Back to Basics

One of my favorite quotes as a missionary was from Elder L. Tom Perry in a talk that I think was called Back to Gospel Basics. I am taking a time out and heading to lds.org to pull the quote... Oh how I love technology. Yes, April 1993 Back to Gospel Basics. Here is the quote:

In the Lord’s instructions to His children, we find sublime consistency. What the Lord has declared to be right will always be right. What He has declared to be true will always be true. What He has declared to be sinful will always be sinful. Rest assured that when the so-called “enlightened” doctrines of men contradict the holy scriptures, they will only bring heartache, disappointment, and destruction to the souls of mankind.

My good friend Beau Bingham (Mike and Liana's Bishop for a time) and I use to quote this regularly while doing our best impersonation of Elder Perry. Those were fun times never to be forgotten. Anyway the message is true. I am a fairly simple person by nature. I don't delve into the deep doctrinal vortex and I tend not to get too caught up on world events and other things. I have my habits and my routines. This blog happens to be the product of habit and a decision made years ago to write in my journal every day. There have been plenty of days when I have sat down completely exhausted and have penned or now typed something because I am committed to it. Perhaps I am a creature of habit and that isn't bad so long as the habits are good ones. I would submit that creating habits with the basics of the gospel are good habits to form. By the way, it takes 21 days to create a habit. How long does it take to break a habit? Well, 21 days.

There was a time in my life when I made a decision that I could be in the Temple every week. I was living in Vegas and that beautiful Temple was right there. It was easy to get there and I could do it. I thought often about the people I served in South Africa and how long of a trip it was for them to get to the Johannesburg Temple. Anyway it motivated me to be there regularly and so I made a few changes to my schedule and Wednesday nights became my Temple night and without fail I was there every Wednesday evening. It is one of those decisions in life that I will ever be grateful for.

So back to basics. I have not had a regular Temple night in many years and decided a couple of days ago that it needs to happen again. I noted this in my blog from two days ago. Thursday evenings are my Temple night and tonight was the first. I went today with a prayer in my heart for my children and felt the other day that this was something that I could do for them while they are away. It is something I can do for them all the time and I will continue this endeavor when they return home. I don't know of a better place to be.

Amy and I went down together. We had a little business to do first and then she dropped me off at the Temple and went shopping. When she picked me up she brought a surprise - sushi. I happen to enjoy Sushi but please note - I like basic sushi with cooked stuff. I was introduced to raw tonight - thank you Amy. Not a fan of the raw or looking at bright orange fish eggs sitting atop of something I am putting in my mouth. No, when it comes to Sushi we can go back to the basics there as well.