What!!!

They took Avatar off of Netflix!  NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Netflix is useless to me now...  *sad sigh*  I need those DVD's...  I can't believe they did this to me...  Netflix is horrid...  Just kidding...  But I'm sad...

The end.  I love you guys.  :)  *gasp!*  Maybe instead of watching Avatar, I can talk with you guys!!!  Brilliant!  Ha!  That's a little better...  :)

Amory

My Apologies... and Some Random Stuff...

Hey, guys.  I regret to announce that I have had to take off the follow by email gadget that used to be to the right on this webpage.  It was causing me problems because sometimes I accidentally put something on my post that shouldn't be there (sorry Mom...) but once I've published the post, the original post is what gets sent to everyone that's subscribed to the blog.  So that was making problems and I had to take it off.  For any of you that still want to get emails, I would be happy to send you one each time I post.  You would just have to email me and let me know, or comment on this post.  Sorry about that!

So a while ago, I put up a whole bunch of stuff about Handmaidens of Virtue Summit and asked that if you read my blog post and decided to sign up for HOV because you read it, that you would put my name down in the box for how you heard about it.  Well, they were holding a contest to see who got the most people to sign up and put their names down.  And guess what!  I won!  :D  I am so happy!  This means that I get two awesome books and I get a Summit t-shirt and I get some other super awesome stuff for FREE!  :D:D:D:D:D  I'm so excited!  That was my happy moment of the month, guys...

Guys, I got a button bracelet.  It's red.  It matches my 50's dress.  I love buttons.  I really like that dress. And they match.  YAYAYAYAYAYAY!  That's happy!  That's very happy!  Here's a picture of it:

It's so cute!

So you know the song in Courageous that the daughter dances to and then later the dad dances to?  Well, I bought it!  And I'm listening to it over and over so I can memorize it!  I love it!  It's so cute and fun and just adorable and the best part about it is that it's completely clean!  Yay!  That's so happy!

Oh, okay, I remembered something I was going to say.  I keep saying, "That's happy!"  You wanna know why?  So many people say, "That's sad," but nobody ever says, "That's happy."  Why not?  I mean, it's not completely incorrect, right?  That's my theory.  So that's my new thing that I like to say.  ^^

Also, I thought this picture was really hilarious.

It's my new profile picture.  Seriously.  I like it that much.

Amory

Thoughts Of the Week

Handmaidens of Virtue is getting me so excited!  I remember that one of the assignments given to all of the youth is to put on your invisible crown every single day.  Our queen for Virtue Summit told us that she wants us to actually do the motion of putting on a crown when we get ready every morning to help us remember to act as true royalty would, to act as sons and daughters of God.  I'll admit that I haven't been.  I've been forgetting.  Some of you will remember that I used to wear my tiara every day.  Well, I decided that I had to retire it because it was losing the little jewels and because it was tight enough that it actually was making dents in my head.  So I'm trying to remember every day to put on the invisible tiara, since I was so good at it a while ago.  How many of you fellow HOV youth have remembered?  It's hard, isn't it?  I'll work on it.

I have one more thought.  This is for the girls.  Girls, has a guy ever come up to you and told you that you were beautiful?  Or something akin to it?  What was your reaction?  Did you say something like, "Oh, thank you!  You're very handsome!"  Or did you say something like, "Um... thanks?..."  Have you ever thought about what your reaction could say to them?  If you have done the latter (which probably all of us have), did you think beforehand what that might mean to him?  Maybe he was working up enough courage to come tell you and then when he did he got that unappreciative reply.  Poor guy!  Or maybe you said something like, "Oh, thanks, but I don't think so."  If you think about it, that's almost as bad as the "Um... thanks?..." because it's basically telling him, "Uh, sure, whatever, I think you're wrong."  Don't you think it would make him feel great if you just smiled and said, "Oh, thank you, that's very sweet of you!"  Sometimes girls go around complaining that guys don't make an effort to make them feel beautiful; but if you look at it the way I just showed you, doesn't it look like it's the girls who are at fault?  And, you know, if you just think about it, the logical thing to do would be to apply the golden rule.  If you go up to a guy and tell him that he's handsome, wouldn't it make you feel so good about yourself if he smiled and said thank you genuinely?  I've been thinking about this lately.  I've been working on gracefully accepting complements instead of saying something like, "I don't really agree, but thanks..."  It's just been on my mind...

I got to give a talk in Sacrament meeting today on the priesthood.  It's at the bottom of the post.  People told me that I did a good job (as everyone is told when their talk is over, you know, for encouragement and such) but I also got some genuine complements from a few people that made me smile.  One said that she could tell I loved the topic because I spoke from my heart and she could hear it in my voice.  Another told me that she could tell I was a writer.  They both made me smile pretty big.  :)

Here's my talk.  Hope you enjoy it!  :)

Priesthood 5-26-13

By Amory McKay

When I think of the priesthood, I think of things like fathers’ blessings, baptisms and confirmations, ordinances in the temple, patriarchal blessings, and being sealed in the temple.  Then I think about where that priesthood came from.  Christ, sent by God, chose and ordained Peter, James, and John to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood.  Then, after the apostasy, the three of them ordained Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.  Then Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris were called to choose and ordain Twelve Apostles.  The same day that that happened, they ordained the Twelve Apostles.  The priesthood has been bestowed from there all the way down to anyone who has it now.

After I think of where it came from, I think of how it came.  Alma 13:3 says, “And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling . . .”

I like that last part -- “and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling . . .”  The Melchizedek Priesthood is holy.  Not just anyone can have it.

Verse four of Alma 13 says, “. . . they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith . . .”  You have to be a faithful member of the Church to hold the priesthood.  You have to have faith in Christ and in God to be worthy of this holy calling.

Verse six says that having the Melchizedek Priesthood means you are, “called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God . . .”  That almost gives me the chills.  It’s such an amazing thing to think about, that anyone who has the Melchizedek Priesthood right now is “ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God.”  That’s an impressive name.  It’s not just a name, though.  It means something.  When I hear that, it tells me that God has placed an enormous amount of trust in His children to hold His special priesthood; and it’s so important that we don’t lose it because it’s what keeps our entire church tied together and connected with God.  The priesthood has saved lives, it has brought us to God, it has made it so we can repent of sins and be able to live with Heavenly Father again and be exalted in heaven and live in the Celestial Kingdom.

As you can now tell, the priesthood isn’t a right -- it’s a privilege; and in that sense, young men and elders alike should honor the priesthood.  I know many, many young men just in my homeschool community who honor the priesthood by doing things like attending to their priesthood duties without having to be asked, being gentlemen, acting like the chivalrous knights of old, and doing everything they can to be virtuous every single day.  These young men are examples of honor and kindness, as I believe all young men should be, whether they hold the priesthood or not.  They do all they can to act like Christ and do what He would do and they have very high standards that they keep in spite of peer pressure, the world’s enticings, and the devil’s subtle temptations.

As young men and elders honor their priesthood, I believe that it is the woman’s duty to help them do so and support them in their priesthood duties.  There are so many young women that I know who do all they can to be ladylike in today’s world, keep high standards, and remain chaste.  If women keep their standards of chastity no matter the circumstances, it should be a piece of cake for priesthood holders and other men to stay virtuous and clean as well.  I believe also that women should be virtuous and act as Christ would act in all that they do, making it even easier for men to keep to their goals of acting honorably and acting as Christ would.

If we all do these things, we can help to better others.  We can teach children to do the same and help them make choices that will help them be worthy to enter into God’s kingdom one day.  I know that God cares about each and every one of His children.  I know that He loves us; and I love Him back.  I love thinking about everything that He has done for us to make it so we can go back home someday.  I know that the priesthood is so important for us to be able to do that.  I have a testimony that the priesthood is God’s holy order and that He wants us to help Him keep it that way.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Fallen in Love

Every time I think about being a Princess in Handmaidens of Virtue, I think of those little girls that I will lead and teach.  And I sigh.  It's not a sad sigh or an exasperated sigh or even a deep-breath sort of sigh; it's not even a happy sigh.  It's a loving, daydreaming sort of sigh.  I'm in love with my girls.  I am so attached to them, it makes me sad when I think of not seeing them after Virtue Summit.  But you want to know the strange thing?  I haven't met them yet.  I don't even know any of their names.  And yet I love them so much...  I don't know how it's possible but it is true.  I love those girls to death.  I mean, I would literally die for them.  Right now.  To defend them if need be, or to save them.  And I don't even know their names!  I just can't wait to meet them.  I'm feeling so lonely without them!  Whenever I don't have anything important to do, I think about them.  And I just feel such a longing...

Yes.  When I see them I will jump for happiness and excitement.  And I will hug each one of them with a joyful smile.  And I won't want to let them go...

I can't wait to meet my handmaidens.

Princess Amory

To Discover Is Something That Moves the Soul

Ahhh...  A sigh of contentment, putting my soul at rest.  I feel so peaceful, having nothing important to do at this very moment.  I can read a book, I can edit a story, I can journal, I can blog (the last two being the same thing for me).  I can think of Handmaidens of Virtue with a happy mind, daydreaming about that day in July when I will meet those girls and change their lives and cry with joy.  It's part of my destiny: change the hearts of others.  That's... That's part of my destiny...  Wow.  It's a strange, satisfying, comforting, and yet unnerving thing to suddenly discover one's destiny.  I've just done part of that, just as I was writing this.  I already know part of it: use all my willpower to make it to the Celestial Kingdom.  But I also have a mission.  And... to change hearts...  Wow.  It's a new feeling to feel when you discover your mission.  I suspect it could be about the same as opening a mission call.  It's a really subtle feeling...  Hm.  I'm going to finish this now and contemplate on it...

Love you all.  Thanks for reading.  :)

Amory

Courtesy of Pinterest

Adrenaline Day

So today I jumped off of a tiny platform into nothingness, swung on an enormous, fifty-foot swing (both with ropes, no worries), and I drove a car; all for the first time in my LIFE.  ACK!  And the swing and the jump were the scariest.  I mean, I was seriously ready to collapse after that jump and that swing gave me unimagineable butterflies.  Driving the car, though...  It wasn't that scary.  I mean it was but I guess I did a good job of controlling myself.  Unlike the swing and the jump where I screamed my head off.  And there was this other thing were we had to basically ignore everyone's bubbles and trust each other with our lives and another thing that was basically the same thing except that it lasted for a much shorter time.  And I learned a lot about my friends today.  And who I can trust with my life.  And who trusts me with their life (hm...  Interesting prospect).  And...  I think I'm gonna go lie down now.  My body has had enough adrenaline pulsing through it for one day.

Gnawing At My Soul

I wrote a poem last year that goes as follows (it's a freeverse, by the way, which is a poem that doesn't rhyme):

Pain

Is something to live with

Constantly

It never goes away

It is part of life

No matter how much you want it to go away

No matter how sick of it you are

It will always be there

You and pain

Your loyal ally

It will stay with you

Until the end

Until you die

Until heaven calls you home

What I'm feeling right now is not necessarily pain.  It's just a big sea of unpleasant rolling emotions that (to me) are to a certain extent like pain.  And if you substituted the word pain in that poem for what I'm feeling right now, that poem would describe exactly how I'm feeling right now.  It's just a big sea of unpleasant feelings that greet me every morning and seldom leave me alone.  It's been a very interesting experience to try to get the unpleasantness to leave.  If I find myself happy and content, they leave.  It's mostly just a constant gnawing, though, and it's hard to exterminate constant gnawings.

I'll work on it.

Amory

To cheer me up...  :)

Thoughts on Purity

"Your personal

purity

is one of your

greatest

sources of

power."

~Elaine S. Dalton

When you read that quote, what kinds of purity do you think of?  Chastity?  Not smoking or drinking?  Not taking drugs?  These are all important things to be cautious with.  But have you ever thought of taking it one step further?

I'm already clean pertaining to those things.  I don't need to worry about them much because I've already decided that I will remain chaste no matter what and that I will never, ever drink or smoke or abuse drugs.  If you think about it, though, Sister Dalton's statement means so much more.  How can you maintain purity not just by simply being cautious of those things I mentioned but also taking it beyond that?  Do you think...  Do you think that maybe... just maybe... you could go so far as to change the way you speak?  Or what your entertainment contains?  Or even how you do your chores?  Allow me to expand.

Most of you have probably already decided not to swear.  But what about the other things you say?  And how you say them?  Maybe you have a favorite joke or a phrase that you like repeating and it seems perfectly fine to repeat it and/or laugh about it but sometimes it results in bad images popping into your head or leads to uncomfortable topics.  Maybe you tend to talk to others about certain persons in a way that you think might offend them if they heard what you said but, oh, everyone knows about what you're saying anyway, so it's okay to tell these other friends.  Maybe you have one curse-word/substitute-word that you say often that you know could mean many different things, some of which are most likely bad.  Think about that.  We're all imperfect.  Maybe getting rid of these little habits is something that we all need to work on so that we can polish and fix the dents and scratches that we were sent to earth with.

I'm guessing that you've all decided not to watch R-rated movies.  These movies have so many bad things in them, they would probably make you want to throw up if you ever watched them anyway.  Plus, they are just plain bad.  But have you ever thought of what the other movies you like to watch contain?  I have an interesting idea here: you are all very careful with what words are in your music, right?  And what kinds of stories the lyrics in your music tell?  Well, if you can be that careful and cautious with music, can't you do that with movies, too?  To me, movies are just as (if not, more) important to screen for iffy words and stories.  Books, too.  For me, if it's a classic book that has a clean story that doesn't allude to iffy topics, then it's okay to have, like, up to five or six swear-words, as long as they are mild swear-words.

With the "how you do your chores" thing, it's just something that I've recently discovered.  Doing chores is a generally drudging task.  Most people I know don't like doing chores and it's practically part of life now to say something like, "Yeah, my mom said I had to do all of my chores before I left the house.  So I was like, 'Uuuuugh, fiiiiine.'"  Okay, so hardly any of my friends say that.  But think about it.  Don't you think we could cause less contention and/or more happy, lightheartedness if we didn't say anything like that?  What if, instead, when our parents asked us to do a chore, we said something along the lines of, "Oh, thank you so much for making do this chore, it's going to help me a better person and help our family and make us all happy, thank you so much, that makes me sooooo happy!"  (Note the small amount of sarcasm, especially with "that makes me sooooo happy!"  It makes them laugh.)  I have found that doing that instead of groaning or sighing really changes your mood and gives your home more of a lighthearted feeling that helps everyone to get along better.  Try this especially when you're feeling a little grouchy or you notice that your parents are having a hard day.  I can pretty much guarantee that your day will go better.

These are all things that I do.  They have really helped me feel closer to the Spirit.  

Amory

When You're Out of Ideas...

Go take a nap.  You'll probably have some interesting dreams worth remembering that will help you know what to do; whether it's writing a story or a research paper or trying to do your math, even if your dreams don't help, your extra sleep will give you a fresher feeling that will bring your senses into full function.

Other things I've found that help are as follows:

Read the scriptures.  You can get lots of good ideas from the scriptures, and even if ideas are not what you're looking for, reading those sacred books of records can bring a special peace and clarity to your mind that you normally can't get otherwise.

Read the words of the prophets.  If you need help with a particular thing that you're struggling with, see if you can find a talk on lds.org that relates to your topic (it helps to search using google.com.  At the end of your search words, type "site:lds.org".  Don't use any spaces after that colon).  Just as the Book of Mormon, Bible, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price are the word of the God, so, too, are the things that our prophets, seers, and revelators tell us.

Go read a peaceful book.  Sometimes just going to a different world for a while can help your mind slow down so you can see things more clearly.

Go outside.  Let yourself just gaze out at the beauty and contemplate for a while on whatever you want.  This is especially helpful if you have younger siblings that tend to make a lot of noise or if you just want to escape some of the indoor noises.

Go to one of your favorite places, in the house or otherwise, and just relax a while.

Sing a happy, peaceful song.  Because happy peaceful songs are nice!

These are some of my favorite things to do to either calm down or just clear my head.  I like them quite a bit.  I hope some of this was a tiny bit helpful.

Thanks for reading!

Amory McKay