You've probably heard, from the pulpit, a speaker or testimony giver relate a story where one decision led to another, then another and finally ended in an event or an epiphany and, well, the whole thing was just inspired. It was just meant to be, sob, reach for tissue, excuse me for crying, NJC, Amen.

Well, that happened to me.

I had a shelf, like a lot of you, but I was an active member.

In November I was really busy finishing up my seasonal work when the Ward Clerk called to give me an appointment to have my TR renewed, so I told him I'd have to call him back. I didn't get around to calling him back.

I had been teaching Sunday School for six years and I decided that was long enough and though I was supposed to wait to be released, they had perhaps forgotten that I was there. Just before I left town, to go to my TBM daughter's house for Christmas, I tracked down the Sunday School Pres and told him I had my class covered with subs through December and I didn't want to teach Sunday School anymore, so he should organize his new teaching roster with that in mind. He said he'd take care of everything.

I packed my Sunday clothes and went to California for Christmas. I was having a great time with the grandkids and my daughter and her husband and everything seemed just as it had always been. Then my daughter showed me a little video that had pushed her and her husband over the edge and informed me that they were leaving the church. They pulled out some of the information that had led to their decision and shared it with me. There was just one piece that hadn't previously been on my shelf, but you know what that one last piece can do.

Down came the shelf and I left as well. Lapsed reccommend, no calling, fallen shelf, it was meant to be. No need for tissue, no need for Amen, truth is truth whether anyone else agrees or not.

So you see, I was inspired.

PS We celebrated Christmas at the Lutheran Church down the street and I wore my black jeans. No need for the Sunday best.

Yes. But I had a long period without inspiration: the period of my membership in TSCC. I had inspiration before and I have it now, just lacked it for the many years of stultifying membership in TSCC.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 05:14PM by rhgc.

YES! Many times after leaving the church I realized the spiritual experiances werent LDS related. Nothing about the temple etc. .Just stuff re; my life, safty,or my kids welfare. NOTHING THAT VALADATED THE CHURCH!!. Ps. what video did your kids watch? CL wants to find things that help my kids! OOOhhh...maybe its the spirit that made me read your post! ;-)

It was just an inteview, with Heidi Swinton and I think it was a mission president and his wife, talking about the church involvement in Prop 8 being a spontanteous endeavor of the members. My kids were there and they knew that was a lie.

Good luck with your kids, it can be tricky. If I had told mine what I thought of Prop 8 and how they were being used at the time that it was happening they would have dismissed what I said and been worried about my immortal soul.

I'm inspired by Daniel Dennett, both talks and books. He's smarter than any prophet or general authority I've ever heard. He also has a cool beard.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 06:45PM by rationalguy.

I have heard Jesus, Mohammad, Buda and so on were inspired....but YouTube did not exist then, so there is no evidence these people even said what is written in the "holy" books.

I agree, listening to Daniel Dennett, Dawkins and just regular folks that have put their superstitious beliefs behind them, have more authentic inspirational thoughts than the supposed deities we have created.

I have a sense of inspiration and "ah-ha" moments, and the "muse" quite regularly. It's all part of how I live my life and very personal.

I have been inspired quite often but looking over my spiritual experiences journal entries (I keep track of some of the most unique but not all by any means) ----- it had nothing to do with validating LDS inc is a valid religion in fact one experience validated LDS inc. was a scam. My experiences had everything to do with warnings to protect me, guidance for health and financial, understanding, peace, key decisions, etc. That's why I am still a non-denominational, Born Again Christian!

I think that if you look backward at your experiences you can link certain things together to make it look as though the end result was meant to be. When you do that however, I think you tend to disregard things that don't fit into the pattern. Like with my story (which was meant to be humorous) I packed Sunday clothes, which did not fit the pattern.

I think we find what we look for. My daughter told me a story about a man her husband works with. He came to work one day very thankful that the tree that fell into his house didn't hurt anyone. He was sure it was a blessing from God because he has a missionary in the field. My son in law thought that if God was going to bless the man he should have made the tree fall the other direction.

Whether you're religious or not, I don't think you have to look to far to find something to be inspired about. The key is in the looking.