Laughs and Lessons

After church on Sunday I came home and actually made dinner. I made butternut squash pasta sauce with whole wheat noodles. So good. So filling. Afterward I took a picture for a snapchat and realized I looked like a little kid with my messy hair, tootsie pop, funny face, and cupcake apron. I promise I looked like a grown-up at church... 

I went to a fireside last night... I usually don't go to firesides. Like ever. Funny thing though. This one was not even for my stake. This one was in Springville, but my favorite teacher was the speaker so I figured it could be fun. Disclaimer: I am a senior at BYU, and I have never been to a dating fireside. Well, I had never been to one until last night. It would be on dating! Anyways, I was worried about getting lost so I left early only to get to the fireside over twenty minutes early. It was a good thing though because I actually got a seat on a pew (man do I miss those). We started the fireside by singing Love One Another. I knew this was going to be good at that moment.

I was laughing so hard the entire time. I started to worry that I was not going to make it home because for over an hour there was such a lack of oxygen getting to my brain. I made it home! Not only did I make it home, but I realized that I learned valuable lessons even though I was laughing the whole time. Brother Smith said that children laugh an average of 400 times a day. Adults laugh 15. Lesson #1: I need to laugh more. Brother Smith made me go over my limit for the day. His talk was called "Do's and Don'ts of Dating." He talked about how important men and women are to our Heavenly Father. He said every time girls say, "All boys are stupid" or "All guys are jerks," we are not only generalizing that to every guy, but we are generalizing that to Heavenly Father's creations. He said that probably makes our Heavenly Father sad. They may not be the smartest, but they are still His creations. Lesson #2: Boys, even the dumb ones, are Heavenly Father's creations. He then went on to talk about women. He gave the quote from President Hinckley that says, "His Father, first divided the light from the darkness and then separated the land from the waters. There followed the creation of plant life, followed by the creation of animal life. Then came the creation of man, and culminating that act of divinity came the crowning crowning act, the creation of woman." He pointed out that man has to be born twice. They are born physically and then born of the Spirit through baptism by immersion. He said that women are symbolic of Christ. They represent him when mothers have children. Through blood, water, and the Spirit, they bring new life. Christ does the same through the atonement and baptism. Therefore, any time we look in the mirror and instantly wish we hadn't we are degrading Christ because we are degrading ourselves. Lesson #3: Satan tries so hard to desecrate women because we are symbols of Christ. Brother Smith closed with a quote on personal purity from Elder Holland. It says, "On your wedding day the very best gift you can give your eternal companion is your very best self--clean and pure and worthy of such purity in return." Lesson #4: I need to be my best self. Always. In every aspect of my life. 

This was a perfect way to end my Sunday. Laugh and lessons all around.