Dating... Are you ready for Marriage????

Before my mission I found myself dating a lot of good guys that all had goals and had their minds set in where they wanted to go with their lives. I found myself falling in love, not being interested in a guy, and or even not knowing what I really want with a guy. Dating is not easy! Before the mission it was noncommittal, no pressure what so ever, and no interest to find "THE ONE". Now having returned from the mission there is so much pressure. Dating has become something TOTALLY different. It is no longer something that is "just for fun". I mean it could be but it seems like it is life or death at this point. I am 22 years old and everyone has these super high expectations for me getting married within this year. It scares me but understanding the true meaning of God's plan for us, allows us peace in our lives. I know that God has a plan and his plan is perfect. He wants us to choose yet he will guide us in the right directions so that we don't regret our decisions. He trusts us and he wants us to be to happy and for that we follow him and his council. A marriage is a sacred promise that we make to our Heavenly Father that allow us the blessings of the heavens. We call that a covenant and as we become closer with God we become closer with our spouse. Within the bounds of a happy eternal marriage comes the gospel and its teachings. Faith in Christ increases our ability to listen to the still small voice of the Holy Ghost. He will help lead us to our own happily ever afters. There I find my inter peace and there I find my Savior's love cradling me from the craziness of this world.        

What is LOVE?

Many times we ask ourselves "What is Love?" and we make excuses as to what we may think it should be like when really we may not even know. Love is a feeling. Its something that is hard to describe yet we know it exists because we can feel it. Love is not just the butterflies that one may feel when they are around somebody yet it is an action that one may take to serve someone they may care for. We are counseled to date and we have been given suggestions to keep a clear conscious. The apostles have counseled the youth of our day to date with a plan, to date paired off, and to date with the means to do so. In doing these things we find ourselves getting to know the person and getting to become familiar with the attributes we may be looking for in a spouse. Something to be very careful of as we are dating is to ensure ourselves that we are in love and not just misattributed of arousel. As imperfect beings we mistake our feelings to be much more than they may actually be. Butterflies in the stomach, our heart rate racing, and longing to be near them may seem like love when actually it can all be a trick our body is playing on us. We have been counseled to not pray, read our scriptures, and or go to the temple with those whom we are dating so that we don't mistake our spiritual upliftings to be love. The spirit, as well, can make us feel butterflies in the stomach and allow the heart to race etc. yet it is the spirit speaking to us and not Love. There is a difference and we must be very careful when we allow ourselves to fall in love. Love is a privilege and a blessing from the Lord. Let us build friendships and build on that to become something worth fighting for. Love is beautiful and Eternal.    

Same Sex Attractions

In the world today, we see same sex attraction to be more and more acceptable. Gay and Lesbian marriage is now legal and it is becoming more and more common. A week ago I was a lot more closed minded on this issue but as I began understanding why, what, and how I have come to understand that many times they are just a little confused. As people living in this big world we are influenced by everything that surrounds us. We choose right from wrong along with how we feel or how to act. Within twins many time we see competition or we see comparison. This can trigger attention by "choosing" to be gay. One may have experienced trama in their life that left one feeling like they are gay and or one may have been raised in a way that triggered femininity, and instantly they are referenced as being gay. Confusion surrounds us and we are all faced with adversity. Some are faced with harder trials than others but our Heavenly Father is are of our limits and he knows that we can succeed. He loves us and we must never stop the fight. I may not support everything that Gays and Lesbians do but I now understand them and have a new level of respect for them. It can be referred to as a trial that these children of God have been given and they can choose what they want to do with it. We are all children of our Heavenly Father and he loves all of us equally.    

Family Cultures

Today we live in a world full of life. Many seem to be confused on what that may mean, some may think they know what that means, and some continue to progress so that they can learn to understand what life really means. There is culture. diversity, gender, religion, education, family, etc. and everyone of these alters destiny. In this case we are coming to understand culture within the bounds of the family. My parents always taught us with love. Culture doesn't necessarily mean that it is created. It doesn't mean that the there are differences in skin color or in location, it simply means that every family develops unique ways to live together. In a family unit, parents govern and guide the family as kids learn right from wrong. In my family I learned hard work. That is my culture. I was brought up in a family that was very structured that allowed me to make my own decisions that helped me to grow and strengthen my own way of life. My parents allowed us to choose many things in our lives that directed us in a way of a good life lesson. The structure that they placed before us was enough to direct us to choose correctly without force. I loved it. In all families, individuals apply and remove cultures form what they grew up with. not one family upon the face of the earth lives within a family culture that is exactly the same. There may similarities but we are different and God created us that way. I know that God is a just God and he is merciful. He allowed us the gift of agency so that we would choose right from wrong and, like my parents did, experience consequence or blessings of our decisions. He is a loving God and I am so grateful for my family and the culture I was raised in.

Theories

As I have come to understand the way of life a little more each and everyday, I have come to realize that everything we do, say, think, or react to has a significant role in our lives. I seemed to grasp more onto the symbolic theory than the others that were presented in class this week. The symbolic theory is literally exactly what was written in the sentences prior to this. Everything means something in this world. I am quite the analyzer and I probably think to much. That is why this theory caught my attention. There is a talk that was given, by one in the quorum of the seventy, that is called the fourth missionary. I love this talk. I feel like it relates to everyone and not just missionaries. I bring this up because he also addresses that we are affected by everything that happens in our lives whether it be small or big but we are constantly being changed. We are changing beings. If we are not changing we can not progress.
    In class we spoke about the Systems theory that has boundaries and roles, along with the conflict theory that suggests that there are equal power structures and then there is the exchange theory that is an idea of constant exchanging. These are all phenomena's yet I have come to see that within a family unit we all choose our own theories that we naturally abide by because of how we were raised or experiences in our lives or it really could be anything that triggers the way we think. I know that God made all of his children different and we are all equally his loving children. We stand together and work together to fight the battle of life.