Book #3

Sometimes I have to read something fun as a reward or break to help me get through more difficult books.  I'll read my daily goal in my classic then read a chapter of another easier book.  My most recent fun book was from The Last Apprentice series--Clash of the Demons.  It is book 6 in the series.  The series is about a boy who is an apprentice to a Spook--someone who fights the dark. 

In the Clash of the Demons, the apprentice (Tom Ward) and his master join Tom's mom, a group of witches and another spook in an effort to kill the Ordeen--a dangerous creature from the dark.  They make alliances that wouldn't normally be made in order to be successful and the Spook is worried about Tom giving into the dark.

Even though the books are a bit scary, I enjoy the story and growth of the characters.

Personalities

I've taken personality tests in the past, but never thought much of them.  I remember things like red or A, but now I don't remember what those things mean.  A while back a friend introduced me to a whole new type of personality test.  Actually it wasn't a test--more like a makeover program.  The creator, Carol Tuttle, calls it beauty profiling--a guide to help people discover their "natural movement" or natural beauty.  The program uses more than personality traits to fit you into a category, it uses body language and facial features, too.  The big difference between this "test" and others I have taken is that this one "educates women about their unique type of beauty, giving them the insights and tools to feel more confident and look more beautiful." 

Like most personality tests, the Beauty Profiling has 4 types: Type 1--the bright, animated woman; Type 2--the soft, subtle woman; Type 3--the rich, dynamic woman; and Type 4--the bold, striking woman.  After reading the book and watching the videos I narrowed myself down to either a type 2 or a type 3.  It was hard for me to decide, I felt like I was equally both.  I finally decided on type 2 and went about changing my wardrobe to match my personality.  It has been a fun process.

Shortly after I started "dressing my truth" I read another personality book called Personality Plus by Florence Littauer.  Again, she divides people into 4 different personalities--Sanguine (the extrovert, the talker, the optimist); Melancholy (the introvert, the thinker, the pessimist); Choleric (the extrovert, the does, the optimist); and Phlegmatic (the introvert, the watcher, the pessimist).  As I read I automatically matched her categories with the Beauty Profiling categories.  The Sanguine is a Type 1, the Melancholy is a Type 4, the Choleric is a Type 3 and the Phlegmatic is a Type 2.  This book did have a test, but I skipped it--it was too hard!  As I read I came to the same conclusion as before--I'm equally Choleric and Phlegmatic.  Later I took the test with Jonathan and came out as Choleric.  The thing that I liked about this book is that the author helps you take the weaknesses of your personality type and make them strengths.  She also helps you understand other personality types and how to better interact with them. I have enjoyed learning more about people as I learn their personality types.

Book #2--What the Devil is thinking

Have you ever wondered what the devil is thinking as he tries to drag you down to his miserable station?  C.S. Lewis has a pretty good idea.  The Screwtape Letters is a compilation of letters written by one devil (Uncle Screwtape) to another devil (his nephew, Wormwood) giving him "advice for the capturing of the human heart." 

This is my second attempt at reading this book and I am happy to say that this time I was successful.  Years ago I started reading it because it was a favorite of Jonathan's best friend, but I didn't get very far.  This time my mentor recommended it and she is the only reason I forced myself to finish.  I can't quite pinpoint what it is that I didn't like--the fact that they call God the enemy?  The style of writing?  The way Screwtape makes his way seem the right way?  I don't know, but I hope I never have to read this book again.

With that being said, I did learn something from this book.  In each letter, C.S. Lewis shows us several different ways that the devil tempts and tricks us.  I think that knowing a little bit about how Satan thinks will help us be better prepared to fight him and defend our homes and family.  The devil uses distraction--using worldly things to keep our minds off of spiritual things.  He wants us to judge others and think that we are better.  He tries to tamper with our relationships, using negative thoughts and feelings.  The devil wants to make sure our prayers are selfish and repetitive and hopes that we will think they are ineffective.  He also wants us to be take our likes and dislikes to extremes and become fanatic about them.  He hopes to get us depressed because we are easier to be tempted.  He hopes to keep us from action--to think, but not do.  Another way he tricks us is to get us to focus on the future instead of the present.  He wants us to be selfish and prideful.  The devil takes a virtue of Christ a spins it his way.

He is subtle, but this knowledge can help us win the battle.

Book #1

Jonathan made a goal to read a book a week last year.  He kept track of his books on Goodreads and actually read over 65.  It wasn't really a book a week (sometimes he read no books, sometimes he read 3 books), but he read at least one for every week of the year.  Discussing this, Jonathan thinks that, with the books I read to the kids and the books I read on my own, I read more than that.  So, this year I am going to try to keep track.  I'm debating as to whether I should include the audio book, but I think I will. 

The first book I read probably shouldn't count because I started it last year, but I'm in the middle of Les Miserables and I'm DEFINITELY going to count that one when I finally finish!  I read The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Ange aloud to the kids as part of our homeschool book club.  It's about a young boy, Robin, who is supposed to be a page to a knight, but gets sick and loses the use of his legs.  With the help of a friar he learns that there are opportunities for everyone, no matter what their situation. 

When the friar first meets Robin he says, "Thou  has only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it."  Then several times he shows Robin the doors.  The friar teaches Robin how to read and write believing that that skill would help him go if his legs couldn't.  The friar also teaches Robin how to swim to strengthen his arms.  Robin later gains the ability to use crutches because of this strength.  The friar said that the crutches would be a "door in the wall" because they would give him opportunities to be independent.  Another "door in the wall" was the different ways Robin was able to serve--not the same as a knight, but in his own way. 

What in your life has been a "door in the wall"?

Spiritual Preperation

I've been studying about Captain Moroni and the Nephites in the book of Alma.  In Alma chapter 43 the Nephites are fighting the Zoramites and Amalekites.  These Nephite dissenters were fighting for monarchy and power and Nephite bondage, but the Nephites were "inspired by a better cause" (vs 45).  The Nephites were "fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church" (vs 45).  How does this physical battle compare to the spiritual battles that we will have to fight.  What is our spiritual inspiration?  What can we learn from how the Nephites prepared and defended?   

Our inspiration comes from asking the question why?  Why are we fighting?  Why are we preparing? I think the answer is so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father.  Knowing our goals helps us overcome our obstacles.  The Nephites were fighting to protect their families and their liberties.  We are also fighting for the same reason.  As we defend our families from Satan we are free from captivity. 

As I read chapter 43 I made a list of things that helped the Nephites beat the Lamanites.  I then took each of these physical things and found a spiritual counterpart.  The Nephites had body armor--breastplates, helmets and shields.  We also have a spiritual armor.  In D&C 27 verses 15-17 we learn what the armor of God is and how we should wear it.  They had a plan and knew where the enemy would attack. Captain Moroni sent spies to see where the enemy would attack and he also asked Alma to pray and tell him where he should put his men.  The plan of Salvation is our plan and through guidance and council from our prophets we know where Satan is going to attack.  One are of attack is the family.  It is so important for us to strengthen our families.  The Nephites had good leaders and obeyed their council. Captain Moroni and Alma were their leaders then and today our leaders are the prophets and apostles, our teachers and ward leaders and our parents.  They had a good cause and they had God on their side.  Knowing that we are on the side of good and that we will win is inspiration enough for me. 

Later, in Alma chapter 48, Moroni is preparing the people for another battle.  He first prepared their minds to be faithful, then he built walls and erected forts.  He also placed the greatest number of people in the weakest areas.  We can prepare our minds by increased study.  We can build walls and forts in our home by making it a place of refuge and safety--a place where the spirit can reside.  And make our weak areas our strengths through prayer and hard work. 

I know that there is a possibility of having to fight physical battles like the Nephites, but it is a surety that we will have to fight spiritual battles.  Will we be prepared?  Will we understand the reason we have to fight?  I find courage in the words found in D&C 38:30: "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

Light and Darkness

My mentor recently asked me to read the Allegory of the Cave found in Plato's Republic. She hoped that it would guide me on my path to find my mission.

I struggled a little bit with this story, but I think I got the basic idea that my mentor was hoping I would get out of it. I began by doing a little bit of research on the allegory. I read about the themes and the plot. Jonathan suggested that I read 2 different translations and I did. I got a little way into one version and was having a hard time staying focused. I found an audio and listened a read simultaneously. That was a big help. Then I read a second translation. What would it be like to actually read Plato in the original?

The story is a discussion between Plato's teacher Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon. Socrates tells of people who are living in a cave. The only direction they can look is forward and all they see are shadows. The people in the cave think the shadows are real. Then one of the people is forced to leave the cave and go into the light. Adjusting to the light is difficult and painful. He sees shadows, then reflections, then the real objects. He comes to realize that the shadows he thought were real are not and he must go back into the darkness of the cave and tell the others what he has learned.

Socrates and Glaucon compare this journey from the cave to education. Socrates says there are four stages of education: imagination, belief, thought, and understanding. Someone in the first 2 stages can only give examples. In the 3rd stage they can understand all the parts of the definition and in the 4th stage they can defend what they know based on principle. They go on to discuss different types of education and what type of education a leader needs. Socrates believes that math and science are the only ways to get the right type of education. But, to me, all that was beside the point. The point I got out of the allegory was our duty to help others see the light.

For the next few days I studied light and darkness in my scriptures. I came the conclusion that light gives understanding; removes people from ignorance; is a knowledge of right and wrong; and changes wickedness to righteous. Darkness is symbolic of spiritual blindness or ignorance; of death; and of separation from God. It is also temporal ignorance. I also found several scriptures that said to me that when I have learned I need to go and teach others; that I need to "give light to those that sit in darkness" (Luke 1:79).

The question now is how do I share what I've learned? How do I help others? How do I bring them to the light?

Sailing By Ash Breeze

Carry on, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham is a wonderful story about a self-educated young mathematician named Nat. At the age of 12, Nat receives indenture papers and has to work as a bookkeeper for 9 years.  His hopes of a Harvard education are dashed.  He quickly learns, though, that he must "sail by ash breeze" or be "becalmed" and stuck in chandlery forever. 

Nat comes from a family of sailors and lives in the port town of Boston.  He learns the sailing analogy of sailing by ash breeze the first day of his service.  A friend explains, "When a ship is becalmed--the wind died down--she can't move--sometimes the sailors break out their oars.  They'll row a boat ahead of the ship and tow her.  Or they'll carry out anchors and heave them over, and the crew will lean on the captain bars and drag the ship up to where the anchors are heaved over.  Oars are made of ash--white ash.  So--when you get ahead by your own get-up-and-get--that's when you sail by ash breeze" (pg 48).  Nat could have easily  chosen to be "becalmed"--depressed because of his situation and now unreachable dreams--but he took a different path. 

Nat started reading and writing.  He filled many notebooks with notes, copied the Almanac, taught himself Latin and French and Spanish all while he was indentured.  After completing his service, Nat becomes a sailor and teaches the other sailors about navigation.  He figures out different ways to explain things and writes down what works.  He discovers different ways to navigate.  Nat decides to write a book that will be understandable by every able seaman full of correct tables and charts.  He is often told by his captain to "Carry on, Mr. Bowditch." 

Nat is a fantastic example of someone who isn't dependent on another person to get ahead.  He decides what he wants and works to meet that goal.  How often are we like Nat Bowditch?  Do we stick to a goal, even when obstacles pop up?  I would like to have the opportunity to study like Nat and to have his same desire for knowledge.  I try to study every day, but unfortunately I often let things get in my way.  Making the time to study is hard work, being becalmed is easier, but being stagnant means no growth.  Growth is important, so I will strive to "sail by ash breeze."