Music and Lyrics

Dear Reader, I have been hiding something from you. It is a terrible thing for me to do considering that the thirteenth article of faith from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints states that  "if there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." What I have been keeping from you, loyal reader, is someone who fits all of the above categories. This lovely lady has been one of the biggest occupants of my time lately. Why? Because she is worth the time. Meet McKenzie. She is brilliant, beautiful and very athletic. We have been spending a lot of time together. I may like her...just a little bit. We have been dating for almost a month and the time is well spent. Our conversations are enlightening for both of us and almost always filled with laughter, too (mostly her laughing at how bad my dad jokes are). She is studying Statistics here at Brigham Young University, which she enjoys a lot. She tries to teach me a litt...

Dear Reader, Disney's Enchanted film has a good amount of good music, including the song that contains today's post title, "How Does She Know?' The majority of this movie is spent on the development of a love story between a single father and a fairy-tale princess who is lost in the real world. The princess, of course, knows everything there is to know about showing someone how you love them. What I want to share with you is a little about the 5 Love Languages (A book by Gary D. Chapman ) and how it corresponds with this song and our Heavenly Father. Does that not make sense? Don't worry, it will. First I'll tell you about the different lines of the song that explain each love language. If you have not seen this movie, watch this clip to hear the song and marvel at the musical brilliance of the composer. 1. "Does he take you out dancing just he can hold you close?"  This is a perfect example of the physical touch love language. Having some...

Dear Reader, I have never lost anyone terribly close to me. However, several conversations and recent events have made me think a lot about death and what happens afterward. I have always understood the basics of what happens after we die; we go to either spirit paradise or spirit prison (Read more about that here ) and then we will eventually be judged and put into different kingdoms of glory . Here on earth we have a lot of power to choose where we end up, based on our actions and whether or not we are sealed to our families through the power of the priesthood. With all that information in mind, I have been thinking about how to live life. Sometimes my friends think I'm kind of cold-hearted because my emotions do not tend to get out of control when thinking about death and losing loved ones. I prefer to think that it is because of an understanding of this plan that God has for us. Knowing what is going to happen, death and losing people seems more like saying, "Hey, se...

Dear Reader, There is a song that I do not know much about entitled "Consider the Lilies." The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings it from time to time, like President Monson's 85th birthday celebration in 2012. Currently, the Mountain West Voices  at Brigham Young University is preparing this song as part of their Barbershop Classic Concert . Today I want to highlight the lyrics of this song and how they are important for us right now. It also doesn't hurt my memorization... Consider the lilies of the field How they grow, how they grow Consider the birds in the sky How they fly, how the fly He clothes the lilies of the field He feeds the birds in the sky And he will feed those who trust him And guide them with his eye Consider the sheep of his fold How they follow where he leads Though their paths may wind across the mountain He knows the meadows where he leads Consider the sweet, tender children Who must suffer on the earth The pains of all of them he carried From t...

Dear Reader, The great singing duo Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song about having old friends and what that relationship is like. I had a small experience with some old friends this weekend when the group of us that studied in Spain together went out to dinner together at Wingers . Yes, we are pretty good friends still. There was talk of the classic marriage list that we made, arguing about TV and Movies, giving each other help on Spanish homework and even the couple of questions about my love life...oh brother. I'm always so happy to see these guys. Unfortunately not quite all of us where able to make it, but 11/13 isn't too shabby!  With that being said, I want to put a challenge out there for the next little while: if there is someone you feel like you should talk to but feel like it would be awkward because of how long it has been since you've talked, talk to them anyway! It is amazing what you can feel with a person when you bond, even if it is just over s...

Dear Reader, This past week I noticed a dramatic change on the "People you may know" feature of Facebook. There were suddenly several people from work and dozens of people from the classes I am taking this semester. I have always been fascinated by the inner-workings of social media websites and the internet in general, especially when websites try to guess logically what is most interesting and pertinent to one's life. With this being said, today we can chat a little bit about how smart phones play into these features on Facebook and other sites. You see, as I was trying to figure out how Facebook suddenly would systematically figure out my class and work schedule, I realized that last week I had added several different phone numbers to my phone because of classwork with classmates and getting people to cover shifts at work. You see, if you have a smart phone with the Facebook application, especially the Facebook Messenger application, the programs that run those ap...

Dear Reader, In the Brigham Young University Chorale, we are singing a song entitled "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." It is a really cool a Capella arrangement that encompasses a plea to the Lord to help us through life. The line "When the Darkness Appears" took on a new light when I was thinking about an aspect of getting to know people. When the darkness appears, there are two things that happen: people open up about themselves more and they are more prone to do irrational things. I'll give a few examples to demonstrate (as always). I'll say again that people tend to open up more after dark. Take, for example, a girl that I took on a few dates a while back. We went out and did activities during the day. The dates were fun and we enjoyed talking to each other. However, I always felt there was something missing. My roommate suggested one evening that I take her out to something after dark. That was the first time the idea popped into my head that people w...