One lower light shining

Hey, I just saw that this blog got a mention on MormonTimes.com‘s Today in the Bloggernacle column!  Thanks!

Back when I was following the bloggernacle more avidly, I used to keep up with that column.  Emily Jensen does a good job distilling some of the more interesting Mormon content from the blogosphere–something that can be quite time consuming if you try to keep up with all those blogs yourself!  Back when I was a sophomore, I tried that…but not anymore.  Oh, how life gets in the way of things (like blogging, for example).

But if you’re interested, I just finished writing one of my novels (revising it, actually).  I wrote a post about it on my writing blog, One Thousand and One Parsecs. It doesn’t have too much to do with the gospel, except in the fact that my personal values and beliefs undoubtedly had an influence.  It’s like Orson Scott Card says–your Mormon-ness inevitably shines through whatever you write.  When I get published, I suppose I’ll add to the ever growing ranks of LDS science fiction and fantasy authors.

Which reminds me of an interesting tweet by @MosheMF (Brandon Sanderson‘s editor at TOR):

Doorbell just rung by 2 pretty LDS missionaries in rain. Told them I’d stick with Judaism, but would welcome more LDS bestselling authors!

Yeah, we Mormons definitely have a strong representation in the science fiction and fantasy community.  At World Fantasy convention this year, there were almost thirty or forty Utahans present, most of them authors and aspiring writers.  The Utah writing scene is extremely vibrant; even though I’ll be in Washington DC this next winter, I’m seriously considering buying plane tickets to Utah just to attend BYU’s Life, the Universe, and Everything symposium.

Enough about all that, though.  Thanks to MormonTimes for mentioning my last post!  And if you haven’t checked them out already, go and do it!  I’m definitely going to resubscribe–I don’t have time to keep up with all the bloggernacle, but at least I can keep up with their excellent daily summaries.

Today in Sunday School, we had an interesting lesson on missionary experiences that made me realize, in just a matter of weeks, I’m no longer going to be living in a place where I’m surrounded by Mormons.  I’ll be in Washington DC, participating in BYU’s Washington Seminar, before I graduate in April and (most likely) move out of Provo to make my fortune in the Real World.  Scary, I know.

In a roundabout way, this made me realize how much I’ve been under utilizing this blog.  I generally don’t like long, apologetic blog posts where the blogger promises to be more consistent in the future, but since my last real post here was in July, I think I need to publicly make a point about writing for this blog more often.

It’s not that I haven’t had ideas–since last time, I’ve had at least half a dozen ideas for good, thoughtful blog posts.  I just haven’t made the time to write them down.  Part of that has to do with the fact that, unwittingly or not, I’ve decided to lean more towards quality than quantity.  I still want to keep the quality of the posts, but I will probably make them shorter and more frequent, rather than longer and more intensive to write.

It’s so easy to let life get in the way of your spiritual pursuits.  Work, school, friends, girls, and other obligations can take so much time.  I originally started this blog to keep me from being too distracted.  Now, I see it as an opportunity to share something of my personal spirituality with those who care to listen.

Life is still crazy, but I can make the time to post here more often.  Sorry for the long, unintentional silence–expect this blog to be more active in the near future!

So, back at the beginning of this year, I decided I was going to read the Book of Mormon twice this year; one quick, straight read through, and one in-depth, cover to cover study of it.  I wanted to finish the first read through before the end of the semester in April, and I calculated that by February I’d have to be finishing up with the book of Jacob.

Um…yeah.  Well, I’m not quite there yet.

The biggest difficulty is just finding a regular time to read the scriptures.  I remember thinking and praying about it, back a few semesters ago, and figuring out a time that worked really well.  Now, I don’t know exactly when would work for me.

I would like to read in the mornings, but the trouble there is that I’m not much of a morning person.  It would probably help if I didn’t stay up past 2:00 am every other night , but that’s proving to be a difficult habit to break.

So which time generally works best to read the scriptures?  I’m not talking about an in-depth, closed-door study session, just a quick reading for the general overview.  Are mornings best?  Evenings?  Afternoons, during lunch break?

I tend to be very spontaneous and disorganized, so this is a very real difficulty for me.  I haven’t had regular study since my mission.  I remember dedicating myself in the temple to reading the Book of Mormon every day for the rest of my life, and feeling a distinct stupor of thought as I attempted to do so.  Sure enough, that was a resolution I didn’t keep–I guess God was trying to tell me not to get too hard on myself for it.

Even though consistent scripture study is a struggle for me, I don’t think it’s worth feeling guilty about it.  As important as it is to read the scriptures on a regular basis, beating myself up about it isn’t going to improve anything.  When it comes to things to feel guilty about, guilt over not reading the scriptures has got to be one of the most useless (and common) things in this church.

Here’s what I’m going to do: try very, very, VERY hard to get to bed every night before 1:00 am so that I can get up in time to do a little scripture study.  At the very least, I can read a chapter or two as I walk from my apartment to campus.  And if that doesn’t work, I’ll just carry the little pocket sized Book of Mormon with me all day and be more conscientious about reading from it.

Also, I’ll post more of my thoughts in quick posts here on this blog.  Shorter, more compact entries than the ones I’ve been writing.  Some of the previous ones have been pretty good, but pretty freaking huge at the same time.

So that’s the plan.  It really can be a struggle to read the scriptures regularly, but I guess it’s also one of those things you just have to rededicate yourself to on a daily basis.  If you miss a day, don’t let it get you down.

Welcome to my new blog, one lower light shining!  Before I start posting regularly on this blog, I thought I’d share a little bit of an explanation of why I  started this blog.

First of all, about me: I’m a senior at BYU studying Arabic, political science, Middle Eastern studies, and English.  I work at a writing lab and I write science fiction / fantasy when I’m not doing schoolwork.  I’d like to eventually get published professionally as a novelist, but until then I’m pursuing other career goals, which include…I have no idea at this point.  I’ll probably work a job for a while (Arabic teaching? Government aide? Editor? Freelance writer? Contract translator in Iraq?) after I graduate, then go to grad school.  Somewhere in there, I’d like to get married and have a family.

I’ve already got several blogs: onelowerlight’s daily photo safari is my daily photoblog, which I’ve been keeping up with more or less on a daily basis for the last two years.  A Thousand And One Parsecs is where I blog about my creative writing, where  I post my book reviews, and where I discuss other miscellaneous stuff, usually having something to do with science fiction or fantasy.  Arab wa Gharab: Ayn al-Ikhtilaaf? is an Arabic blog that I write, both in Arabic and about learning Arabic (in English), and Journey to Jordan is a blog that I kept over the summer of 2008 when I went to the Middle East on BYU’s Jordan study abroad program and had a number of amazing cultural and life changing experiences.  I don’t post to it anymore, but it’s got some really interesting stuff in the archives.

Blah blah blah enough about me–what the heck is this new blog about?

I’m an active, believing Latter-day Saint, and I wanted to have a place where I could share my thoughts, insights, questions, ideas, and personal testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ over the internet.  Also, I’ve noticed that my own personal study of the scriptures can be sporadic and shallow at times, and I thought that sharing my insights and experiences with others would motivate me to get more out of my personal study.

My vision for this blog is to make it a sort of online, interactive scripture journal.  I’ve got other blogs for sharing my thoughts on other topics, so I want to make this one a blog about spiritual matters–thoughts on the gospel and the teachings of the LDS church, thoughts on religion and spirituality in general, personal spiritual experiences, perspectives on religious questions and controversies, and personal insights from the scritures.

One thing I want to avoid, however, is falling back on cliches and formulaic language.  I want this blog to be meaningful, so I don’t want each post to be a repetition of something you could get from somewhere else.

That said, just because something isn’t new doesn’t mean that it isn’t good.  I firmly believe that everything I ever needed to know about God and the gospel I learned while I was in primary.  I find more enrichment in uncovering deeper layers of meaning in the things I’ve already learned than I do by chasing after things I’ve never heard anything about.

At the same  time, “deep” is a loaded word.  Some people think that a “deep” understanding of the gospel is one that involves going beyond officially taught doctrines and delving into the realm of metaphysical speculation.  Not me.  I learned on my mission that the entire gospel comes down to three words: COME UNTO CHRIST, and that anything more or less than that is a waste of time.  I don’t want this blog  to be a waste of time; not for me, and not for you.

As for my authority…well, I’m just an average guy.  I haven’t had my calling and election made sure, I’m not a General Authority, I don’t have multiple degrees in theology, and I’m not one of those fabulously well read Mormon apologetics.  In short, I’m not an expert on any of this stuff and I don’t claim to be.

BUT…

I do have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ: that it’s true, that it works, that Christ lives and has the power to change hearts and erase sins, and that He restored His church in 1830 through His prophet, Joseph Smith.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God to all people, as is the Bible.  It has been one of the most influential books on my life, and I know that its teachings all point to the true and living God.  I love this church, I love this gospel, and I love to share my experiences with it in ways that help people to COME UNTO CHRIST and be perfected in Him.

So thanks for checking out this blog, I hope you will come back often, and I hope that whatever your religion, Mormon or not, you find something positive and useful from what I have to share.