Happy Sunday: Hollywood and Heartache

The pre-ceremony red carpet coverage of the 2013 Academy Awards is on the t.v. as I write this. I watched the above video as Kristen Chenoweth interviewed Hollywood starlets about their designer gowns in the background. Interesting juxtaposition. Glamour vs grief. Stardom vs sorrow. Power vs pain.

Certainly Kristen Chenoweth knows nothing of self-doubt. Look at those perfectly sculpted arms.

Jennifer Lawrence has probably never been lonely. She's funny and witty and talented and charming.

Reese Witherspoon has no idea what helplessness and hopelessnes feel like. She's one of the wealthiest women in the world.

Maybe. Maybe not.

I'm leaning towards maybe not.

Marilyn Monroe is quoted as saying: “I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't.” 

May we be sensitive to the inner struggles of those around us. Let us remind them that they are never completely alone. And when it is us that is suffering, may we remind ourselves that there is One who suffered before us, who knows our heartache better than anyone and is there to offer us hope.

"The Son of Man hath descended below [it] all. Art thou greater than He?" (D&C 122:7)

Happy Sunday,
Sarah

iCaveMan

I was the technophobe who never wanted an iPod.
We all know how well that turned out.
And it's only been downhill from there.
Down.
Down.
Down.
Here I sit in an abyss of technology. Work laptop on my knees. Personal laptop open next to me, playing Steel Magnolias. Work iPhone 5 came in the mail today. I stare at it in disgust. Personal Smart Phone lays ajacent to it. I feel sick.

I was meant for a different decade century.
The only thing feeding my old school soul right now is Steel Magnolias.

Happy Sunday: Revelation

"Men have come to speak of revelation as long ago given and done, as if God were dead....It is the office of a true teacher to show us that God is, not was, that He speaketh, not spake....The need was never greater of new revelation than now."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

(from an address delivered in the Divinity College at Cambridge University, 15 July 1838)

I can get used to this

The lovely view from the office building in Rosslyn. Georgetown, the National Cathedral, Key Bridge, all the way to Capitol Hill (not pictured).These are both kinda tacky, poor-quality photos, no thanks to Google images. Shockingly, no Deloitte employees ever take pictures of the view here and post them on the Internet. Weirdos. Look at this! Soon I will take my own since these ones are lame.

The Land of Cotton...

...old times there are not forgotten.

As bummed as I was to not drive through Utah and see all my favorite peeps on my way to DC, Route 40 offers a world of gems, starting at about Oklahoma.

This is why the South is so great:

Highway Patrol officers will pull you over just to chat.

Your restaurant waiter will treat you like you've been friends for 20 years.

There are things on the menu like okra, fried green tomatoes, sweet tea, hush puppies, and biscuits & jam.

There are towns named "Lottawatta" situated conveniently by a lake.

And this is why Asheville, NC is my favorite city in the South:

All the men look like Scott Avett and all the women look like Scott Avett.

This works tremendously in my favor.

I sold my soul to the devil...

...and bought pant suits.

Welcome to my slow demise into adulthood.

Happy Sunday: Science, Religion and Eternal Truths

The Mormon Church is the only church that publicly proclaims the doctrine of Pre-Existence over the pulpit. However, I feel that the truth that we lived with God in Heaven before this life is an innate concept to many Christians, even if their individual denominations do not preach it.

My mom, born and raised in a very active Catholic family, always knew she lived in Heaven before this earthly, mortal life. She vividly recalls a time when she was four years old and made a comment to her mother and grandmother about how she was "waiting in Heaven for Daddy to find Mommy so she could come to Earth." The adults laughed and wrote it off as something that any cute little kid would say. But my mom remembers feeling confused as to why they thought it was funny. Years later she was visiting a recently-baptized friend in Italy who explained to her what Mormons believe, including the Pre-Existence. It's no wonder that she immediately recognized it as an eternal truth.

Like the chemist in the video, I am fascinated by the science of the universe. The more I learn about the intricacies of nature, the more certain I am of the existence of a Higher Power, even a loving Heavenly Father who created it all. And as my Heavenly Father, it's only logical that I once lived with him in a heavenly home and family, whereto I strive to return one day.

"Science and religion represent two independent witnesses of Creation. And we're told throughout the Old Testament that two or more witnesses are required in order to certify the truth. They are not opposites, but they are like the vision seen from your two eyes. If you close one eye and then close the other and alternate back and forth, you don't see the same things with the two eyes. But it is the combination of those two views which gives you three-dimensional perception and shows you a lot of things that neither eye by itself sees."



Science confirms faith.

Happy Sunday.