Lesson Learned: Smack'n'Cheese

Today I was pretty hungry.  I've had this ridiculous habit lately of not eating anything until noon-ish.  By that time I'm usually pretty dang famished.  However, my family, like most people, have the first world problem of "so much food, but nothing to eat."  So as I sat there, I realized that I just wanted to eat something that would be good, but wouldn't take too much effort to make.  (Lazy much?)  Then the idea came - I was going to make mac'n'cheese with kielbasa in it.

I mused upon the idea for a second and then realized the flavors probably wouldn't compliment each other very well.  So I thought for a second and remembered that we had some pork sausage links in the refrigerator.  It was perfect!  Some pork sausage mixed with mac'n'cheese sounded pretty delightful, plus it was still kind of breakfast-y.

I'm not sure at what point in the process of preparing to cook I had these strange taste epiphanies, but somewhere along the line I decided, "You know what?  We have tons of other awesome ingredients sitting around here, I might as well use them!"  This is where things went south.

I started pulling out things that I knew made food delicious - garlic salt, onion salt, butter, whipping cream (the kind in a carton that you use for recipes) - all key ingredients in fettuccine alfredo.  To add a little zest, I would put some sour cream in it, mixed with some poultry seasoning, all of this mixed with the sauce packet for the mac'n'cheese.  Delicious, right?  Wrong.

All of these things were delicious in recipes on their own, or in the right recipe at the right time, but I learned just because ingredients work well in other recipes, doesn't mean they work well when mixed together.  Just like you wouldn't put hamburger in your ice cream.  Both delicious, but not together.

Well, I effectively ruined my mac'n'cheese.  My description will never do justice to it, but it tasted like really rich sour cream thrown on pieces of leftover breakfast.  It was a disaster.  Time and resources wasted, and a still hungry tummy.  I didn't even finish my bowl and ended up just grabbing an apple, which was a much healthier choice anyway.

I think sometimes in life, things sound so good when you talk about bringing them together, but that's not always the case.  Ideas, people, organizations, because of unique flavors don't always compliment each other, and you end up with something not so great.

Now, that's not always the case, more often than not there are things which go together really well and the reason thing didn't work were timing issues, or things beyond our control.  However, occasionally you have those disappointing moments when you mix mac'n'cheese with alfredo sauce, breakfast sausages, and sour cream and you get what I affectionately call, smack'n'cheese.  It should have been amazing, but it turned out to something entirely different.

I'm thankful for... Everything.

Well, it seems like everybody has given their little nod to what they're thankful for, so in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I would give it a shot as well.

I can honestly say that I am so grateful for everything that has happened to me over the past couple years.  There have been a lot of people who have come into my life and really helped me turn things around.

Every person has played some role in refining my character, by their example or by what they've told me.  I think it's pretty fair to say that a lot of what I am today is a result of the people that I have had the chance to spend time with.

That as well, there have been a ton of experiences and opportunities that have helped me become better.  Sometimes those experiences or opportunities came in the form of trials or mistakes, but they all came, and they all helped me become the person I am now.

In all of this, however, I have been blessed to have the guiding light of the gospel in my life.  I know I haven't always gotten things right, and I have some pretty shaky weaknesses, but I am so grateful to know why I'm here, what I can become, and that there is purpose to everything that we experience.  That knowledge has gotten me through more challenges that I would care to admit.

Above all, I'm grateful that Heavenly Father loves us, and sees beyond what we see in ourselves.  We see an average person, and He sees potential to become like Him.  We see a fisherman, and He saw a chief apostle.  We see a sinner, and he sees a powerful messenger of truth.  In my case, I saw an average kid with not that much going for him, and He saw a missionary, a leader in His church, a teacher, a student body officer, and a student body president of a university.  How grateful I am for the "me" he has helped me to see, and how grateful I am that He sees who we really are and not who we think we are.

Indeed, I am also grateful that a vehicle for change has been given us, that we can erase past mistakes and setbacks, because Heavenly Father's Son, Our Savior, took upon Himself the brunt of what we do to ourselves when we choose disobey what our Father has asked of us.  When we accrue spiritual debt, He can step in and pay the price of sin.  Even more so, His atonement can help us not only remove spiritual weeds from our "heart gardens," or the land in our souls given to cultivate who we will become, but also plant the seeds of divine character and Christlike attributes.

Simply put -
I'm thankful for my family.
I'm thankful for my friends.
I'm thankful for the people who I've met.
I'm thankful for the experiences and opportunities I've had.
I'm thankful for the gospel and a loving Heavenly Father, who sees beyond who we see in ourselves.
I'm thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and our opportunities to change.

It's impossible for me to say that I don't live a blessed life.  So, this and everyday, I give thanks for what I have been given.

Happy Thanksgiving, I hope everyday is a day of thanks!

Face the Fight

So I decided that I needed a new hobby, and honestly, I've always wanted to keep a good blog.  Plus, I have a lot of ideas that I want to talk about, and a whole lot of opinions and personal experiences that I want to share.

Also, I kind of decided it's time to "re-brand" myself.  This is only the first of many steps in that direction.

The title of this particular blog has some significance in my personal life.  I remember having a conversation with a certain girl in my singles ward a long time ago.  The actual conversation was about dating and that girl was a real character, but what I took out of it was that we should never give up on things we really want because the fight is going to be hard, sometimes you just have to plant your feet, dig deep, and face the fight.  After that conversation, I started applying that to all aspects of my life.

Later on, as I was reading the Book of Mormon, I came across a passage that talked about the 2,000 stripling warriors.  For those who aren't familiar with the stories in the Book of Mormon, this little army so got it's name because it was comprised of men, soldiers, who were probably more boys than men.  They had never before fought in battle and they were all really young.  However, these boys took a few things into battle with them, trust in their mothers faith, righteous lives, soberness and integrity, and a trust in the Lord that He would deliver them in battle.

There was a point in Alma 56, where they had the choice to either run and save themselves, or to go back to help their fellow brethren fight the greatest army of the opposing forces.  In one decisive moment their commander literally asked them, "Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them in battle?" (Alma 56:44)  Meaning, "are you willing to turn back, and face possibly the biggest threat to the nation and liberty we are trying to defend?  An army that is massive in size and more than likely more skilled than you in the art of war?  Are you willing to put all your trust in that faith that you claim to profess, and do what you know is right?"  Well, they had courage, and decided to go back and help their brethren.  Good thing too, because they were about to be defeated, they turned the tide of that battle, and gained a crucial victory.

You see, you and I, we all have a lot of issues to deal with (I may talk about some of mine if gather up the courage to be that vulnerable), but we can't run from them.  We have to courage to turn back and face those great armies of weakness, pain, and fear.  We have to face the fight.

This blog is dedicated to exploring those ideas and following a life that has hit a new low, as it rises up to be what it was intended to be.

This is Face the Fight.