Discovered a wonderful text in Proverbs the other day: 25:11 “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”
This post by Alli pretty much sums up married life as a college student. Except in my case, it’s “writing code” instead of “writing research papers”. And substitute my wife’s name for Andy.
Yep.
Sometimes I tout perfectionism as a laudable trait. Most of the time I think it a terrible curse. Like it or not, I wrestle with it.
Cecil O. Samuelson titled his devotional address this morning “Be Ye Therefore Perfect.” His premise: perfectionism is debilitating. Worthiness is divine, he said, but that is not the same as perfection. We won’t be perfect any time soon, and that’s okay. Doing our best qualifies us to be called worthy. Perfection comes only by grace.
Perfectionists don’t have nearly as much trouble loving God and loving others as they do loving themselves. But that, too, is an essential component of the second great commandment.
So I keep going. It’s no problem loving my friends and family. Even strangers. They’re doing their best, and that’s good enough for me. To develop the same opinion of myself is the challenge.
Discovered a wonderful text in Proverbs the other day: 25:11 “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”
I love that imagery. I did a casual search for commentary on that verse and found some on http://bible.cc/proverbs/25-11.htm. Here are a few notes from those commentaries:
“The wise man [author of the Proverbs] seems to have this kind of work particularly in view; and the contrast of the golden yellow fruit in the exquisitely wrought silver basket, which may be all termed picture work, has a fine and pleasing effect upon the eye, as the contained fruit has upon the palate at an entertainment in a sultry climate. So the word spoken judiciously and opportunely is as much in its place, as the golden apples in the silver baskets.”
What a wonderful thing it is when we speak well and in good time. The words we say can build others up, inspire to correct action, heal wrongs, and bring praise to the Lord. I want to live so that the words I speak can be so described.
Wrote a post about the necessity of having time to think independently, disconnected from cyberspace. Go read it on Global Constant.
“With any major decision there are cautions and considerations to make, but once there has been illumination, beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don’t give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly don’t give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. Face your doubts. Master your fears. “Cast not away therefore your confidence” (Heb. 10:35). Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you.” —
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence,” Ensign, Mar. 2000.
As quoted by my friend Cale.
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Sister Hall (the BYU Concert Choir director) has a phrase she uses sometimes: “On-purpose singing.” What she means by that is singing with proper technique and focus such that your singing sounds, well, like you did it on purpose. It’s easy for experienced singers to just sing without trying to make it beautiful. It just sort of happens; it might be decent, but it doesn’t sound like it was on purpose.
I’ve been thinking about how that applies to life. These last few weeks I’ve been in survival mode with my Artificial Intelligence class. It’s a full semester course squeezed down into seven weeks during BYU’s “spring term.” CS classes can be heavy enough when they last a whole semester, but this particular class is brutal. I’m working on the project with a partner. We have each spent enough hours on it in the previous two weeks to call CS 470 a full-time job, albeit unpaid and rather unfulfilling.
Because I’ve been in survival mode, a lot of important things have fallen off my priority list. Things like taking time to enjoy eating meals, spending time talking to my roommates (they’re usually all in bed before I get home at night), and spending time with myself to take in the beauty of life. I come to the end of a day having accomplished some of the work I needed to do but very few of the other important things that make life worth living. I crawl into bed unsatisfied, apologetic that I didn’t accomplish all that I should have.
That’s no way to live life. I want to live on purpose. When I get to the end of a day, I need to own what I accomplished and what I didn’t. But I need to be satisfied with how things went, knowing I did my best. I shouldn’t be disappointed in myself when I don’t meet unrealistic expectations.
Life will go on, whether I get an A in CS 470 or whether I get a C-. It won’t really matter in five years. Frankly, it also won’t really matter whether I enjoyed daily life in these two months or went stir-crazy sitting in a lab 13 hours a day. All of that will just be a memory. But right now, it does matter. It’s important that I live on purpose and make the most of each moment.
If CS 470 is teaching me anything, it’s that I need to find the things that bring me the most joy and satisfaction and make those the focus of my life. There will be drudgery as well, but it doesn’t need to be the focus of my life all the time. My mistake in the last few weeks is that I’ve let CS 470 take over, and I haven’t made time to enjoy life and live on purpose.
Here comes another week. Let me try again to live on purpose.
I moved to a new apartment this weekend, and I love it. It’s smaller than my old one, but there are only four of us. That makes it seem a lot bigger per person. Plus, I have enough bookshelf space in my room for all my books (or at least all the ones that I have with me at school), which was not the case at the old place. Wonderful!
It’s been a new beginning for me. I’m still living with my three best friends, and I’m not too far from the old place. So I haven’t lost any of the relationships that are most important to me. That has made it a lot easier to begin again in a new place, because I’m starting right from where I left off.
I finished my TA job last week, and I’m starting a new position this week as a research assistant. While I’m sad to be done working as a TA, I’m excited to continue doing something I love in a new setting.
In the past few weeks and months, a couple of my friends who were in relationships broke up with their girlfriends. That has been an end and a new beginning for them. It’s been interesting to reflect on that and how it affects their lives in ways both good and bad. I’m grateful to be in a stable relationship, even though my fiancee is away visiting family for several weeks. All the same, I can empathize with them for the pain and heartache from ending a relationship as well as the relief and invigoration of starting over. I wish them all the best.
The end of school is always a new beginning. Summer starts and brings with it myriad opportunities. I’m looking forward to all that it brings. I’m leaving behind the bad things that have happened and cherishing the good memories. It’s wonderful to be starting again!
To all of you, my friends, I wish you the best. Keep in touch!
Sister Hall said something in rehearsal yesterday that struck me. It went more or less like this:
The higher the level of artistry in a performance, the fewer people appreciate it. The opposite is also true. That’s why Living Legends and Young Ambassadors are always sold out. That’s why Men’s Chorus is always sold out. And that’s why BYU Singers and Concert Choir will never be sold out. The music we sing demands a lot of our audience. When people go out for the night, they don’t want to have things demanded of them.
So I never need to feel bad that our concerts aren’t sold out. We just attract a higher caliber of people, and there aren’t as many of them to go around.
Besides. Even if only one person came, our music would make a difference to that one person.
The semester is almost over, and it’s time for the final concert of the season for BYU Singers and Concert Choir. The concert is this Thursday and Friday in the de Jong Concert Hall at BYU.
As is my custom, I’ve written a few unofficial program notes to help you prepare for the concert if you’re planning to come. The Concert Choir will be performing three sets, which are as follows:
Chichester Psalms
This magnificent piece was composed by Leonard Bernstein for a choir and orchestra. The version we are performing is his Bernstein’s own reduction to organ, harp, and percussion. It is a setting of six psalms, divided into three movements. The music itself will likely be quite foreign to you. It combines many modern and symbolic elements into a production that is sometimes jarring and sometimes overwhelmingly beautiful. Sister Hall will give a short lecture demonstration before we sing the piece (which itself is about 15 minutes long). The demonstration will point out various elements, themes, and constructions that you can listen for to better appreciate the piece. If you want to get a head start, I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia article. It does a good job of explaining the background and structure. Familiarizing yourself with the psalms texts that are used will also help you understand the setting.
Light and Darkness
This set will include three pieces:
Departing
Also includes three pieces:
I love the music we’ve been preparing and hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!