Lull
I have a friend who told me to count my blessings. So here goes: I have a wonderful wife, three wonderful sons, a set of non-divorced parents, extended family who loves me, a deceased mother-in-law (ha ha), a Primary calling (the best in the Church), the true Gospel, a tenous hold on a Temple Recommend, living in the best age of this Earth's history so far, access to wonderful music, a talent to play any musical instrument known to man, good Home-Teaching Families, maybe good home teachers (yet to be seen), a few friends, a secure job (freshly graduated R.N.), I live in Texas (the mission field, per the 'why am I not yet translated?' Utah saints living in the ward), um, what else...I think I'm being tested. I responded to some other blog (?) by asking the question, "Are we sometimes left alone to be tested, not to prove anything to Heavenly Father, but to prove something to ourselves?" Here's another one: Why do we have to relearn the same lessons over and over again? I don't think I'm disenchanted with the Church as I previously thought I was. As I grow older (33 y/o), I question more and I realize how much I don't know. I don't feel bad by having passing feelings of angst or questioning of the Church when I do; I understand now I'm not questioning my testimony, which I'm happy about. A Stephen answered a blog of mine previously so succintly, and I thought to myself, "Duh, how can I be so blind?" ...
posted by White Man Retarded at 8:07 AM
1 Comments:
Well, people tend to become less and less happy somewhere between 30 and 40 and then to become happy again, regardless of what is going on in their lives.
BTW, what do you mean by spiritual and religious experiences
That is a good question.
In nursing, they point out that there is a difference between how religious people are and how spiritual. While the two may go together, and may be interdependent, they are not always.
Consider a suicide bomber. Probably very religious. Probably not connected to the Spirit of God or spirituality.
It is an important difference, and often obscured by people who get a cultural experience from religion (that particular group dominated the study of religion for a while, people who believed that islanders sacrificed out of cultural norming rather than any real belief in the gods sacrificed to, for example).
But a religious experience is different from a spiritual experience, one fits into the needs for structure and format, the other to spirtual needs.
Both are different from cultural experiences, and understanding that there is a difference is important to resolving certain types of conflicts and understanding how those conflicts arise. Which is where my interest comes from.
I live in Texas too, am married to a CRNA, turn fifty tomorrow.
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