God loves me specifically

Today I had a quick reminder of how God loves me individually. Today I got to church a little late, hence I was in the foyer for the sacrament. They didn't bring the bread out so I thought, well that is too bad, maybe I will go to a later Sacrament or just strive to be on time next week. Then someone came out with the water. I told him they didn't bring the bread so don't worry about it. He left. Then to my surprise he came back with someone else. They had the bread and water at the same time. I have never seen that happen, and didn't know if it was allowed. There were only two of us in the foyer, but an exception was made for us. I felt loved so I thought I would share.

Marriage and the Government

I am tired of the fight about marriage. I don't like that states made decisions and then the high courts just say they are invalid. That is annoying and demoralizing. People will always fight and the government will always complicate things, so here is my solution:

TAKE GOVERNMENT OUT OF MARRIAGE

Marriage is religious instititution. It always has been and it always will. It differs by culture and belief, but that is fine. What is not fine, is marriage being regulated and forced by those who do not care about people's culture or beliefs. If 'Separation of Church and State' says I cannot pray in a public school, then the government should not be able to define a marrige.

Here is the solution:
1. Make all government joining of people civil unions.
2. Base government benefits solely on civil unions.
3. Let people get married in their church later if they want to.

That is the only way the governement isn't infringing on the rights of religious or non religious people. It is time people stop fighting over offending everyone and just solve the issue.

Time Commitment of a Good Latter Day Saint

I thouroghly believe that if we do the little things in that we are told to do at church, we are happier in life. What does it mean to do the little things? Let me list them out for you.

Daily: (20 minutes)
Prayers (Morning, Evening, Meals... always): 10 minutes
Reading Scriptures: 10 minutes

Weekly: (6 hours)
Church: 3 hours
Home Evening: 2 hours
Calling: 1 hour

Monthly: (8 hours)
Home/Visiting Teaching: 2 hours
Being Home/Visiting taught: 1 hour
Temple attendence: 3 hours
Ward activity: 2 hours

I know that I am ignoring travel time, and this would be doubled for a bishop, but for an average member this should be a good estimate.

Here is a break down of a year: 365 days, 52 weeks, or 12 months. Check out these calculations.

Total Yearly = (Daily * 365) + (Weekly * 52) + (Montly * 12)
Total Yearly = (.33hr * 365) + (6hr * 52) + (8hr * 12)
Total Yearly = (120.45hr) + (312hr) + (96hr)
Total Yearly = 528.45hr

Average Montly = (Total Yearly / 12)  = 44hr
Average Weekly = (Total Yearly / 52) = 10hr
Average Daily = (Total Yearly / 365)  = 1.5hr

I guess that an hour and a half daily might sound pretty intense, but is it really for your happiness. Lets take a quick look at percentages because I like those better.

Yearly Percent = (528.45 / 8670) = 6.10%

What that means is if you give up 6% of your life, your are a devout member, and most likely will be happy. That 6% might actually seem kind of steap, but it isn't even a 10th, and we know when we pay our tithing, God moves mountains to make that 90% more useful than the 100% would be otherwise, so why can't he do the same thing for our time.

Let me end by mentioning some other yearly percentages:
33.67% - Sleep (8 * 365 / 8670)
23.99% - Work (8 * 5 * 52 / 8670)
18.10% - TV = (4.3 *  365 / 8670) (source)
21.72% - Digital= (5.16 * 365 / 8670) (source)

In conclusion most Americans spend three times as much time daily watch TV that it would take to be a great member of the church. That is really sad. I hope that I can give up a bit of internet or tv time to be a good healthy member of the church.