Today, a dean of one of the academic departments gave the university devotional. It was all about finding beauty around us, which beauty is a gift from God designed to make this life happier and easier.
He gave a a thought I thought I'd share real quick.
One thing he admonished the audience to do was find beauty in our surroundings, our studies, the personalities of others, in the Atonement and in ourselves. On the point of the Atonement, he commented that we have the opportunity to contemplate the Atonement at least once a week, in Sacrament meeting. He said that as a person who likes to eat, he finds greater symbolism in the Sacramental emblems. He said that it wasn't by accident that Jesus chose bread and wine, two of the staples of life, as the emblems of His body. Those foodstuffs were essential to life, and even though we as Mormons have replaced the wine with water, the analogy holds true. Bread and water are the two most basic foods that could sustain life, and it's no accident that they are a similitude of the sacrifice of our Savior. Elementally, we could not survive without Him.
He drew another most interesting parallel. He talked about how bread is made up of complex structures called starches, which our body breaks down into simpler sugars. That process begins in our mouth, the moment our saliva begins deconstructing those starches.
He said that if we take a moment to savor and chew the Sacrament bread, instead of scarfing it down without hesitation, our saliva will begin to expose those simple sugars and the bread will literally become sweeter.
What a poignant observation! It's one that I can't wait to experience for myself- wish me luck that I'll make it that long without screwing up!
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