"The Station"

Oh dang...it's been exactly a month since i blogged! I must've found something important to do, huh? Since then, i've been immersed with school and homework, started dating a very sweet young woman, and have enjoyed work, albeit with some cut hours since im in school again. (Dang you switching from off-track to on again...)

But anyways, this weekend i needed a nice weekend outside of rexburg and the wedding of a friend down here in Utah was a perfect antidote! So my good friends Jordan and Kristen were nice enough to let me tag along yet again down to Utah to take part in the wedding sealing. Along with that were some perks of eating In-N-Out for lunch today, not having the wind constantly blowing me away, and a lot of other tasty food with friends. Hey, it works. However, it did reaffirm my beliefs that:

1.) Utah drivers are 10x worse than Idaho drivers
2.) i could never really attend BYU as an undergraduate and/or single. The place weirds me out for some reason.
3.) The sun actually can stay out for periods of time with nice weather. I heard this is called "Spring".

My main focus however for this will be my feelings about what i felt today as i attended the sealing of brett and tara przybyla. So yes....this will be about marriage. If you're sick of me talking about already, then you can just stop reading and go with your day. Honestly, im surprised you've stuck with reading this far already. But in any case, i feel it's important....again.

To begin, this is my third wedding sealing i've been to. The first one was of my cousin miranda's wedding back in 2009, the second being jordan and kristen's last january, and then today. I felt a little bit out of place, since i was neither part of any of the families involved (i was purely labeled "guest"), and second i was and obviously still am not married. As the session started and the temple sealer started, it was a massive Holy Ghost juggernaut. Hearing all the promises and eternal implications hit me deep and has so for three times thus far. During it, i will admit that i teared up. One, it being a very powerful experience and secondly, i yearn for that in my life so freaking much. Is this a complaining blog? It's not, no. Just me reinforcing myself and hopefully doing the same for others how important it is.

As the sealing was over and the hugs were being exchanged, the sealer said, "If people only knew how important this is, they would crawl and their hands and knees to the temple to receive it." That's powerful stuff! So when i hear others whine or complain ay school, "Oh no here we go again...another talk/devotional on marriage!" Well....why do you think that is? Why is it harped on so much? Is it because they're bored and have nothing to talk about? Are the administrators just that eager to get everyone married? Go read Doctrine & Covenants 131 and come back to me...Along with that there a myriad of talks about the importance of it. Just go to LDS.org and type in "marriage" and look at the all the talks from PROPHETS and APOSTLES that have repeatedly and consistently given counsel on the matter. They're very inspired men with a great deal of insight from God, so what they say is very important in my book.

This is just me, but what is the fun about being single for a long time? Yeah you get to go out on dates with a variety of people and do things that you personally enjoy and so on. And those are great...up to a certain point. For me, some of it is losing its appeal. There comes a point when we have to face reality and take that leap of faith into something that won't be easy, but sure is heck very worth it.

Life is hard, yes i get that. Why go through it alone? Facing problems in life is best when you have someone to share it with. Someone that is willing to spend time and all eternity with you to start a family and progress towards exaltation sounds like a blast to me. If the Muppets have taught anything lately, it's that "life's a happy song when there's someone by your side to sing along".

Can we fully prepare for it? Not completely, no. We can do some things to prepare, like: living with roommates, cooking for ourselves, budgeting the limited money we already have, and so on. I know my list isn't that deep, but you get the idea. My guess is that marriage is a lot of on the job training, things we get to experience and find out as we're living it. Obviously, you should get to know your future spouse through dating and other activities like that, but trying to figure every single little detail about them is boring, admit it. Getting to know and find out after very careful and prayerful consideration is a useful tactic, i think.

I admit...i really don't know when that time will come. God knows that i long for it; sometimes when it aches because i want to be obedient to that commandment to get married and i want to have that kind of love. I sound probably crazy right now, but this is council i have been given from a Prophet of God, the scriptures, my parents, my ecclesiastical leaders, my former mission president, etc. I'm not crazy or in a big fat rush to do it, i just want that blessing in my life sooner rather than much later when i'm fat and old. I pray every night to be worthy of it, and i'm still waiting and longing for it....

To close this out, i saw a poem today and thought it might could possibly maybe kinda sorta perhaps most likely apply to this whole thing.

"Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows we drink in the passing scene of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village malls.


But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering---waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.


"When i reach the station, that will be it!" we cry. But, sooner or later we must realize that there is no station, no one place to arrive once and for all. The true joy of life is in the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.


"Relish the moment" is a good motto. It isn't burdens of today that drive man mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fears of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough."-- "The Station", by Robert J. Hastings