In life, it is often helpful to know what came before, what events triggered other events. That kind of information can help us understand life and make better choices. It can comfort us to have an explanation for the difficult things and give us an understanding of why we feel the way we do.

That’s the problem with these platitude-laden verses. They just sound so true, so inspiring, and yet, they leave out God. In fact, upon close examination, it dismisses God and declares him to be irrelevant, useless, and inferior to the individual.

I know that there was a time in my life when my course was leading to death. It’s not that I was going to die any time soon, but there were very few healthy places that my behavior was heading. I didn’t want to go there.

Happiness comes from accepting the lot we have been dealt and building on it. To me, all negative experiences are more than just lessons learned. They are the building blocks of strong character, but only if those negatives experiences are embraced and accepted as what we have been given to work with.

…I don’t really get depressed much. I like life, even with its bad memories. I think in that moment, it was just a realization that I was getting too old to really have the kind of Christmas excitement I had when I was a child.

The glass of water analogy falls apart for me because whether you look at is half full or half empty, it still contains water and air, and we need both. I’m addicted to both. Can’t seem to get enough of either.

One of my earliest memories is of sitting in a big chair around a table in some kind of outer office. I could faintly hear voices through a wall. I think one of the voices was my mother. I remember looking up and seeing a painting that I knew to be a representation of Jesus. I felt warm, peaceful, and happy. I think about that memory and the feeling I had often.

On the surface, it seems like a well-meaning offer. Why not at least make an effort to include youth? Deep down, I find it offensive on a couple of fronts.

I had just taken a shower and was putting on my shirt when I walked into the family room. There on my wife’s recliner, lay Barney. He gave me his usual “Please don’t eat me” look and wagged his tail.

I’ve always had a great love of the sea. To some extent I suppose it’s genetic at least on my mother’s side of the family.Sometimes  it feels really good to get away for a few hours. Sometimes I even learn a few things about myself or life in general while walking on the beach. This […]

Wisdom and encouragement can sometimes come in unusual packages. Sometimes they can be great choruses or works of music created by some of the great composers. Sometimes, in words written by the saints and apostles of ages past as well as today. And sometimes from  an annoying ear worm or some very pretty flowers.  3 […]

For me, true misery would be a life where I only did the easy things, because the only things I would have in my life are the things that are easy to get. There is plenty that I want out of life that is hard to get and I have no problem fighting for them. I’m happy that I have to fight for them.

I reluctantly focus on the negative responses I have received from members of the Church, but only because it illustrates the discrepancies in the attitudes of church members to homosexuality. Though I was told and still believe that my worthiness is a matter of my behavior, not my automatic feelings, those who have dealt unkindly with me have been more worried about my identity than my behavior

In 1945, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein wrote a musical called Carousel. It was based on an earlier non-musical play by  Ferenc Molnár  called Liliom. A number of well known songs came from that musical. One of them though is particularly inspiring and has been recorded by numerous artists and even been adopted as theme for a soccer club in […]

In Taking the Plunge: A Leap of Faith, I wrote that I wasn’t as concerned about changing policies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Boy Scouts of America, as I was seeing the hearts of people change to be tolerant and loving towards those with same-sex attraction. I realize that […]