Blue on the Moon at Right Angles

This is a follow-up to a previous post on the topic of “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God“.

This scripture has continued to be on my mind. Having that be a focus of my thoughts, I was recently led to think specifically about what “The Kingdom” is.

A “kingdom” can have several meanings. The meaning that is the most poignant and relevant to this discussion indicates that a kingdom is comprised of the inhabitants thereof. A king may have a castle, walls and weapons of protection, and even endless amounts of land. Yet what meaning does a king or a kingdom have except there be people who live in, work on, and enjoy the land and the protection of that king and those walls and those weapons.

God is our King. The earth is His land. We are His people.

I submit, that we are the Kingdom of God. We, the people, the brothers and sisters of a mutual Heavenly Father. We, all of us, are that Kingdom of which we have been commanded to seek first.

With that bit of perspective in mind, it gives a bit more, and perhaps different, meaning to the verse, “seek ye first the Kingdom of God”.

I interpret that to be yet another form of the same message that our God has given us over and over again.

“As I have loved you … love one another.” (John 13:34)

The greatest commandment, second only to love of God, is

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Matthew 22:39)

In other words, we need to be looking at each other as siblings. We need to be focused more on doing things for each other. We need to be doing things for each other out of love and concern for one another, not for money or power. If we are truly seeking first to serve and love each other, all the riches and blessings of the universe will flow unto us as a natural consequence of our actions.

This building, this city, this state, this nation, this continent, this world, this universe is nothing without us. WE are the most important things in this universe. God made this universe for US, not us for it. We need to treat each other as the most precious and important possessions in the universe. We need to cherish, love, and look after each other.

For we are, the Kingdom.

One word review: AMAZING!!!!

Read the rest of this entry »

Today I realized that the word “seek” is a Verb. This means that “seeking” is more than just looking out the window longingly. Seeking implies actively searching something out. Seeking is not dreaming. Seeking is doing. Whatever it is you are seeking, do not just dream about it, go out there and find it and grab hold of it.

Here are some scriptural examples of seeking:

• “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matthew 7:7) (alt)
• “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
• “For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.” (Amos 5:4)
• “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
• “But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.” (Jacob 2:18)

Perhaps a more visual example of “seeking” would be in the story of Harry Potter. He was a “seeker” on his Quidditch team. If he had just sat on his broom and merely looked for the golden snitch, he never would have been able to lay hold on it. His seeking of his goal included actively doing something to attain that goal.

I would very much enjoy it if you shared with me more examples of seeking.

As I was driving down the freeway the other day, I caught myself gauging my own speed and progress by where I was in comparison to the other vehicles on the road. I looked down at the speedometer and realized that I was actually going faster than I should be. As I slowed down slightly, it occurred to me that I was now traveling at a speed that was perfectly acceptable to me.

I have been driving for many years and I have noticed a few things. It is fun to drive fast and pass people, as if I am driving a race car. It feels gratifying to be able to drive faster than someone else and get into the empty space in front of them. It gives me the feeling that I am getting to my destination faster. Yet, all too often as I pull off the freeway and am waiting at the stoplight to turn onto the city streets, I notice that next to me are the same people that I have passed. Which means, all my zipping and zooming did nothing for my progression, in comparison to those around me. I usually do not reach my destination any faster, despite the illusion that I am going faster.

We do this a lot in life, not just on the freeway. We judge ourselves based on the people who are around us. When in fact, we are all different. We are all going different places. Even if we have the same destination we all have different purposes and may take different routes. Thus, it should not matter how fast we are going compared to how fast someone else is going. Our lives are different from theirs. Our challenges are different.

I need to gauge my progress against myself. Comparing myself to someone else would be like comparing an apple to an orange. This applies to happiness, money, education, knowledge, social aptitude, running speed, physical appearance, et cetera.

I can never become better than someone else. To attempt to do so would be pointless folly. I will never be someone else. Nor do I really want to be. I am who I am. I can become better than I was yesterday. That should be my only comparison. That and the goal I have ahead of me of who I want to become.

The Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back 2009 birthed at least one new runner.

24 hours of pure insanity. The Ragnar slogan is completely apt: “Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.” Why would anyone actually pay money to endure the torture? Let me tell you my story and perhaps you can understand how Ragnar got into my blood and now has me looking for more.

Read the rest of this entry »

“I am a Child of God, and He has sent me here. Has given me an earthly home, with parents kind, and dear.”

If that were the end of the blessings that He had given me, it would still be more than some of our siblings have been given.

If that were the end of the blessings that He had given me, I would still count myself wealthy.
Read the rest of this entry »

The reason I ask about your purpose is because I wonder at what drives you. It seems that when we are children we have dreams of what we want to do with life. And then we “grow up” and settle for what gets us by in life hoping for something better in the next life. When in all actuality, what we should be doing is following our dreams and our passions. We should be dreaming big and living prosperously. The problem is, we have trained prosperity out of our minds and all we know how to do is survive.

“Endure to the end”, has become the motto of our sentence here in mortality. Do many people really think of life as a prison to be endured?

Read the rest of this entry »