There's a Heaven

I recently saw a snippet of lyrics from Imagine by John Lennon and got to thinking about it. Specifically, I was thinking about the line "Imagine there's no heaven." And I wondered who would want there to be no heaven. I mean, what in the world could you have against a place of reward for good people? The only reasonable explanation I could think of was that you assume that if there is a heaven there must also be a hell and think that nobody deserves to suffer in hell forever. But that's a huge stretch from what the lyrics actually say.

Then I realized that the song's structure implies that there is a heaven. In the other verses, what we are told to imagine is something opposite to reality. Imagine there's no countries, imagine no possessions, imagine there's no heaven. But in fact there are countries and possessions. So if the song is properly parallel, there must be a heaven.

I know that isn't the message it's supposed to be sending, but it amused me to realize. I wonder if that's why the heaven verse came first - to keep people from noticing, or because if it's different there it doesn't count, or something.

A Note to Men

There was a period of time lasting at least a couple weeks, maybe a few months, during which it seemed like the song Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars played both on my way to work and on my way home every day. This had two main effects.

1) I started almost hating that song
2) I really thought about the lyrics

I don't believe there is a causal relationship between the effects. Just in case you were wondering. But I did quickly find a big problem in the lyrics. Instead of being romantic, Bruno Mars comes across as extremely annoying if he really acts like he claims he does. In case you don't know the song, here are the offending lyrics:

But every time she asks me, "Do I look okay?" I say, "When I see your face there's not a thing that I would change 'cause you're amazing just the way you are. And when you smile the whole world stops and stares for a while 'cause girl, you're amazing just the way you are."

 Even just saying, "You're beautiful" every time would get annoying. The thing is, if a woman asks you "Do I look okay?" she isn't asking for affirmation of her attractiveness. With those specific words, she wants to know if her underwear is showing or her makeup looks as though it had been applied by a drunk baboon.

Really, anytime a woman asks you how she looks when she's getting ready to go somewhere, you should take a few seconds to glance over her and make sure everything looks right. Then, after she has seen you actually look at her, you can tell her she looks great.

Christmas Links

A couple years ago I decided to make a tradition of posting links to Christmassy things I've found around the internet over the year. I actually haven't noticed many this year, and haven't had much free time to seek them out, so this year's list is pretty short.

Longfellow's Christmas video
Christmas Devotional
Gospel Topic Page

A Friend In Deed

They say a friend in need is a friend indeed. I've always taken that to mean that your real friends are the ones who will help you and stand by your side when you're going through major trials. But there is at least one person who I know would be there for me if I were in serious trouble but isn't when I'm just a bit bored or lonely or find something amusing I want to share, and I'm not sure that his availability during the times of need is enough to make him a friend without the rest. But maybe the saying is including all the needs friendship is meant to meet, in which case he doesn't meet the test. But then I'm not sure any one person could.

Before writing this out I wanted to make sure I had the saying right. So I googled "A friend in need is a friend in deed" to see if that brought up any results and found this site that says the evidence suggests the original meaning was that during trying times a true friend will prove his friendship by his deeds. So the in deed spelling probably is right but is less popular these days. Either way, the basic idea is the same. And either way the question remains - is this person I'm thinking of really my friend, when his deeds right now aren't very companionate but he would step up and do the good deeds if I were in crisis?

Social Hierarchy

I've read in several different places that boys' relationships are built largely around hierarchy; when a group of boys first gets together, they quickly establish a pecking order. I don't completely understand it, mainly because I have trouble wrapping my head around how you can have a true friendship if you are always aware that one of you has a higher standing than the other. But I figure I don't really need to understand it. That's not the way I see my friends so I don't have to be able to reconcile it.

But I do wonder: when I was in elementary school, playing sports with the boys at recess or being the only girl at Randal's birthday party, did I have a position in the social hierarchy that was understood by everybody but me?

Heavenly Nicknames

Potenial spoiler alert: I briefly discuss something major that happens at the end of the season one finale of Once Upon a Time.

That They May Have Rest

A while back in our fifth Sunday combined Priesthood/Relief Society meeting (must have been March) this verse from the Book of Mormon came up:

And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.

This led to a discussion because spirits in paradise are busy - we know this from people who have had contact with the spirit world. How is that rest?

One idea that came up that I liked is that maybe the state of rest isn't that they are resting, but that they are well rested - they have energy enough for all they need to do.