MaeLyn's Musings

In May of 2016, I wrote this blog . (Go ahead and read it... the rest of this blog will make more sense.) I had just received a new calling - something that felt overwhelming, and something that I didn't feel prepared for. Three years and seven months later, (or a week ago Sunday) we had just had our Christmas sacrament meeting and were headed into the cultural hall for a gathering with cookies when the bishop saw me and told me he wanted to talk to me for a few minutes before I left. Following the gathering, when the crowds were thinning out, I caught the bishop's eye and he took me to his office. "We need a primary pianist." He told me. "Okay." I said. I already felt like I knew where he was going. Our previous primary pianist recently moved to Utah and there aren't very many people who play piano in our ward. "We would like you to be our new primary pianist." "Okay." Primary pianist. I could do that. Not blindfolded, prob

Yesterday,  I read a fantastic book. It is called The Faith of a Scientist , and it was written by Henry Eyring, father of President Henry B Eyring, and a well recognized chemist. ( President Johnson presented him with the National Medal of Science in 1967.) The book was also published in 1967, but the things written in it remain pertinent today. The subject? How a scientist can "[reconcile] the principles of true science with the principles of true religion." This very readable book is full of interesting scientific examples and explanations, with stories about Newton and Copernicus and even some of Eyring's personal experiences with Albert Einstein. He discusses principles of astronomy, geology, biology, and mathematics as well as chemistry. I highly recommend it! There are many things in this book which I understood before, but had difficulty articulating. I left it with a greater understanding of science, religion, and searching for truth. Here are some of the thing

(Steven wrote this, but I really liked it, and so I am posting it with his permission.) BELIEVER: You know, somewhere out there, there exists a radio station. And that radio station is broadcasting music that it is possible for us to hear even where we are right now. SKEPTIC: What are you talking about? I can’t hear any music. BELIEVER: Well, the radio station doesn’t broadcast sound that you can hear. It sends out the signal using radio waves. SKEPTIC: Radio waves? What are those? I’ve never seen any radio waves. BELIEVER: Oh, you can’t see radio waves. Nor can you feel them or hear them. But they are real and that is how the radio station sends out its music. SKEPTIC: I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in things that I can’t see, hear, or feel. How do you know that this radio station really exists? BELIEVER: I know it exists because it is possible to hear the music that is broadcast by the radio station. But you need to have a radio receiver to do so. I have a radio set so I have heard t

(This parable is intended to share my own thoughts and feelings. It is by no means intended to show disrespect to anyone who may or may not believe in π.) I believe in π. It is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter and to my understanding, has a value of approximately 3.14159... In English it is spelled pi, and sounds like the word pie. Imagine that I encounter someone who has lost their belief in π. They say it doesn't work for them. They say they don't believe it. (And somehow I hear, though it isn't explicit, the message that I shouldn't believe it either.) I scratch my head and I don't know what to say. It seems to work for me. Sure, I've had some times when it didn't work out for me, but that's usually because A) I tried to use it in a way that it wasn't intended, B) My measuring tape was stretched out of shape and inaccurate, or C) I made an error in my calculations. But on the whole, it has worked, and as I have us

If you've been following my blog for a few years, you might remember that I have seizures occasionally. If you haven't, or want a refresher, check out this post . And this one . Once they figured out it was seizures, they put me on medication, and I haven't had a seizure in over a year now. (Yay!) Before they figured out it was seizures, when it was just syncope, I was referred to a cardiologist, who did a bunch of tests and found some issues , but none of them would cause the syncope, so I kind of dismissed them. He did put me on some medications though, and I've continued to take them, and yesterday I went to the office for a yearly check up, kind of wondering why I bothered now that I know that the syncope episodes were seizures, and not heart related. Now I'm wondering if I should have paid more attention. One of the tests that the cardiologist did at that time was a test for Lipoprotein (A)  The doctor gave me another copy of the results from that first tes

Once upon a time, a father had three ignorant, illiterate sons. When his sons reached a certain age, he sent them away to learn what they could and return. The eldest boy left his father and set off on his journey. After many days he came to a large building. As he got closer, he saw a man standing at the entrance. "What is this place?" the boy asked him. "This is the repository of all the learning of the wise ones," the man told him. "Who are you?" he asked. "I am the librarian, the keeper of knowledge," the librarian responded, and led him inside. The inside of the library was filled with shelves which were themselves filled with papers and scrolls and collections of paper. "What are these?" the boy asked. "These are books," came the response. The boy took one from the shelf and opened it. Inside were markings the boy had never seen before. "What is this?" the boy asked. "This is writing,&q

Last Friday and Saturday, Northglenn High School Fine Arts Department presented the play "Bus Stop" by William Inge.  Joshua was the Shop Foreman, and spent many, many hours working on the sets. The final result looked really nice!  Peter also spent some time helping with the tech crew and managed to get his name into the program as well. He spent the last half of the performance we watched in the lights and sound booth, watching the folks there push buttons and stuff. Maybe for the next play he will take a more active role.

During General Conference in October of 2018, President Nelson invited the sisters of the church to read the Book of Mormon. He said:   "I invite you to read the Book of Mormon between now and the end of the year. As impossible as that may seem with all you are trying to manage in your life, if you will accept this invitation with full purpose of heart, the Lord will help you find a way to achieve it. And, as you prayerfully study, I promise that the heavens will open for you. The Lord will bless you with increased inspiration and revelation.  As you read, I would encourage you to mark each verse that speaks of or refers to the Savior. Then, be intentional about talking of Christ, rejoicing in Christ, and preaching of Christ with your families and friends. You and they will be drawn closer to the Savior through this process. And changes, even miracles, will begin to happen." (See entire talk) I accepted his invitation. I figured out how many pages a day I would need to

(Disclaimer: The things I write in my "Searching for Truth" series are not intended to be doctrine. They are only my personal thoughts from my own perspective as I resolve my personal questions. I post them here in case someone else might find them interesting or gain insights for themselves - in agreement or not. If you have a comment that relates, something I may not have considered - in favor or against, please feel free to leave a respectful comment.) I recently had someone who I love and trust tell me "If your current views are really correct, you shouldn’t be afraid to have them challenged. They should be able to stand against any test. If your views are not correct though, but you still want to hold onto them anyway, then new ideas ... can indeed be dangerous."  This person also appears to value uncertainty: "No matter what it is, you could be wrong, so let go of your pride and be brave enough to face the possibilities." While this might be t

Josh has been a theater technician for the last couple years. This year he is serving as the foreman, and that means that he has a lot of say when it comes to the sets for this year's high school plays. This week, his high school is performing "Bus Stop" by William Enge . (Performances are this Friday and Saturday at 6:30pm.) This activity gives him lots of experience using power tools (which is fun) and telling people what to do (which can be frustrating at times.) The Spring Musical early next year is going to be "Little Shop of Horrors" and Josh is already gathering his ideas of what the set design for that will look like. He drew a top view of the rotating set piece he is envisioning, but then he was asked to show a front view. Finding it a challenge to get the perspective and angles right, he decided to instead make a 3D model. Yesterday Josh made himself a chair out of scrap wood he found in the playroom. The legs need some reinforcing, and he made it to

I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all my life. At first, I believed because that was what I was raised to believe. My parents believed it and taught it, and that was what I was used to. Last week , I wrote about personal experiences that I had which helped me to come to know for myself that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Is it important for people to figure out for themselves about what is true? If we just blindly obey what we are told is right, will we end up in the same place as those who search and struggle to learn for themselves? I don't believe so. I believe we must each find out for ourselves what is truth and right. In the Beginning... Before we came to this earth, we lived with our Heavenly Father and all our spiritual siblings. Our Father presented a plan that would give us experiences that would help us to progress and become more like him. He knew that we would make mistakes while we were learning, so he called for a volun

I have a couple family members who have lost their faith in God. I love them dearly, and I greatly enjoy the time that I am able to spend with them, though it is rare because of distance and other factors. And yet I qualm when it comes to talking to them about things of religion. This morning I was pondering why that is. I think for me it comes down to fear. I'm not afraid of them, but I am afraid of what effect talking with them will have on my own hard won faith. What if I lose the answers that I have prayed, studied, pondered, and prayed some more to achieve? Both of them are powerful writers. They ask a lot of questions, and I don't have all the answers. Some times the only answer I have is that I don't know why, and yet, I have a firm testimony that it is so... and they don't accept a heart felt testimony as an answer - and I don't blame them. Like the five wise virgins in the Savior's parable, I can't give them my oil of testimony. They have to go

Dear Hannah and John, How are things going? John - I forgot to ask last week, but did you manage to finish reading the Book of Mormon by your deadline? How are you enjoying Osasco? How do you like teaching the gospel in the real world? Hannah - how are Adriano and Sueli doing? Any new investigators? I looked up everywhere that you served on the map, and discovered that your areas form a line that points almost directly toward Osasco, where John is. This week started out with snow. Seminary was cancelled on Monday, and school was delayed by two hours. It was nice to be able to sleep in a bit, and by 9, the streets weren't too bad and the boys got to school okay. Tuesday morning, Seminary was held as usual, even though it was actively snowing pretty hard. We made it there safely. During seminary, I stayed in the car, turning on the wipers occasionally to clear the quickly accumulating snow off the windows. When seminary let out though, I went to turn on the engine, and nothing happ

(Steven wrote this and gave me permission to post it here.) I have heard many arguments from people who question the existence of God. Some things they say are: “I don’t think God would want to have so much suffering in the world,” “If there was a God, I don’t think he would want there to be wars fought over religion,” “I think God would not want there to be so much confusion about Him. He would reveal Himself more so that people would know He was real.” These are all fair statements and other similar comments have been expressed by many people throughout the ages.They are thoughts that try to rationally and logically understand the world around them and how God and religion fit into the picture. The basic logic of most of these thoughts can be summed up as follows:      A) If there was a God, he would [fill in the blank]      B) The conditions of the world do not agree with (A)      C) Therefore, there is no God There is a certain logic in this argument, and people can be forgiven f

Dear Hannah and John, One of you asked for pictures, so here you go: Josh recently made himself a coat rack that he can hang his coats and hats on. Josh and Dad fixed the outlet that the lamp is plugged into in Josh's room. You know how the lamp plug was always loose in the outlet? Apparently that is a fire hazard and not good. So we finally managed to get it fixed. After it was fixed, Josh decided he wanted to rearrange the furniture in his room. Here is the other side of Josh's room... He's standing in front of the little fridge he has in there. Here's a picture of Lala, just in case you forgot what he looks like... I finished the tie that I've been knitting. Peter wore it to church today, but decided it was too hot or something. Muffins doesn't seem to mind wearing it. Last month there was a "free day" at the dump. We disposed of the swamp cooler and the couch and some other things that were in the playroom. Here is a glimpse of what it

Photo by  eberhard grossgasteiger  from  Pexels A little while ago I came across the question, "If God is the Heavenly Father of every person on earth, why would he have a chosen people?" By chosen people, I mean, of course, the House of Israel. How many times do the scriptures refer to the "God of Israel", or to Israel as the Lord's chosen people? If God is supposed to love all his children, why would he be so focused on this one family? Does he love the Israelites more than he loves his other children? This morning I was reading Jacob 5, the allegory of the olive tree, but I also had this question in the back of my mind. There must have been many other trees in the vineyard besides this one. Why was he so focused on this particular tree? When I finished reading the chapter, I picked up my notebook and started writing the thoughts that had come to my mind relative to this question as I had been reading. Here are those thoughts, with others I've had th

(Excerpts from a letter to the missionaries...) First of all, John's wall plaque arrived so now one side of the ward's missionary map is the "Hiatt side". Steven took pictures of it: Sorry, this picture is a little blurry... But that is Hannah's plaque on top and John's on the bottom. On Monday, I took the boys to the orthodontist. Peter had his expander taken out (It was a contraption that widened his upper jaw, and we had to turn it with a key every day for several days.) Peter was very relieved to get that off. However, that also means that in a few weeks he will get to have braces put on the rest of his teeth, instead of just on the front top teeth that he has now. So this week was parent teacher conferences which meant that elementary schoolers didn't have school Wednesday through Friday, and high schoolers didn't have school on Friday. So on Wednesday I got to babysit little Josh (a boy in our ward.) He was dropped off a little after 7am, an

So this happened today at my boys' school. At 11:30 this morning I received the following email: Dear Northglenn High School Families, In our ongoing effort to keep you informed of issues at our school, we want to let you know about a current safety situation at the school. The school is currently in a hold and lockout due to a safety situation in the building. During a hold all students remain in their current class and do not travel to other parts of the building. During a lockout all exterior doors are secured and no one is allowed in or out of the building.  Administration received a tip that someone in the school might have a weapon. Northglenn Police immediately made contact with the student in their class and confirmed that the student did in fact have a weapon. The student was immediately taken into custody.  At this time all students and staff are safe. Additional police officers responded to the school to assist with this matter. The situation is ongoing and