Joy to Everyone!

If someone were to have created a line graph of my stress level over the past week or so, they would have seen a turning point sometime yesterday afternoon. It was positive turn; my stress level decreased. Several things happened, including I was just able to get some things done. Another thing that helped was music.

Sometimes I need things to be really quiet while I study, but other times a little background music helps me stay focused. I tuned into my George Harrison station on Pandora for a little bit in the morning, and then in the afternoon switched to some Wolfgang Amadeus. Exactly what I needed.

Beyond good background noise, music has the power to lift (and conversely, depress). I found a site that has a really uplifting, fast-paced Christmas tune that I found I like. I don't know how many times I listened to it yesterday, but I credit it with helping me to keep my spirits up, focus my thoughts in the right place, and maintain a positive attitude. I had the positive tune and lyrics of that song playing through my head even while I wasn't listening to it, and I then found my thoughts focused in other uplifting directions.

Doctrine & Covenants 25:12 gives us some insight into the Lord's view on music: "My soul delighteth in the song of the heart," He says. "Yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." I'm really grateful for good music of all genres that help me keep my spirits up and also stay closer to my Heavenly Father.

After Much Tribulation Come the Blessings

The Lord loves us and I believe that He wants to bless us. That can be a bit difficult to remember while feeling swamped by incessant incoming tides: a capstone paper, classes, finals, grad schools applications, letters of recommendation, Church callings, and/or a social life.

The words in D&C 58:4 can be a bit comforting in times such as these. We can have hope that we'll finish our paper, the semester is almost over, finals do pass, we can get into grad school with some helpful letters of recommendation, and we can help others as well as have fun with them--all because the Lord blesses us with these things.

It's clear that giving a child everything they want merely because they want it is a poor parenting technique. Thus, Heavenly Father, who, again, loves us and wants to bless us, doesn't give us everything we think we want or need. We work, often hard and for a long time, before we obtain blessings the Lord is so anxious to give us.

I experienced this once more just today. I seriously didn't know if I could handle all the stresses for much longer. But I know the Lord blessed me to be able to calm down and work efficiently and feel like things can work out! They always do.

ZzZzzz

I am reminded of another "health" scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants: This one is D&C 88:124. Last week I was talking to my older sister about how we might survive the coming week of school, two Reading Days, and five days of finals. She told me her plan, and I paraphrase: "I'm just going to fall asleep for the next week and a half." I concurred; I thought it might work. I was wrong.

This past weekend (after an intense GRE experience), I decided I would try to sleep as much as possible to see if it would help any. It was nice to wake up Sunday morning after 10 hours of sleep and it was nice to wake up Sunday evening-ish after another hour of sleep. But by Monday morning my body was ready for the "arise early" part of the scripture.

Starting at the beginning of this week, BYU's library is open until 2 a.m. until finals are over. I think the students here (myself included!) would be wise to follow the counsel the Lord has given us!

"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 ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated. "

W of W

Yesterday I was reading an Ensign article about caffeine and energy drinks. I thought it was pretty interesting that an article about this would be in a Church magazine. The article was written by an LDS doctor, and I liked his handling of this sometimes touchy subject. I remember in high school that the only thing some people knew about my religion was "Mormons don't drink caffeine." While this is true for many Mormons, it is by no means some sort of tenant of our religion. I like how Dr. Boud put it:

"While we are counseled against taking addictive substances or harmful drugs, the Word of Wisdom does not specifically prohibit caffeine. However, I believe that if we follow the spirit of the Word of Wisdom, we will be very careful about what we consume, particularly any substance that can have a negative impact on our bodies. This is true regarding any drug, substance, or even food that may be damaging to one’s health. This includes caffeine."

The Word of Wisdom Dr. Boud mentions is found in Doctrine and Covenants 89. It is the Lord's code of health as He revealed it to His prophet Joseph Smith in February of 1833. I'm grateful for this revelation that has helped me to better take care of my body and avoid lots of pain. Seriously, I've had the strength to get this far without abusing any drugs or alcohol, which would in turn abuse my body, and, judging from experiences others have had, could have plenty of other negative side effects. You can go here to check out the text of the Word of Wisdom.

Several weeks ago I heard someone mention a tradition she wanted to start with her future family. My friend noted that it is fairly common for families to read Luke chapter 2 on Christmas Eve or Christmas, but what she wanted to do was read one chapter out of Luke each day starting December 1st so that by Christmas Eve they would be on the 24th (and final) chapter of Luke. This way her family would have read through one of the whole Gospels and would be thinking about the whole mortal ministry of the Savior in preparation for celebrating His miraculous birth.Thinking this could be a neat idea for my future family, but also realizing that I can still do neat things while single, I decided to give it a go. Yesterday I was reading Luke 2, which always makes me think of Christmas at home. In my mind's eye, we're packed into our living room with the Lees and whoever else has joined us that year. Maybe Dad reads the whole chapter, or we take turns going around the room, each reading a verse or two.

The discussion in my religion class yesterday led to the topic of the all-powerfulness of Jesus.

Doctrine & Covenants 76:23-24 is in the words of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon:

"For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father--
"That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."

I'm so excited to celebrate this month the birth of our Savior. It is really neat to read in the scriptures His transition from an infant in a manger to One who could--and did!--willingly choose to give His life for each of us, and who had so much power before He was even born to create numberless worlds. I'm really grateful for my Savior.

Andy and I are taking the computer-based GRE on Friday. Luckily, the cd I received for signing up for the test arrived today in the mail--just in time for some last-minute cramming. With at least one more "midterm" before a week of finals coming up, I'm a bit overwhelmed, and it's possible that this will be me in two-and-a-half weeks: