Understanding the Concept of Beauty

"In order to be a modest people, acceptable to the Lord, it is helpful to understand the concept of beauty as spoken of in the scriptures. Beauty is pleasing to God and always includes modesty of dress, speech, and behavior. When God speaks of beauty it is usually coupled with strength, virtue, and righteousness (Isaiah 52:1 and Articles of Faith 1:13). For example, beauty is found in the freshness and vibrancy of youth-where it is coupled with cleanliness, innocence, and purity. It is found in the tired young mother, not always perfectly manicured, often without makeup, and perhaps still hoping to lose a few pounds from her last pregnancy, who desires to bear children and rear them in love. Beauty is in the single sister who builds a meaningful life, reaching out to nurture others in a world hungry for love.
There is beauty in the middle-aged parents, starting to collect wrinkles, who have worked long and hard together to prepare their children . . . and who continue to support them in [their] endeavors. Truly, there is beauty in the deep lines and creases, thickening ankles and waistlines, and the white or thinning hair of the elderly who are nearing the end of a righteous life . . . . Isaiah, describing the Savior, wrote, 'there is no [worldly] beauty that we should desire him' (Isaiah 53:2). Yet, surely there was no more beautiful being to ever walk the earth than He who gives us 'beauty for ashes' (Isaiah 61:3).
By contrast, popular culture has a much narrower definition of beauty. The definition is reflected in magazine covers, television shows, movies, and commercials. The mainstream societal view of beauty often has little to do with modesty and chastity, focusing instead on perfection of form and feature. Consider that several entire industries are oriented around doomed-to-rail efforts to avoid the aging process and achieve physical perfection. While it is good for us to take care of ourselves, we can balance our stewardship over our bodies with an equivalent effort to progress spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually, rather than fretting too much about appearance or aging." (Helping and Healing Our Families, 208-209.)
Do you ever feel that your sense of beauty is warped? This hit me between the eyes. View yourself and other people not as "perfection incarnate" but as "beauty in every flaw."

Latest Creations

The first cookie creation is fairly simple yet absolutely delicious. Yellow Cake Cookies with Chocolate Frosting. Yumm. :) Cake cookies are fast and simple, just pick your favorite cake mix and add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup oil. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes. My husband and I love these because cake mix is so cheap. We've done carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, chocolate cake with mint frosting, and many others!

The next cookie is a little more complicated. They are called Roman Chocolate Cookies and are from Italy. Traditionally they have white icing and sprinkles on them as well, but at the time I didn't feel much like icing on my cookies. Also, they look like double-chocolate sweetness, but they aren't as sweet as they seem. They have some rich spices that dull down the sugar, so don't get too disappointed if you eat them right after they've baked. However, they are FABULOUS the morning after baking-tasting like chocolate cake donuts!

Roman Chocolate Cookies
Dough:
2 cups plus 2 Tbl. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Beat eggs with electric mixer on medium speed for abou 1 minute, until frothy. Gradually add the sugar and beat until the eggs thicken slightly and become pale in color, 2 to 3 minutes. While beating, slowly add the olive oil. On low speed, beat in the milk and vanilla extract. In a seperate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. With a wooden spoon add the flour mixture to the egg mixture in 2 increments, stirring until smooth after each. Stir in chocolate chips (By now, the dough may be really tough to stir by hand and kind of springy). Cover the bowl loosely with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 20 to 30 minutes. (It may seem dumb but this is an important step, it changes the consistency of the dough. I only waited for 20 minutes, so the minimum time works.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. After the rest time, roll dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. You can spray the cookie sheets or cover them with parchment. I used tin foil. Set the balls about 2 inches apart from each other, they do get a little bigger in size. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops feel dry and are cracked. Don't overbake-the cookies should be tender, not dry. When the cookies are cool, ice, sprinkle, and serve!
Icing:
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 TBl. butter
1/2 tsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
colored or chocolate sprinkles
Combine sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla until smooth and thick.

Life and Love: Those dumb married people :)

The Good Morrow

I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did till we loved? Were we not weaned till then,
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den?
'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.

And now good morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room, an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown.
Let us possess on world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, both thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

I felt that was an apt beginning. If you are wondering what the heck all that fancy language means, perhaps you should study it a little harder. :) A fitting title might be: I never lived until I met you, for now that I have you, the rest of the world seems strangely insignificant. Or perhaps another title may be: The rest of mankind may search for worlds without end, discovering new and better places; but for me, the only world I desire is the one we create together. I'm sure there are other possible interpretations. The beauty of poetry is how it speaks to every person differently, with different melodies and meanings.
Tonight I want to write about love. And marriage. I am concerned with what I hear from too many young LDS people. Not only do many express fears about marriage and "falling in love" as we call it, but many go beyond fear into a hopeless desire to do neither. I call it hopeless for several reasons. Mainly because when you begin to feel that way, you abandon all hope and therefore all desire to ever experience the greatest happiness life has to offer you. You drift so far as to even lose any desire to ever have that happiness.
Now, many people have fears about marraige. If anyone has looked at the April ensign, they would notice several articles on temple marraige and dating. This may be because there is a growing trend in the Church to prolong dating and put off marraige. In his article Lance B. Wickman cites 3 reasons why this trend may be occuring. The first is a tendancy to hang out instead of date. The second is the fear of making a mistake. The third an adolsecent recoiling from responsibility.
I wish to address the third reason. Way too many people are afraid of responsibility. That is called selfishness. Conratry to popular belief, it should be avoided. Being in love (I mean really in love, not infatuated or in a "temporary relationship" for kicks) is marked by unselfishness. It means being willing to put someone else above yourself. It means putting the wants of someone else above your own. It means growing up and deciding to be responsible. Don't be scared, it is worth it.
I have heard from some LDS singles that after their friends get married, they never see them again and it feels like they dropped off the face of the earth. Guess what? They did! What so many singles don't understand is that being married (which I'm using synonomously with being in love) is like being in a cloud. That doesn't mean its easy-no, its definitly not easy! What it means is that often you feel similar to the poem above. You are seperated from the world, in one of your own, one that past friends often don't understand until they create their own like it. I've at times pondered on why these feelings of seperation come, why this sudden gap between the old life I had and the new one I lead?
The answer: My life is now defined by selflessness. I feel a disconnection from many of my past friends (who aren't married themselves) because my life is defined by someone else besides myself. Crazy thought? Yes.
Every day I work more hours, go to school, keep my body healthy, and do housework mainly to provide for my husband and help him be happy. I cook, clean, wash, scrub, work, study, run, lift, and live to make him happy. And when I have children I will do all these things even more. Why? Why would I willingly choose to devote my time and energy to working hard for someone else for the rest of my life? Because I am happy to do so. I am happier every day I do so. Of course I'm not perfect, I do have selfish, childish moments and days but the more I work to be unselfish the happier I become. The more contented with life I become. The more fulfilling my hard work is. I lose myself to find myself.
But it bothers me that many don't seem to understand this principle. It bothers me that I hear girls in the hall belittling marriage. It bothers me that to way too many people, getting married seems a foolish idea. But explaining it to them is like trying to explain color to someone who is blind. They are so happy in their black and white world that they don't understand why people choose to live in one with color. Beautiful, bright, vibrant color. Color that makes every day worth living a billion times more than it was before. But they don't see that. They continue to live in their lives full of relationships that don't last and selfishness that runs rampant. I don't always understand why. But what do I know? Some of my once closest friends believe I know nothing. But I guess to some I've always known nothing.
The main message: Life is good. And as a dying man once told me, clutching me in his arms, tears running down his face, "Don't waste it."