Breakdown of "More Than Thin Air"

In this blogpost I talk about the poem "More Than Thin Air" that I wrote. You can find that poem here: http://whateveriwant7.blogspot.com/2021/06/more-than-thin-air.html

So I kind of just did my own thing for the poem; it isn't any offical poem format. Each line is 7 syllables with each duplet being its own rhyming pair. Except the 3rd and the 6th (the last duplet in each half (each half, as you can probably tell, is kind of its own time period. More on that later)) are very similar to one another.

I feel like it's easier to write poems about sad or confusing things than it is to write ones about happy things. Maybe that isn't true; after all, this is one of the first actual poems I've written and worked hard on, but that's what it feels like currently.

The line "Quandries to an open sky" popped into my head, and I really liked it, so I started to write a poem about prayer. But, as mentioned in the above paragraph, it seemed so much easier to write about sad things. Problem is, I freakin' love prayer. But I didn't always.

And so I had the idea to make half of the poem about how I felt about prayer in the past and the other half about my relationship with prayer now. That's were the basis of this poem spawned from.

"Rise no more than the ceiling" is in reference to a topic one of my favorite companions, Elder Townsend, and I talked about. The same discussions is also what the title "More Than Thin Air" came from.

Sometimes, when you prayer, it feels like your words are just hitting the ceiling and not going any further. It feels like it isn't even making it close to heaven or God.

Similar idea, sometimes it feels as though you are just speaking to thin air. Of course, the poems ending is the opposite of that feeling. Thus the title, "More Than Thin Air". I almost called it "Thick Air" just to be clever, but decided against that idea, haha.

I really really liked the line "Now those thoughts feel so foreign" as a transition line between the two periods of time. The problem I found, though, is it's kind of hard to rhyme with 'foreign'. I didn't like the idea of taking of the 'g' in an 'ing' word, so I tried many other different lines, and eventually shafted the "now those thoughts feel so foreign" line. I tried to use a word that would rhyme easier, but didn't like any of those, so I went back to the original.

'Alein' was a good word I found. But, of course, the idea was that prayer was not alein, so I reflected that in the line. I then didn't want to use the word 'prayer' again, so I searched for a one syllable replacement by searching in the bible dictionary/topical guide and such (pretty much the closest thing I have to a thesaures on my mission, haha). I found the word 'cry' from Alma 34 and I liked it.

The line "revelation I receive" actually come from my givethanks post I did about prayer on Facebook.

I want to say, that that first half of the poem is 100% true. A good chunk of the time, prayer felt very empty to me. Like the poem says, I still had faith that God was there, but it was hard to feel so in my prayer.

I remember when I got my Patriarchal Blessing, there's a line that references me knowing the power of prayer. I wasn't so sure about that part, haha. The patriarch asked me after giving me my blessing if anything in it surprised me. I said yes. I was thinking of that line.

But now those thoughts feel so foreign! I love prayer. And I know that line in my Patriarchal Blessing has come to fruition.

There is so much that could be written and perhaps will be written. I'll cut myself off there for today, though. I think my poem says what I want to say pretty darn well anyway, so you'll just have to read that again :)

Tribute to my Dad (as given in a talk in church)

I gave a talk in one of the wards that I serve in today. I talked about two things. Hope and my dad. I wanted to share some of the thoughts that I shared about my dad here.

What I had written down for my talk and what I spoke were slightly different. I edited it to be more accurate to what I spoke.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters! Happy Father's Day! *Introduce myself and my family a bit. Talk briefly about what each sibling is up to and talk about the Dairy Farm because people seem to enjoy hearing about it. Share that both my parents are teachers and that I want to be a teacher as well (specifically math)*

I wanted to pay a little tribute to my father in my talk, even though he is not here listening.

I wanted to highlight two of the things that I really appreciate about my dad.

1. My dad is the best example of Christ-like service I know. 

If he has 5 minutes in his schedule, he will gladly fit you in. [author's note: That is a quote from a givethanks post my mom did] He is always out ministering to individuals in need. I was just talking about this the other week to someone; if my dad wasn't home, he was either at work or serving someone. That's what he did. And serving others is part of who he is.

He is genuine and serves with no expectation of anything in return. He just wants to help.

A quick example, is he always picks up trash off the ground when he walks by. He is involved in and takes care of his community.

2. He always got invested into our interests growing up, and continues to do so. When I talk to him on Mondays, he often asks about the people I am teaching, and references things I talked about last week.

Before my mission, he would ask questions about the music artist I am listening to, or the games I am playing, or the books I am reading. Not for some ulterior motive of micromanaging me or sneakily trying to find me doing something I’m not supposed to. But instead because he genuinely cares about what I care about and wants to learn more about why I care about it so much.

He listens intently and allows me to talk freely about the things I'm passionate about.

My father is awesome.

[Author's note: this is where I branch off a little into talking about Father's in general. I really like the quote and such, though, so I thought I would include it in this blog post as well]

I love the quote by A. Theodore Tuttle in his talk entitled “The Role of Fathers” given in October 1973.

"It should have great meaning that of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that could be given him, that God himself, he who is the highest of all, chose to be addressed simply as 'Father.'"

I know a good Father can make a big impact in a child’s life. I hope that we all have good Fathers. And if we don’t down here, I promise you we have a perfect father up there.

[Author's note: At this point in my talk, I then transition to talking about hope. I share a shortened and altered version of my "Hope is Sometimes Misunderstood" talk that I posted a while back]

More Than Thin Air

More Than Thin Air (6/2/21)

Quandaries to an open sky?

Yet no answers from on high.

Rise no more than the ceiling?

Where is the promised feeling?

I have faith that he is there,

But it's hard to feel in prayer.

Now those thoughts feel so foreign.

To not cry is alien.

Peace and solace brought to me.

Revelation I receive.

I have faith that he is there,

And I feel so in my prayer.

Moroni's Thought

I met a wonderful man named Moroni in my 4th area. You can learn about him by watching a video called "Step 5: Confession-Moroni's Story about Drug Addiction Recovery" :)

He truly is an incredible person and is one of the best member missionaries I know. Here is a thought that he shared with my companions and I alongside his friends.

The rest of the post is my written transcription of what Moroni has shared several times. Each time his thoughts were shifted depending on his audience. I did my best to merge and mold them into one.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I do not want to go on judgement day to the judgement bar of God to find my friends turning to me and asking me questions I never want to hear. 

"Moroni. You knew about all of this? And you didn't tell us? Moroni, why didn't you tell us? This could have helped us so much down there." 

I might stutter out a response saying something like, 

"Well, I just didn't think you would be interested, and I was worried I might offend you."

To which the response comes,

"You didn't think we would be interested in all of this? In dwelling with God and our families forever? You didn't think we would be interested in having the Priesthood, the very authority and power of God itself, in our lives? And why would we get offended at you offering us something so wonderful that has helped you so drastically in your life? If we would have, we certainly shouldn't have."

I do not want that hanging over my head. I do not want God or my friends to ask me why I didn't help *insert one of Moroni's friend's names here* become worthy of the Priesthood they hold or *insert one of Moroni's friend's names here* prepare for the ordinance and covenant of baptism.

And so I share what I know and treasure. That Jesus is the Christ and is our Savior. And that His Church has been restored on the earth again. That it has changed my life and can change every single individual's.

Arian's Prayer

Arian is this cool 8-year old who is preparing to be baptized in my last area (Rock Springs, Wyoming).

We met with the whole family many times to help Arian prepare to be baptized and help the father prepare to be the one to baptize him. 

I actually got to participate in being in the circle when the father was given the Aaronic Priesthood. An awesome experience I got to have right before I left the area.

Anyhoo, Arian, in a prayer once, said something that I thought was kind of profound.

He's just an 8-year old, but what he said caugt my attention.

As he was praying he said, "Thank you for saving us every day."

Frequently when I think about the idea of being saved, I think of it more as a singular event. But, in reality, Jesus Christ saves us every day. Because we make mistakes every single day. And if even one of those days was not covered, we would not be able to return back to our Father in Heaven. 

Jesus Christ really does save us every single day. And for that, we should be grateful. Just like Arian is.