Reflections on Life Before

I slept in today until about 7. That was very nice. My alarm clock, Little Gary, came in to my room and announced that it was morning because the sun was up and that his tummy was very hungry. I gave him cake. How bad is that? It was convenient and just sitting there on the counter, left over from Sunday night's family dinner.

Speaking of Sunday, it was my turn to teach the Relief Society lesson and I taught it on being kind to ourselves and others. It's a subject I like, so I had lots of stuff I wanted to say. Unfortunately, it's been so long since I taught that I got nervous and didn't say half the things I wanted to say and said the other half in a way I hadn't planned.

I have read a lot about near-death experiences. I happen to firmly believe that there is life after the death of our mortal bodies and that there was life before we came to Earth. One of the ideas that is repeated in many, many peoples' NDE's is that we chose our lives and our experiences for two reasons: to gain knowledge we knew we needed, and to serve others. In fact, our primary goal in everything we decided to go through in life (and yes, I absolutely believe we decided on our experiences, even if we didn't know for sure what it would feel like) was to help us help someone else. I love that idea. It allows me to look at others close around me and in the world and remember that this person or that person is fulfilling their own callings, traveling through their own experiences, and that we are all at different levels. Even the really annoying ones.

Another idea I savor is the idea of free agency. We were all given complete freedom to make our own choices, and God promised He would never intervene and take away anyone's free agency. Sometimes that means people do awful things to each other, of course. But what that also means is that I have absolute control over what I choose my life to be. I choose my attitude and my perception, and by doing that, I choose my experiences. It's a heady thought. Complete responsibility. Proactive instead of reactive. I get exactly what I really want. It therefore behooves me to know what I really want.

Anyway, it's late. The kids are in bed. Husband and I took them for a drive up a canyon, only to find the canyon was closed. Joseph and Little Gary were quite disappointed not to get to climb a mountain, but we offered Cold Stone ice-cream instead, which turned out to be a satisfactory trade. I would have chosen Leatherby's over Cold Stone any day, of course, but I had some chocolate peanut butter ice cream and it was pretty yummy. The girls got to choose what size and what add-in they wanted, which made them happy.

I'm feeling contemplative and relaxed. I filled my quota for article writing. I'm in my pajamas. I'm halfway through Mockingjay.

Good night. 10:00pm