Because You Will Live to See Tomorrow

Much has been said of the question, "If you knew that you were to die tomorrow, what would you do today?" There are even songs about it. Songs like, Live Like You Were Dying by Tim McGraw. And while I think this is good and all, I think there is a better way of looking at life.
Because you will live to see tomorrow, what are you going to do today?
There is no challenge in living your last day to the fullest, because you have nothing to lose; you're on your last day. The challenge comes in learning to live every day to the fullest not because it could be your last, but simply because it's another day! Living every day to it's fullest because you will live tomorrow requires optimism and hope. It requires a purpose and a mission in life. It also requires strength and endurance. Being happy is hard, it really is. Even for me, and I'm naturally a very, very happy and optimistic person. There is just so much to be sad about. Think for a moment. America is dying. Morality and decency is dying. Common sense is dying. Go look at the news, they will tell you all about it. But what goodness and joy can we glean from the world? That's the hard part. In the moment that you learn to see and focus on the good things in the world all around you, you expand your potential in an infinite way. And that, that is when you learn that you really can make a difference in the world.
Now go find the good things.
Love,
Dallin

Compromise

Compromise is one of the great plagues in America today. It's everywhere. Principles are compromised, values are compromised, morals are compromised.

Now don't get me wrong, compromise can be a very good thing, but not when it's dealing with morality or principle. Here's the problem.

When you're compromising your morality, you're compromising with the devil. The devil does not compromise. He pretends to though. Let us imagine for a moment that there is a mountain, and that this mountain is your morality. You're standing on the very top of it refusing to go any lower, and the devil is at the bottom calling you, asking you to come down just a little and talk to him. You refuse, and so he does what the devil does. He comes up to you. Now in coming up to you he is not raising his moral standards. No, he is too evil to raise them at all. So him coming up to you is all a ruse conceived for the sole purpose of leading you down the mountain and away from your standards and morality. Now it might not be the devil himself that comes up to you. He might come by way of an ambassador in the form of a friend of yours whose morality has already been compromised. And this ambassador will come right up to almost the top of the mountain. We're talking withing feet, and inches if he's clever enough. And he will say so gently and innocently, "Hey friend, it must get lonely up there all by yourself. Why don't you come down just a little bit to here with me? No? Well hey, I came all the way up this mountain just to see you. The least you can do is come down a couple of feet to see me. Ok, look. I'll come up to within 2 inches of where you are, and at the same moment, I'll step up an inch, and you'll step down one. We'll be together for a while." And so it starts. The devil is a very patient being. If it takes him a lifetime, he will lead you one inch at a time down even a mountain the size of Everest. One compromised inch is never okay, because the devil's standard moves. He is not rooted in principle. So when he tells you that he's okay, and a nice guy, and has come all this way up so he must be a good guy, know that he's lying. As soon as you step down, he will step down as well and invite you to join him once again. And if you move up, he will follow you. He's relentless.

The same applies to America's government. Those fighting for freedom were once so strong. They stood on the top never moving. Then they started to give things away, and started to move down the mountain of freedom, liberty, and justice. Things like the right to work were given away by way of labor laws. Then came educational reform, the government funded schools, government owned land, and the growing control of the people by the government. And then welfare, gun control, and anti discrimination laws along with new regulations, requirements, and taxes. And those ambassadors of the devil just keep moving down. They might not even know that they are ambassadors of the devil, that's how clever he is. But anyone, Republican or Democrat, who gives away the freedoms of the American people is working for the devil, because captivity is a thing of the devil. And so when people like Mr. Obama complain about Republicans such as Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul not compromising, they're wrong. The freedom fighters and their predecessors have compromised already. Almost to the point of total loss of American freedom. 

Please, America. No more compromise. Stand firm on your principles and never move. Because any more compromised morals or freedoms could result in the loss of your freedoms, and your soul.

Be strong, my friends.

-Dallin

What I Learned From Dumb and Dumber

So I watched Dumb and Dumber for the first time today. I hope it was the last time.
The title of this article is misleading. I didn't learn anything from that movie. Absolutely nothing. The whole point of the story dies in the end. The guy doesn't get the girl, the briefcase full of money that they were trying the whole movie to return gets spent without the owner's consent, and they end going right back to where they started. There is no character development, nothing worth seeing. I mean, there were a couple of really, really funny parts. I'll give the movie that much. But not enough to be worth watching. Here are the opening and closing scenes for those wondering exactly how dumb this movie is. (As a side note, there is content of questionable moral character in this movie as well as it being just plain dumb.)

I stood up from watching this movie having gained nothing and having wasted two hours of my life. It was a terrible feeling. My friend, do yourself a favor. Don't waste a piece of your life with this movie. There are much, much better things to do. Anyways, I guess I did learn one thing from all of this. I learned that the human soul does not like to waste time on frivolous things. I learned that it desires to learn and grow and improve, and time wasted on things such as this movie dampen it's joy. Maybe that's just my soul, but at any rate, I at least learned something about me. :)
Have a good life, my friends.
Go be awesome.

The Abstraction of Marriage

This video makes me so sad.

It is sad to me that these kids don't see what is happening here. It is even sadder to me that their parents haven't taught them what is happening. The whole gay marriage battle... It's not really about people wanting to be legally bound as gay couples. That's just what is seen on the surface. There were civil unions for those who wished to be legally bound gay couples. The true battle here is the abstraction of marriage. Because once marriage is an abstract concept, what is the significance of it any more? It becomes meaningless. All the sacredness that marriage once held... It would be lost. The abstraction of marriage would make it okay for a man and an animal to be married too, using the basis of, "Whatever makes them happy" that is so often used to support gay marriage. Marriage is a bonding covenant between a man and a woman. Civil Union is the proper term for that covenant between members of the same sex. Oh my friends, please do not allow this abstraction of marriage to take place. Please love gay people, do not hate them. Help them realize that they have a special union all for themselves. They do not need the word marriage to describe their relationships. And if they don't like the name of their type of union, then let them vote to change the name; but marriage, marriage is something different entirely. Please do not be fooled into thinking otherwise.

If You Don't Look for Something, You're Probably not Going to Find It

I sometimes look at pictures of the stars and of other things and think, "Why aren't the stars ever that clear to me?" and "Why don't I ever see things like that?"
Today as I was looking at some spectacular pictures of the stars, I figured it out.

I never really looked. I've seen the stars thousands of times, but I can count on my hands the number of times that I've actually looked at them. In my rush to live life, I've missed it. Because life is all about the little things, and I'm missing a lot of them. So maybe I need to slow down a little, and take more time to look at, rather than just see the world around me. Because that is how life is lived at it's greatest, and I want to live a great life.

Happy Halloween, Guys. :)

So this is my Halloween for this year. Don't laugh too hard. ;)
Happy Halloween guys! :D

Sometimes

Sometimes I get really frustrated with myself. Right now is one of those times.
Right now is one of those times where I just feel like I can't do anything right. I feel like my friendships are going to all crumble beneath me and I'm going to be back in the place where I was a long time ago. A place with no friends and no hope. And even though I speak of hope and how it is always there, I don't always believe that. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I feel like I walk on a tightrope, and that tightrope is life, and I'm trying to juggle my interests while staying balanced on that fragile thing that we call life. And each time an interest is thrown up, I have to consider whether or not I am capable of catching it when it comes down and still handle balancing on the tightrope of life.
And sometimes I have to let that interest fall, and that hurts so bad. Because I really do, I want to keep all of my interests and my dreams up in the air, because I love it - I love life. And each time I drop an interest I promise myself that I'll pick it up later once I can handle it - once I'm good enough to handle it. But sometimes I don't. And though I've never fallen from the tight rope, I almost jumped once. And though I have friends and family who are walking their tight ropes beside me, and who are so kind and wonderful to me, sometimes I want to walk alone. And sometimes other people ask me so fervently to help them stay balanced, and I can't help them all at once. And that hurts me. And although I've never seen another person fall, I've seen some of them come awfully close.
I guess that what I'm trying to say is that sometimes I just can't give anymore, because if I did, I would run out of me. And once I'm gone, I can't come back.

Give Said the Little Stream

I think that the seemingly most insignificant things are often more significant than meets the eye, and that many profound things can be learned from the simplest of messages.

There is one message that I've recently found a deeper meaning in specifically. It comes from the Children's Songbook, (Found here.) The song's name is Give, Said the Little Stream. It goes like this: (Listen to either video as you read the lyrics.)

1. "Give," said the little stream,
"Give, oh! give, give, oh! give."
"Give," said the little stream,
As it hurried down the hill;
"I'm small, I know, but wherever I go   
The fields grow greener still."

(Chorus)
Singing, singing all the day,

"Give away, oh! give away."
Singing, singing all the day,
"Give, oh! give away."

2. "Give," said the little rain,

"Give, oh! give, give, oh! give."
"Give," said the little rain,
As it fell upon the flow'rs;
"I'll raise their drooping heads again,"
As it fell upon the flow'rs.

3. Give, then, as Jesus gives,

Give, oh! give, give, oh! give.
Give, then, as Jesus gives;
There is something all can give.
Do as the streams and blossoms do:
For God and others live.

Isn't that a wonderful message? It's my new life motto, I've decided. And, I hope I can follow it's message. If I do, I know I will change the world. One "field" at a time.

"I'm small, I know, but wherever I go the fields grow greener still..."

Another Side to Mr. Obama

My friends, a lot of hate is directed towards President Obama. I do not think that he deserves hate, but I also disagree with almost everything he does and says, not to mention that he is a liar and a fraud.
Having said that, he is the President of the United States of America and therefore deserves all due respect that comes with that office. It is the duty of the American people to support him - not necessarily his beliefs or his policies, but support him as the president of the United States of America. If we the American people don't like him, we must take the proper steps to remove him from office lawfully. Even though he plays dirty sometimes by doing things like lying and cheating, we the American people are better than that and must abide by the laws in place, regardless of how much we don't like them.
There is a side of Mr. Obama that I hadn't seen before today though. The side of Obama that is gentle and caring. I don't know, maybe it's all an act, but I felt like this was genuine. All of his other talk of caring about the American people I have a hard time believing. He does nothing to show that he really, sincerely cares about the people like he says he does. Instead he forces things like the Affordable Care Act down their throats. But this time, I think he cared. It was very one on one and personal with a young boy that makes my day every time he uploads a video to youtube. Kid President was invited to the White House and met the president. Take a look for yourself, and maybe reevaluate your thoughts on how you judge other people.

Hello Sunshine :)

My friends, life is so good. :) I feel like I can't contain my soul. It's bursting at the seams to get out of here and find a place that can contain more happiness than my little frame can. Maybe if I can contain it long enough it will stretch out my frame a little. That would be nice. :D
Anyways, because I'm so happy, I feel like spreading joy. Here are some things that make me happy. :)
#1
Sunshine
Oh, my friends, I love sunshine. It expresses without words how I feel right now better than I can express it in any way I know of. It's just... So beautiful in it's own happy little way.


#2
Music
There are days when I don't feel like sunshine. Days where I just want to... Well, days where I don't want to do anything. Days where I just feel empty. But music lifts me up. It speaks to my soul better than I can, and tells it to be happy. Here is some music that makes me happy. :)

Happy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIgRTPglVaI

Bring Me Sunshine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXvJ8UquYoo%E2%80%8E

Happiest Girl in the Whole USA - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMXAMR28nq0

On Top of the World - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgltSp_mU7M

I'm Trying to be Like Jesus - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFkOBuPTeTs

Biggest Man in Los Angeles -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MyolS9sM9o

#3 

My Family

A few days ago my family got family pictures taken. Here is my lovely family, all 9 of us. :)

So anyways, those are some things that make me happy. :)
What makes you happy?

Government Shutdown or Government Crack Down?

My friends, I am tired of stories like this. Since the Republicans in congress refuse to raise the debt ceiling and vote to fund The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) the government of the United States of America is in partial shutdown.
Hallelujah!
God bless those politicians who stay strong in the truth.
I'm not one for anarchy, but this partial government shutdown is probably one of the best things ever to happen to America. Maybe the people will finally realize how much government there is that is not necessary. But here's on thing I don't get.
What's the deal with the government closing down the national parks and monuments? It sounds to me more like a government crack down than a government shut down. If those parts of the government are really shut down, what sort of jurisdiction do they have to do anything at all with these monuments and parks? Truthfully, none. If a part of the government is shut down that means that it has no authority whatsoever to do anything because it no longer lives, so with what authority are they closing parks and monuments? I don't know, I don't have an answer. But it's something to think about anyways.
Stay strong in the faith and deeply rooted in correct principles, and we won't have this problem. One day it will all be well, and if it isn't at least know this.
All is well in Zion.