dogs, rabbits, and acorns.

today i heard the funniest story! it totally made me laugh. 


so there is this family and they have a pet dog. they live next to a family who has a pet rabbit. one day the mom is in the kitchen and the dog comes in, but with the neighbor's pet rabbit in his mouth. well, the mother and the family feel just horrible about it and don't really have the guts to tell their neighbors. so they decide to take the rabbit and fix it up. they clean off the blood, bathe it, dry it, brush out its hair, and then they put the rabbit back in its cage in their neighbor's backyard. well the next day the mother is outside and sees her neighbors all standing around the rabbit's cage. she goes over and asks, "is something wrong?" the father of the other family says, "well, we're not sure what happened. our rabbit died a few days ago but now we're trying to figure out how it got back in its cage." 


hahahah! :) :) isn't that funny?


i thought that was funny. maybe you've heard that before or could tell where it was going. i couldn't and so it was really funny for me.


our stake president's wife shared that story this morning at stake conference. our stake president also shared a short little story that i wanted to share that illustrates the principle of faith in a really interesting way. he said,


find a slow growing oak tree and take 2 acorns from the tree. then go and plant one. and then plant the other beside it, about 15 feet away from the first. and then, go out and buy a hammock. 


it's so simple, but i thought it illustrated beautifully the principle of faith. the person who buys the hammock has faith and knows the acorns will produce a tree, even though the process of having the acorn mature into a tree is a slow process, so slow it might seem on some days there is no growth at all--no sign that one day there will be a big tall tree standing over the spot where the acorn was planted. but that's what faith is--believing and remembering and then awaiting the miracle of growth. 

things as they really are.

food for thought: things as they really are.

"the spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls." -jacob 4:13

"i want to see truth in all its bearings." -joseph smith.

more truth found in my property book.

"Courts have a duty to reappraise old doctrines in the light of the facts and values of contemporary life--particularly old common law doctrines which the courts themselves created and developed.


"As we have said before, 'The continued vitality of the common law . . .  depends upon its ability to reflect contemporary community values and ethics.'


"Some courts have realized that certain of the old rules of property law governing leases are inappropriate for today's transactions [think of the principle beyond the lease]. In order to reach results more in accord with the legitimate expectations of the parties and the standards of the community, courts have been gradually introducing more modern precepts of contract law in interpreting leases. 


"Proceeding piecemeal has, however, led to confusion [important!] where 'decisions are frequently conflicting, [why?] not because of a healthy disagreement on social policy, but because of the lingering impact of rules whose policies are long since dead.'"


I really like that. :)


I remember my first, week maybe? of law school we had an event called the Founder's Day Dinner, with Justice Monroe McKay as our speaker. He talked a lot about the principle of really looking at what we're doing to make sure that our actions are actually leading us to the results we want, that we should avoid temptations to just get stuck in old habits that are no longer beneficial. He used our current prison system as an example, discussing high recidivism rates, rehabilitation versus penalization, etc.


And he gave this really wonderful poem that I have meaning to share but haven't yet.


::What have you preserved from your frenzy?
A lamp that flickers; an eye that weeps.
::What is there from the storm, that you withstood?
A mournful leaf, that has not yet found rest.
::What has love done in your heart?
It has made me understand the pain of the lonely.
::What remains of all the glory that surrounded you?
Nothing but a singing memory.
-H.W.J.M. Keuls


thoughts?

something i am working on. :)

From 1 Peter 3.
8| Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, bit pitiful, be courteous:
10| For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
11| Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
12| For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers:
14| But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;


my favorite..
15| But sanctify the Lord in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

family lessons at law school.

I'm an only child, and I've always wanted to have siblings but of course I've never been able to really experience what that's  like. When I think about families I usually think of the unity, closeness, warmth,  love that's supposed to exist, and not as much about the drama, competition, favorites, rebels, cliques, head-butting, loneliness, or even awkwardness that can also exist in families, especially ones with lots of people in it. 


So far I've felt all of these things in school, and in the beginning (or up until a few weeks ago.. woops) I found myself complaining about law school because it feels too much like high school sometimes. Luckily, probably for me most of all, I'm realizing the truth of a quote that says, "love is what you go through together." I really believe that's true. 


This past weekend I remembered/though of a few other quotes that illustrate the same principle.


"I used to think love was an attribute, until I realized it was a commandment. And it becomes an attribute only after you keep the commandment."
-Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin


"A major reason the family is so important to the plan is really quite straightforward: it is the only place where we cannot hide from who we really are as we strive to become what we are destined to become. 


"In essence, a family is the mirror through which we become aware of imperfections and flaws we may not be able or want to acknowledge. Thus the family is the ultimate laboratory in mortality for the improving and perfecting of God's children."
-Elder David A. Bednar


Yay life and learning :). I'm so grateful.

pictures of smiling dogs.

I think this is really funny. 


see more pictures of smiling dogs. it will make you laugh!

i love the law and law school, part II

3. the nature of law school helps you learn to give your best without comparing yourself to others (i think, although i know some would argue). you don't ever really know how you're doing in law school, and sometimes i've found at least for me, when i do know how i'm doing compared to everyone else, there is the temptation to perform based on the way i perceive others as doing--which could mean you either perform lower than what you're capable of bc that's all that seems necessary, or you don't try bc everyone else is so far ahead of you it's not worth it to do more bc you'll never catch up. i think those things can still happen, but it seems to happen a lot less, at least it does for me. (that's why this is i love the law and law school.)


4. law school cares enough about you/believes in your capacity to succeed that it pushes us to do hard things and doesn't respond to moments of weakness where we yell, "stop!" "no more!"


Additional thought from CS Lewis..
"So god is something like a divine physician. A cruel man might be bribed--might grow tired of his vile sport--might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have temporary fits of sobriety. But suppose that what you are up against is a wonderfully skilled surgeon whose intentions are solely and absolutely good. Then, the kinder and more conscientious he is, the more he cares about you, the more inexorably he will go on cutting in spite of the suffering it may cause. And if he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless."