a bit of reflection

OK here goes

My internet is down so I can't do the numerous things that usually distract me from doing important things like writing in my blog. So, following the lengthy list of things I have put down to blog about, I am taking the opportunity to finally write about these things and will hopefully upload this as soon as the internet comes back. And this is all so you anonymous commenter will stop yelling at me... ;)

I figure I'd better say a little bit about President Hinckley before that gets to be too "old" of news. I, like nearly everyone else, received a text message and quickly forwarded on the news. It was kinda sudden but it was something we all knew was coming at some point so it wasn't really THAT shocking or upsetting.

Because I've been working at the Church magazines this obviously has had a bit of an impact to our schedule: creating new articles as a memorial, pulling other material, stopping the press from printing the April issue...not to mention dozens of other things. Then comes the affects of a new presidency.... you know that 1st presidency message in the ensign every month? Yea...we need to make sure we have one. and we can't use any from Pres. Hinckley anymore. At the first point we only knew for sure one of them would still be there that we might be able to use. Also, Pres Eyring's bio from being called to the 1st presidency hadn't even printed yet. So we had to pull that until we knew, and are now holding it again until we can print the 2 first presidency bios together. There are dozens of other things (for example going through everything for the next year of magazines and make sure titles are corrected - Packer is now president of the 12, rather that acting, President Monson, President Uchtdorf...and for the next 10 months of magazine material, that can be a lot. (FYI, a couple of weeks ago we planned the Jan. 2009 issue, so yes, we are way ahead.)

I'd like to take this moment to apologize for my horrible horrible typing and capitalization and punctuation. I've kinda stopped doing it consistently lately because my comp is in a makeshift set up right now and I'm typing on a pillow and it is just taking too much effort to try to do it right...Sorry,

Anyways, we talked a lot about the potential outcomes at work. We were all hoping Pres. Eyring would stay in because that would give us more 1st Presidency messages, one less bio to write, etc. Given how recent his appointment was, we all thought that Pres. Monson probably had a large part in his call as well. The other one was completely in the air and we knew it (Utchdorf was a complete surprise to me, but I like it)

Throughout all this talk, I kept thinking about what it might possible feel like to have been called to the 12 and slowly see those senior to you die off. One by one. And with every death, you are one step closer to being President. While some might fear this would make a lot of people anxious and power happy, I don't think that's ever a possibility in the Quorum of the 12. But still...can you imagine if that were you? Seriously...Wow.

They actually mentioned this in the press conference today. One of the reporters asked Pres. Monson about it ... I don't think he answered it directly, but it was interesting.

I was listening to the radio on my way to work last week and this awful lady called in about how dumb it is that everyone is Utah lowered the flag for Pres. Hinckley. ... Really??? It was kinda extreme and completely, well, dumb. Didn't we even lower the flag when the Pope died? At BYU, they always lower the flag when one of our students dies, we always do when any local person dies in the war...she was simply closed minded and only saw the situation in a very small sense. The DJ's addressed it pretty well and said that people really just need to stop worrying about themselves and how they are being treated and focus outward. And that's whether you are Mormon or not (this was all discussed in a Utah context) He recognized the fact that sometimes Mormons can be extremely exclusive; they can very easily fall into the mindset that they are better than the non-Mormons around them, they look down on others and judge,

This definitely isn't always the case but I've seen it so many times around me. And I don't want to be that person. It's made me question a lot of the things and actions I do and what those around me do. I really do think that I always try to be open minded and not quick to judge -- past experiences have made this a really really important quality to me. So I've been thinking about my mindset and trying to really direct myself away from those kinds of thoughts and actions. Recently I was able to have a talk with someone who doesn't believe the things I do and who doesn't act the way that I act. It was kinda refreshing. It was nice to look over all of those things in a completely different mindset. And to be able to look at this person in the same way. The evening this person and I had together was something that could have easily been with a person other than myself. But, when I look at the other people I know who it could have been with, I think I like my reaction to it the best. I don't want to try to change this person, I just want to understand and let them feel understood. I want them to feel comfortable with me, talking about their own life decisions, and know that while those things might be different from my own life, that I understand, accept, and am still there for them.