ALIVE!!

This post is my first in many months and is dedicated to friends who inspire me in many ways to be ALIVE!

We all know that life itself is sacred by the level of meaning I seek goes beyond this fundamental truth. It delves into areas like friendship, love, family, community, and all the other 'ties that bind' us together as children of God. These 'ties' have always been something I sought more than all other gifts yet have found them to be elusive.

I WANT to feel. To grow, learn, and BE all that I can. As Thoreau put it the famous poem:

I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

I am going into the deep woods of new relationships because I want to LIVE deliberately. I want the depth and - along with my future spouse - I want to "suck all the marrow of life."  So, if you enjoy yelling "YAWP" at a beautiful sunrise, splashing in puddles, watching Broadway productions and 4-wheeling in Southern Utah... I'm the guy you've been waiting for.


For me, LIFE is leading a group of boy scouts in a songfest, helping a teen find faith while gazing at a starfield, watching the sunrise from "Sunrise 'Point" at Bryce Canyon, sitting around campfire and speaking of God or sitting in the Celestial Room with someone I love. It almost always involves someone else but there have been a few precious moments on my own which I cherish beyond any of these for these were the times when, like the servant of Elisha, my "eyes were opened and [I] did see."

I know that only with freedom, purchased through the atonement and our faith in the same, that real LIFE is possible. It has glorious dimensions, and the quest to obtain more is what fires my soul to move forward. As Brother Joseph would say: "Shall we not go forward with so great a cause? Courage Brethren! And on, on to victory."

May the quest for true life - HIS life - inspire us all to take on whatever noble tasks are necessary to obtain "the greatest prize of all." I very much want to meet my future spouse, the greatest woman in the universe, and spend eternity creating life in the lives and hearts of others. It's what I dream of.  It's what the company I founded (samaritan.com) was created for and it's what I dream of every night. To give... more.

-Todd Matthew McMullin (aka Teancum)