Day 1 {Read a Book of My Choosing}

A while ago a dear friend gave me a book for Christmas called "A Single Voice" by Kristen M. Oaks. I've read it once before and loved it, so I recently decided I should read it again.

Today I spent some time on the train picking up in the book where I had left off. It happened to be a chapter called A Single Date. In this chapter something stood out to me quite strong that I don't remember reading before. She references the talk given by her husband Dallin H. Oaks at a CES fireside several years ago about the evils of "hanging out" instead of dating. She talks about one young man who was in a steady relationship with a girl and things were not going well. They often spent time together, but not often in the form of an actual date. After listening to the talk, they changed their ways and began to go on dates again. It completely changed their relationship.

Here is my take on it... I fear that most of the danger in relationships comes when you spend too much idle time together. I love the idea of formalizing your courtship. I am inclined to believe that it is wise to date with a purpose and make sure each date has a distinct beginning and end. None of this lingering on in the evening stuff, for it never leads to good things. Some food for thought.

My other positives of the day...

Tonight I had planned to attend my stake temple night. When I got to the temple I found out it is actually scheduled for tomorrow. Not sure how I could have written the date down wrong, but there it is. Since I was already in the temple cafeteria, I bought some dinner and sat alone happily devouring pork, mashed potatoes, veggies and a delicious slice of apple cheesecake.

I contemplated my options... I could go to a session anyway, or I had received a text earlier today of a friend who wanted to go listen to the MoTab rehearsal at the conference center. Since I was already downtown and preferred to spend time with a friend and not alone, I arranged to attend the rehearsal. We had a marvelous time. She and I got to know each other a bit better and discovered that we have many of the same interests and live quite near each other. The Lord knew I needed a friend and he provided me one. Not only that, but speaking of blessings, as we pulled up to the conference center there was a space to park on the street right in front. Pure awesomeness. I'd say today was quite a success.