.)  Today I realize the value of sincere, humble, needed, meaningful repetitions in daily prayer, such as, "I love Thee."  As it relates to my thought about the language of prayer, I share an experience from my teenage years:

Many times throughout my adult life, I have recalled Bob Darger's simple, childlike manner of praying in church meetings.  It made a profound impression on me, and still does to this day. If his prayers included repetitions, I'm sure they were never vain.  Brother Darger was my Sunday School teacher when I was ~fourteen.  Bob gave us homework and a three-ring binder to keep it in; no one else ever did that.  He had a wonderful, talented family, and owned his own business with a one-man office in downtown SLC.  I think Bob lived a simple life, was always smiling, and probably never made an enemy.  He was truly a humble servant of God and his family.  I doubt that we rowdy guys appreciated his unique teaching style and sweet love for the Savior.  So teachers of teenagers, take heart -- 40 years later a student may look back and have an aha! moment because of you.

Thinking back on our quiet walk through the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, NY,
I believe a boy used simple language in his humble prayer.

Silver Lining

Jim Cramer ("Mad Money"show on CNBC) was unusually serious last night.  He's not always correct with his stock picks, but very entertaining.  The investment topic relating to the crisis in Egypt reminded me of this stormy view of our western frontier.  I love silver linings.

"Given that the media now blows everything out of proportion, and it seems like we get some terrifying new crisis every other week, you need to develop your own list ... [and] be ready to buy them when the futures take everything down, as they do ... as they did Friday morning."

"Finally, we really have to go completely counterintuitive, and we've got to ask, is it possible ... get this one ... that the event could actually have a positive economic outcome ... positive ...  I mean, could anything actually go right economically?  This is the hardest prism to adopt ... first of all, because we're not thinking economically, right?  We're a 24-hour news cycle that usually presumes everything is going to go wrong.  They're not thinking about money.  Believe me, I know this is really hard."

"It did get me thinking ... Hmm... what if everyone is too negative?  What could turn out right?  ... the situation there [in Egypt] looks a lot like, yes, Indonesia in 1965, after the year of living dangerously, where the government was overthrown.  It turned out to be a huge positive inflection point for fantastic economic growth in Indonesia."
"The bottom line:

If you know what you own ... or what you want to own ... you can watch the days of living dangerously and come out ahead, not behind, when these terrifying events begin.  There will be many more of these ... many, many more.  And we need to profit from them, not run from them."

-- Jim Cramer 1/31/11  -- madmoneyrecap.com

Fwd: WWII VHS

For my first attempt at posting a photo, I found this one I took of a video collection we were giving away to an ROTC instructor last year.  Several years ago our retired Ogden neighbor gave us two boxes of World War II video tapes, which helped us survive a summer (2009) without cable TV.

In our effort to lighten our load and "pay it forward", we donated most of them to our new neighbor here.  He was very appreciative, as he had been looking for historical films to show his students.  The photo is not complete, but shows enough to represent the genre.  The titles include "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "The Desert Fox", and "Von Ryan's Express".  We enjoyed them, learned valuable history, and hoped some young people do as well, while there are still some VCR's around to play these gems.  (As much as they are eager to learn, it's not likely teens will stream WWII movies from Netflix or anywhere else.)

It's nice to see some white space for a change.  Fill it in with some of your favorite WWII movies.  Then "count the days till Friday night", make your popcorn, cuddle up, and enjoy.

Magnetic Memories

Taking a lunch break, the aging Acer laptop captured my second favorite part of our kitchen (next to the food):  my wife's collection of fridge magnets.  The little souvenirs are cheap, but the memories are priceless.  Some of the photos, better than my toy Nikon ever took, really send me!  If the magnetic pictures weren't copyrighted, and if I were technical like my grandchildren,
I would post my digital photo of this amazing array.  As a famous Frenchman said, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

(From left to right, and top to bottom:)

Georgia Aquarium (waterfall above, fish & Asian Small-Clawed Otters below)

Mount St. Helens (with light clouds resting on it, after it blew its top)

  (I missed that trip, as I thought my busy boss wouldn't let me off work.)

Bryce Canyon National Park (This photo doesn't do justice to hoodoos.)

  "Each year the park is visited by more than 1.5 million visitors from all over the world. Languages as varied as the shapes and colors of the hoodoos express pleasure in the sights."   -- brycecanyon.com

Durango & Silverton Railroad  (solid pewter:  steam locomotive pulling a train across a steep slope in the San Juan Mountains of SW Colorado)

Lake Tahoe  (mountains and lake at sunset, reminding me of two trips!)

Arches National Park  (grand overview of landscape and La Sal Mountains)

Nauvoo -- The House of the Lord  (old Americana painting of the temple)

USS Arizona Memorial  (palm trees with water and memorial in distance)

Capitol Reef National Park  (massive natural bridge with moon above)

Arches National Park  (Delicate Arch over the moon)

The Butchart Gardens / Victoria, B.C.  (gorgeous gardens, people on path)

Canyonlands National Park (aerial-like photo, with storm clouds and awesome lightning in the distance)

Salt Lake City -- (2002 Olympics logo) The World is Welcome Here! 
  (Downtown and Wasatch Mountains at sunset)

Capilano Suspension Bridge -- Vancouver  (a few people walking across, evergreen trees, raging river below)

Hershey's / Cocoa and Milk Chocolate  (quaint painting of factories, town and roads, white clouds)

Hershey's / Vassar Gems / Special Vanilla Chocolate / A Rare Delicacy. /
-- Made By Hershey Chocolate Co. / Lancaster, PA. U.S.A.  (old-fashioned)

San Juan Islands  (romantic aerial photo of dark islands and golden water at sunset -- also two trips!)

The Astoria Column -- Astoria, Oregon  (laser-engraved wood with tower, evergreen trees at base) (Yes, we climbed to the top -- at least twice.)

Golden Spike National Historic Site  (graphic of two steam locomotives meeting, golden spike above)

Michigan  (photo composite of autumn trees, lake, waterfall, flowers)

  (We did not visit -- a gift from our traveling son-in-law.)

San Juan Islands (colorful enameled metal -- words alone cannot describe ...)

California / A Golden Opportunity  (shape of state; Golden Gate Bridge at top, movie camera by Hollywood, deep-sea fishing by San Diego)

Niagara Falls, USA / Willkommen - Benvenuto - Bienvenido - Bienvenue - Huan Ying - Aapka Swaagat Hai  (waterfall with tourist boat below)

Gettysburg  (hazy image of soldiers fighting at top; statue of commander on hilltop overlooking green battlefield)

Gettysburg, PA.  (shape of dark cannon pointing left, as if back in time)

Mount Rushmore (photo of four famous "heads of state" carved in mountain with huge pile of rock fragments below) (Let's keep it that way, and not add another head, if you know what I mean.)

So come on out to the frontier and see what I'm talking (I mean writing) about, unless we're away acquiring more magnets.  We'll have some healthy you-know-what for you.

Booost Yur Brane

"Yur [sic] brain needs exercise" -- a boost -- like your muscles do.  So I finally got around to reading a saved clipping from IBD 1/22/07, pg A4, Leaders & Success (a regular feature) -- "Put Your Brain To Work":

"If you want to sharpen your analytical skills, try flexing your mental muscle on a crossword or sudoku puzzle. ...  Learning a second language is especially powerful because it forces your brain to continuously switch between the languages -- a mentally demanding exercise."

Since Sunday my wife has "put the pedal to the metal" with board/card game playing, in an effort to boost our brain power and delay the inevitable loss of mental function.  She loves word games like Abstracts (unheard of), Scrabble (her specialty), and Last Word (invented by Random Games), which our daughter left when moving to PA.  Looks like I "spoke" too soon when I posted "CES" on January 7, 2011: "I don't play games; but I like to know what's out there ..."  Well, now I'm becoming acutely aware of what's in there, meaning my brain, which isn't much.  Maybe I just don't like losing constantly, no matter how much fun we have.  I get distracted by thoughts of other activities I think would exercise my brain, like watching "Making Stuff: Stronger" on PBS Wednesday night.

 

"... Explores Spinning of Steel-Strength Spider Silk ... Jan 19, 2011 ... tonight's premiere ...  NOVA and New York Times technology columnist David Pogue look at innovative technologies for stronger, sleeker future products, including Kevlar, [and] nanotubes ..."

-- pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june11/nova_01-19.html

As I think about it, my attempts at "fast-food" writing are much less intimidating than playing games, a lot more fun, and better for my brain.  Maybe that's another reason why her students always loved her Creative Writing class; (the first two are her fun personality and competitive spirit!)

Peaceful Settings

These are a few of my favorite places that renew my spirit and bring me joy.  Memories of quiet, beautiful settings in my past and present are like warm, loving embraces from close friends and family.  They are places of inspiration where I have felt close to God, and have received needed comfort and strength.  Naturally, most are outdoors, where His handiwork is plainly seen and enjoyed.  I can go to these places anytime I choose, be uplifted, and stay within our travel budget.

Our remodeled EMC (SLC) living room (off-limits to child's play), where I loved to sit by the warm heater vent in winter

Cannon Beach, Oregon, as we walked on sand, holding hands, from the Stephanie Inn to Haystack Rock at sunset

Laie Hawaii Temple (especially peaceful inside)  -- "Surrounded by lush Hawaiian flora on a gently rising hill that features cascading pools and a large fountain, ... [it] graces the north shore of Oahu just a half mile from the Pacific Ocean."  -- ldschurchtemples.com/laie/

And the USS Arizona Memorial in October, 2007

Ensign Peak, overlooking Salt Lake Valley -- (My follower will remember Saturday 6/7/08.)

Carmel Lagoon, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California -- a beautiful turnabout on our '71 vacation -- (Words cannot describe!)

Zion National Park, where I had a "mountain-top experience" while lying on the grassy valley floor, looking up at the blue sky surrounded by "soaring towers and monoliths"  -- utah.com

The "H" Street living room and oil painting of the lush green meadow with a cozy cottage in the background

Lake Powell -- a paradise in the summer of '70, like a different world!
Rainbow Bridge National Monument -- "the largest natural bridge in the world ... considered sacred by the Navajo culture as a symbol of deities responsible for creating clouds, rainbows and rain -- the essence of life in the desert ... One of the natural wonders of the world"  -- utah.com

Peaceful settings are my comfort zone.  Do I need to get out of my comfort zone more often?  Perhaps.

"Wordstruck" by RM

It's lunchtime, and I know you don't care what fast food I'm eating.  But this may interest someone.  Quickly reviewing my random unused blog ideas (meaning the ideas are unused, hopefully, not my blog), I chose this from November 9, 2010:

A serendipitous find at DI last night [which I promptly snatched up for $1, like a snack on the dollar menu at BK]:  a small paperback WORDSTRUCK, ©1989, autobiography of Robert MacNeil, with the previous owner's scribbled note inside the front cover:  [Her name] "May 1st, 1990  The day after we leave Garden Grove, California for Highland, Utah after having spent the past six months wintering here."  This copy, stored under my desktop dictionary, has lots of passages underlined, plus a few notes, adding character to the book.  So forget reselling it on Amazon.com (140 used copies on sale from $.01), which describes it as "a charming memoir from a man 'crazy about the sound of words' ..."  The old family photos are worth at least $1 in my view.

First of all, I wish we were wintering somewhere nice and warm.  Secondly, I hope she kept a journal for her posterity, and remembered good things she obviously read in the book.  It's extraordinary.

On the first page, "Awestruck by Wordstruck", one reviewer wrote, "In its best pages one can almost whiff the salty tang of fog descending on proud, poky Halifax as winter comes."  -- Time

If you could buy a copy from Clean Play, I would recommend this book, if you know what I mean.  (Parts of its worst pages you may want to rip out.)

(Pages 4-8:)  "My parents -- Peggy and Bob, or Bobby and Peg, ... were unstintingly optimistic about the future. ...  They got engaged by the sea, picnicking in the coves near Halifax, Modesty Cove and, appropriately, Peggy's Cove, ... then just a fishing village. ...  They were married on September 28, 1929. Thirty-one days later, the stock market and their world crashed: their life together began with the Great Depression. ...  'He literally walked the streets for three years, looking for work,' my mother often said ..."

This passage on page 99 got my attention last November, relating to Robert's fascination with chemistry:  "Such glimmerings of scientific literacy helped me to grasp one of the real joys of our language: when you know the literal, technical meaning of a word, you can use it metaphorically to your heart's content. It gives you a different level of confidence to play figuratively with a word if your understanding is rooted in one specific meaning."

And that's my fast food for the day.