TGIF!

I am really thankful that today is Friday.  It's been a long week.  Well, really, what week has not been long?  Today we heard from Merrill J. Bateman.  He's now the Provo, Utah Temple President.  He shared some really interesting things with us and helped me see the cyclical nature of things on this earth.  He referenced the 7 year cycle in the Old Testament, where on the 7th year it was a year of forgiveness and atonement, a sabbatical year where debts were forgiven and to let the earth rest from harvesting.  Then every 50 years it was a Jubilee year where the past 7 cycles would be wiped clean and a new cycle would begin again.  Basically, that is what we are going through right now in our modern capitalistic economy in the United States.

There was a man named Kondratieff from Russia, who was studying the cycles in America back in 1926.  He was eventually sent to a prison camp and executed for his ideas.  But he recognized two and a half cycles during his lifetime.  The 5 cycles are:

Age of Industrial Revolution
Age of steam and railways
Age of Steel, electricity, engineering
Age of Oil, auto, mass production
Age of Information, telecommunications (now)

He discussed that since the bubble of 2000, we are now on our way down to the bottom of the market before  it will recover and begin a new 50 year cycle.  His thoughts were that we will see the bottom in 2010, since unemployment is a lagging indicator of the economy.  (I am glad things will hopefully start looking better in 2011 when I graduate school and need a full time job!)

Beyond all this cool information, what really touched me was the spiritual side of his message.  He mentioned four things that will help all of us to live through the cycles in our lives.  They are not new or earth-shattering, but they will make all the difference.

Honesty - if you are not honest, it will catch up with you and ruin you in the end.  He told a story about being the victim of a ponzi scheme and the person who took advantage of him was a member of the church.  When this man was faced with a decision regarding how to save his business, he chose dishonesty and now he will probably be in prison for the rest of his life.

Frugality - control our appetites, desires, passions.  Here he told a story of a good friend who was making $300K per year and bought a home for $1 million.  Then the economy went south and his salary went down to $100K, it took all his salary to pay the $8K mortgage per month.  They wanted to sell the home but had a really hard time, finally sold it on a short sale for $500K.  What would have happened if he would have held on to his original home, instead of buying the more expensive one?

Hard work - no one is successful with out this.

Have vision in your life - what do you want to get out of life? (there is a spiritual dimension to this as you pray for guidance)

This was probably one of the best parts of my day, being able to listen to him speak.  The other best part of my day was going to the temple myself.  When I came home from school I was really tired, but I decided to go anyway, and I am very grateful I did.  I have a very good experience there and know that there is a power that comes from the temple.  It's hard to explain, but it washes over me the minute I drive on to the temple grounds.  It is so warm and inviting that I almost never want to leave.  I came away feeling very peaceful and reassured about the things I am dealing with right now.  I know things will work out in the way the Lord would have them work out.