followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 80]

Hi guys. Can you believe I've made (approximately) 80 entries in this series? I sort of can't. I know that there will always be more to say but sometimes it feels like I've said everything already. Still, I'm super impressed with my sticktoitiveness (for once) and hope to continue for a long time more.

Yesterday I finally cleaned my room. I turned on a BYU Devotional to listen to while I unpacked bags from weeks ago traveling, and decided to go with Ron Staheli's 1996 address, "The Comprehending Soul: Open Minds and Hearts". And it was great. Here's a snippet (though I'd suggest listening to the whole thing):

With coordination of mind and heart we continue the process of reconciling the natural man to the spiritual man. By working with mind and heart together, we best prepare to understand and assume responsibility for our choices. And with mind and heart both participating in those choices, we can find our way to self-reliance, morality, principles, character, and integrity. 

But what a balancing act! There are endless complications: We will not escape hurt feelings. We will experience loss and disappointment. The gifts we offer, which we may view as the best and most appropriate things within us, may be received with little appreciation, with disdain, or they may be refused altogether. The heart will want to harden or close and leave the mind free to take offense or seek retaliation or retribution, or it will want to rebel against what an otherwise connected heart and mind know to be true. 

By design we are asked to live with the stress of unanswered questions, paradox, incongruity, enigma, and seeming absurdity, which will try our tenacity, patience, and faithfulness. Our thinking will be challenged, our powers of reason will be overwhelmed, leaving the heart free to wander toward an unrealistic world of self-deception.

As you can tell it's about using both heart and mind in our lives, and not letting one overrule the other. That's something I don't usually think about but in the course of the address I realized that I am guilty of the head ruling the heart, and the heart ruling the head. But now that my eyes are opened I can start to pay more attention.