Trusting Spiders

I was standing at the sink in my bathroom washing my face at the close of a seemingly uneventful Wednesday when a small movement on the wall to the right of me caught my attention. I turned my head and saw a small, brown spider taking a jaunt up the wall and in no time it was headed across the door frame and then back up the wall again towards the ceiling. Feeling generous, and perhaps a little over confident concerning the good nature I was positive this spider possessed, I decided to spare its life and let it proceed with whatever plans it had for the night.
I went on with my face washing and was right in the middle of wondering how many other people noticed my stray eyebrow before I did when . . . WHAT THE?! My spider decided to get a friend and pay me a visit by dropping vertically on their invisible webs at lightning speed! I instantly began an intense boxing match with myself in an effort to get my friend turned foe off of my shoulder, and, if nothing else, away from my face. I need this face!

I saw one spider fall to the floor and make a run for its life while the other fell into the sink and did a backstroke down the drain to what I hope was a watery grave.

This is the actual culprit... Looks friendly enough, right?

Oftentimes, seemingly small and harmless things creep into our lives. We are confident that these things. . . Weaknesses, temptations, will have no lasting effects on us and certainly lack the power to knock us down. Believe it or not, there are people who like spiders, but that doesn't make their bite any less poisonous to them than it would be for a person who despised them. Just because we like something, doesn't make it right or any less harmful.

There seems to be a confusion plaguing the entire world on whether or not there is a definite line between right and wrong or good and evil. What is right for some, others will certainly argue is wrong and vice-versa. The two sides will then proceed to fight aimlessly to protect their cause.

Here is an unpopular belief: The Lord Himself has drawn a sure line between good and evil, right and wrong. No matter how hard we try we cannot change the laws of God. As much as I would have liked for that spider in my bathroom to be friendly and non-aggressive, I couldn't change it!
2 Nephi 15:20 - "Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter."

This whole experience has caused me to reflect back about 24 years ago to a time when I saw this video. I would have been five or six years old, but I remember it and have recently found it. It's worth the time to watch!

- Mandie

Who is My Neighbor?

        One of my favorite subjects when I was in school was history. When we come to understand history, then we can also understand how we came to be where we are at today.

         In the history of the world it seems that there has always been a division among people. The division always stems from some sort of difference, whether it be political, religious, cultural or something else, the difference is always the root of the division.

         One of these great divisions took place during the time of Christ and was between the Jews and the Samaritans. Because of wars and religious differences the Jews had "no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:9). In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus could have very easily used a Jew instead of a Samaritan as the person who came to the rescue of the Jewish man who had been robbed, beaten and left to die on the road, but perhaps, and I think certainly, the point of the parable was not to teach the importance of having love and compassion for those who share the same lifestyle and look the same as us, but to have that same love for all people despite our differences. (Luke 10:25-37)

        So, as I sit home on this day in commemoration of a man who lost his life trying to close the division that existed between people in our own country, I will not ask, "Who is my neighbor?", but will instead think of the words by Martin Luther King Jr: "Life's most persistent and urgent question is 'What are you doing for others?'"

-Mandie