Train Tracks

There has been something weighing quite heavily on my mind lately. 

Perhaps it has to do with watching my dear kind, Father in Law lying in a hospital bed for weeks at a time while his body is shutting down, preparing him for a marvelous journey where he will return home to our Father in Heaven. He will be reunited with his sister, parents, etc.

Or perhaps, it has to do with the light that is being shined down on gay marriages, once again.

As I was driving home from taking Dean to work today, I thought about two important concepts. Love, and acceptance. My thoughts continued on.  I thought how they are separate, but how they must work collectively.

I pictured two parallel lines, perhaps serving as train tracks. One marked love, one marked acceptance.  If both lines are perfectly equal, they continue to provide a path for others to arrive to their destinations safely. Perhaps they are a vehicle in our own lives to travel on while we are on our homeward journey. Or perhaps, they need to be in place to provide a vehicle to others around us, who are lost or confused in their homeward journey.

But what happens if one of the tracks, whether it be love, or acceptance, falls short of the other one?Or, what happens when something breaks, and causes the lines to no longer to be parallel anymore, perhaps they become perpendicular. Then what happens? In both scenarios, a train wreck will happen.

I have heard many people say things such as, " I love my brother, but I can't accept the fact that he is gay"  But, how can we really love someone without accepting their total being? Can we just pick a piece off their body to love? That leaves an image of unwanted body parts flying around.  I believe that we can't love without accepting.  (You can insert anything in the above statement, I love my brother/neighbor whatever, but I can't accept the fact that he/she is this or participates in that, or sins in regards to this that or the other etc.)

People are so quick to judge others, they don't like the fact that there gay, or maybe of a different race,  have purple hair, maybe they face a terminal illness, infertility, or perhaps they are labeled as a criminal for something they did in there dark past.  But do we really have the authority to pass judgement on others? When we look in the mirror, are we perfect ourselves? Or do we have sins too? Maybe we are not murderers per say, maybe we are sinners by being prideful, hateful, speeding down the road, driving a car with expired registration, maybe we are not pure in our hearts, maybe we are addicted to hating others, for example the LGBTQ communities. And yes, I think people are often addicted to hating others, because it gives them a false sense of superiority.

Now, am I saying that we have to agree with the lifestyles, or trials those around us face? No, but we do have to simply accept them, after all, we can't control the world and change everything about others to fit our views of how everything should be, there would be no diversity if that were to occur, no trials to learn from, etc.

People often fill threatened by the way other people lives there lives, for example, same sex marriages. They feel like allowing same sex marriages will threaten their marriages, I'm not exactly sure how it will threaten another persons life.  We were not only granted one life to live? If we are so concerned about what other people are doing in their lives, are we living our life fully and happily,  or are we injecting poison into ourselves?

I think if we each had a set of train tracks were in good working order, with love, and acceptance labeled on each,  all of the world problems will be solved, and that everyone would get along, but  more importantly everyone will have peace and harmony in their own life's. I would even venture to say that by doing this we could cure many forms of mental illness. We are often so caught up in what other people are doing, we are not focusing on ourselves, allowing ourselves to be emotionally happy and healthy, instead we are just injecting poison into our hearts, causing our own selves to be the ones effected by negativity.

So, my rhetorical question for this post is: are you train tracks working? Do you accept those who face different challenges than you, along with loving them? If they are not working, is it the other person that you don't love and accept heading for a train wreck, or is it you? Are you addicting to hating others, if so, is your lifestyle of doing so positive and uplifting?

Windshield Wipers Analogy

So, last weekend we made one of our trips to Fresno. I drove a good portion of the way in the dark.  It was also raining. I despise driving in the rain. I was also listening to some music, probably my EFY play list on my iPhone.

As I was driving I had some random thoughts come through my mind. About the Savior.

Now, having any dots of rain on my windshield drives me absolutely bonkers. So I run them, and  watch the rain be simply wiped off, so I can once again see where I am going.

The completely random thought that came through my head was that:  our Savior is like windshield wipers. He is there, constantly wiping away our faults. Constantly forgiving us for whatever sins we exhibit during our everyday lives.

Then I thought about each of us. Now, I believe that all my readers are members of the church.  It's something that we each choose to do. Whether we were baptized at age 8, 18, or 99, it's something that we each decided to do. It's something that we committed to. What did we commit to do? I think we made a commitment to live our lives like Christ lived his. 

Then I thought about each of us, how we live our lives, in our own vehicles if you will.  Each person around us throws rain spots on our windshields... whether it be by something they said to us, something they did to us,  a choice someone else makes that we don't approve of, etc. The list could go on forever.

Then I thought how each of us must have our own set of windshield wipers in our individual lives. Simply wiping away and letting go of the things that the people in our lives throw on to us.

What happens when our individual windshield wipers cease to work? Our windows become riddled with rain spots from other people. Just sitting there, needing to be wiped off.  But when the windshield wipers cease to work, the rain drops that other people launch onto us, stay there, thus prohibiting us from seeing through the window. What happens when we can't see out the window? We come in danger of crashing, whether it be into another car, a guard rail, a boulder, a person, or a snow pile.

What causes our windshield wipers to stop working? Maybe it's pride, selfishness, jealousy, thinking that everyone else should live their lives a certain way, etc. Once they begin working again, then we will no longer be in danger of crashing, and thus we will be saving our own life in the long run.

What causes our windshield wipers to begin working again? Perhaps forgiveness, faith, selflessness, service, letting go of pride, or use of the atonement.

When they begin working again, what is the result? Perhaps we can see our vision of who we are supposed to be, children of God.  Perhaps being able to see clearly again, we can see the needs of those around us, and thus be able to serve them.

So, my rhetorical question for this post is: Are your windshield wipers working, making it possible to see around you? If not, what do you need to do in order to fix them?

In the End, Together We Will Be.

Well, what a way to start out the new year. It has not been kind to me, nor my Kellogg  family.

On Saturday evening, I got the phone call that no one ever wants to receive. My number one fear suddenly became a reality.

My dad called me and calmly stated “Blaine’s house just burnt up”. I felt my heart stop.  I am not an emotional person, but I did indeed have an emotional breakdown at the mall, using there wi-fi, trying to complete my paperwork for work. My dad followed the fire engines to the scene.  Just a half an hour earlier, he called me asking for directions to get to a candy shop in Clovis.    Most of the Kellogg brothers were there that day, as the Kellogg brothers celebrated Christmas that day.  When he saw the fire engines going, he knew in his gut, that something was very wrong, and followed the engines to their home.

Just the day before, I had a discussion with Dean that one of my favorite things that I love about the Kellogg’s is that there is an immediate system of support in place.  If one person is going through a trial, whether it be an illness, or a home that stands in ruins, everyone knows, and everyone let’s all others know. So that we can stand next to the ones whose lives are being affected, and hold their hands and their hearts through trying times, praying constantly for one another.  What an absolute strength and comfort this is. I want so badly to be there with my family, helping them in any way we can.  We are just waiting for the word, and we will be on our way.

Family has been on my mind in all its varieties lately, even before the devastating event on Saturday.

I have felt the love and strength of my family throughout the years, each time I have had surgery (which has been several) I felt the love and prayers of them during my trials.

It’s no different now that the trials are piled up on another family member.  I know for a fact that although the Kellogg-Klan is spread throughout the nation, we are holding on tight to one another. Waiting to see what we can help with in the temporal sense.

I have continually thought how blessed we are. Everyone was able to get out safely, no one sustained major injuries. It happened during the day, where no one was asleep and everyone had the ability to get out. We are grateful it happened now, and not 15 years ago with 11 children living in the house. That would have been much, much worse.

Do I believe it happened for a reason? Yes. Yes I do.  Do I know what that reason is? No. I have my guesses, but it’s okay not to know.  Heavenly Father knows all reasons for everything, we, as mortals, don’t get to receive that privilege yet.

Do I believe in guardian angels? With every fiber of my being. I know for a fact that my mom, my cousins, and my grandparents that have passed, were there, aiding in getting everyone out, making sure it didn’t spread to my other uncle’s home, who lives next door to the home that stands in ruins.  Don’t ask me how I know that, I just do, some things are too sacred for me to share via the internet. I do know for a fact that my mom is my guardian angel until I am called home, and I know that all those have passed serve as guardian angels, to all of the family members.

Over the last few weeks, I have had the privilege of receiving, and watching home videos of the Kellogg-Klan. In these videos, those that Heavenly Father has already called home, are present. Grandma and Grandpa Kellogg, Brad, Aimee, Cathy, and my mom Bonnie. I have watched these, and was really truly able to see the strength that each family member has brought to the family. I believe that each person that makes up a family was placed in their family, for a specific reason, for a specific divine purpose.

Do I think that their strength is gone once the individual has passed? No. In fact, I think that it indeed stronger. Now they are on the other side of the veil, with strong superpowers. They have the capability of being there when disaster strikes, before we know its happening, they have the capability of knowing it going to happen, so they are ready, prepared, standing ready to be a guardian angel.

Because of this unfortunate event, I have had time to think about life, our lives are so very filled with temporal things. We all have televisions, computers, phones,  family photos, family heirlooms, food, clothing, etc. in our homes. Then I thought, once that’s all gone, whether it be destroyed by disaster, or once we have departed our earthly home, what do we have left? My answer is this: we will always have each other.

It is no secret that my favorite concept ever is that families are forever.  Each of us have different opinions about whether we choose the family we came to or not.  I believe that we have been assigned to our families by Heavenly Father, and we obeyed him and said “yes, to that family I will go, and do what thou would have me do to strengthen that family, so that we will all return to thee, together hand in hand, when all is said and done.”  

So, my rhetorical question for is blog post is this: how are you strengthening your family that you came to earth to, and the family that  you choose to marry into? Are you standing next to them throughout their trials, whatever they be? Or have you abandoned them in your busy, daily lives?