::: blog

“You have had, will have, and do now have better presidents at BYU than I was, but you will not have one who loves you more than I do.”

The Start of a New Year
See where we are going against the backdrop of where we have been

Talk about the Past and the Future

• In the context of any changes that we go through

2nd Shortest verse

• Luke 17:32
  • Remember Lot’s Wife.
• Out of the days of Sodom of Gomorrah
• escape for thy life, look not behind thee
• Lot’s wife looked back, and was turned to a pillar of salt
• Not talk about the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah, nor about these evils in today’s world, nor about even importance of obedience
• what was wrong wasn’t just that she was looking back… but that in her heart she wanted to GO back.
• It wasn’t just that she looked back, she resented leaving it
• Attachment to the past outweighed confidence in the future
• The past is to be learned from, not lived in.
• More theological way to talk about Lot’s wife, is to say that she lacked faith in the future and the Lord’s ability to provide something better for her
• Edwin Arlington Robbinson
  • Miniver Cheevy, child of scron….
  • Miniver loved the days of old….
  • Perennially dissatisfied with present circumstances
• Paul’s Letter to the Philippians
  • Philippines 3:13-14
• Out there, up ahead, wherever Heaven is taking us
• God doesn’t care as much about where you have been as he does about where you are, and more importantly where (with his help) you are willing to go…
• Robbert Browning
  • Grow old along with me!, the best is yet to be.
• Faith is for the future

6 Guidelines to Keeping Your Commitments

• Know Your Commitment
• Decide Now to Keep Them
• Follow the Master
• Set Realistic Goals
• Anticipate Opposition
• Reap Blessings

Flakiness is the antithesis of Commitment

“settle this in your hearts that ye will do the things I shall command you…”

even when our circumstances change, our commitment to follow God must not change

Any in-depth discussion of commitment keeping needs to discuss the parallel discussion of commitment making, that is, of asking others to commit to a thing. One problem of modern life is the contradictory nature of the multitude of commitments which come from various sources in life.

In other words, some commitments would consume us if we let them.

“Any community functions better when people in it keep their promises to live up to its accepted standards.”

She has come across in something of a stereotypical English stuffiness and rigidity

“Let’s Keep the Flakiness in the Kitchen”

Audience:

• Those who make and keep commitments
• Those who do not make or keep commitments
• Those who make commitments but do not keep them
• Those who do not make commitments but live as though they had
• Those who hesitate to commit to making the world a better place
• Those who care little about the world around them

My Commitments:

• Religious
  • Baptismal Covenants
  • Temple Covenants
  • Church Calling
• Social
  • Family
  • Friends
  • Fellow Humans
• Scholastic
  • Formal
  • Informal
• Work
  • Special Collections
  • Web-Work
  • Teach For America

here is a portion of a larger video discussing the history of stuff. i recently watched this film and wrote about it for class. i thought i would embed a portion of it here, just ’cause i was thinking about it. this part talks about consumerism, something near and dear to all of us in today’s world, no?

the story of stuff (click here to see the whole film, approx. 20 min)

to see some of my thoughts, as well as a summary of the entire film, visit my readings blog, at http://readings.andrewcoy.com

a clip from a forum by poet Li-Young Lee given in January of 2004.

pictures from my summer course and travels, text and commentary will come once the course is over and i have a spare moment to write something down about it all.