Choosing Happiness: Palomar Observatory

This past week I've been busy with work, school and homework. A typical day looks like:
Wake up get ready/study; leave for work; get done with work and head to class; find time to eat dinner in between work and class; come home and do homework; and finally go to bed; repeat the process over. When I am not working I am in class and when I am not working or in class I am usually doing homework. At times it is hard to find time to do things for myself, so when I learned I had Saturday off I planned a trip up to Palomar Observatory.

Palomar Observatory
It is located Northeast of Escondido sitting 5,500 ft (elevation) high within Palomar Mountain. The observatory is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology. On the property there are "three active research telescopes: the 200-inch (5.1-meter) Hale Telescope, the 48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope, and the 60-inch (1.5-meter) telescope." (About Palomar)

On Saturday and Sundays from April until the last weekend of October there are public tours available of the 200-inch Hale telescope. The tour cost $5 and last about an hour. The tour is well worth the $5 to see the telescope up close and personal. You are able to see the telescope without paying any money, but the tour shows you other parts of the observatory that you are not able to see otherwise.

Actual telescope; Mirror is located at center bottom of image

George E. Hales, the man behind the telescope, approached the Rockefeller foundation in 1928 seeking $6 million (a large sum of money back then) to build the 200-inch telescope. Hales obtained the funds necessary and went over budget by 10% of the original pricing. The observatory was dedicated in 1948, after the end World War II and ten years after the death of Hales. It held the title for the worlds largest telescope in the world until 1993.

The Telescope
The telescope is impressive in design. Before going on the tour I envisioned in my mind a telescope that you or I could buy online. To my surprise this telescope was huge, towering over me like a building. When they say 200-inch telescope they do not mean your average looking telescope. The 200-inch means that the diameter of the mirror, by itself, is 200-inches. The telescope does not have any lenses that most telescopes have, which for this particular telescope is pretty impressive and ahead of its time, especially back then.

Model of Telescope

The design to house this mirror is incredible, there are metal support beams and a huge device weighing in well over 20 tons. The support mechanism for the telescope is capable of moving and adjust in any direction possible. They have a small model to show just how the actual telescope moves at night, because it is still an active telescope which averages operating around 200 nights (depending on the weather) every year since it was dedicated in 1948.

Gathering Light
While on the tour one of the tour guides was talking about the purpose of the telescope and what they, as researchers, do there. He said, "all that we do is gather faint light." This gathering light stood out to me so profoundly that I had to write it down. This gathering light made me think of the gospel and how as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints what we do in our daily life, those small acts that we are taught every Sunday to do, is for us to gather light. For new converts we see them gathering light as they begin their study of the gospel and continue on through baptism. We tend not so much to think of reading, praying, going to church, having FHE, or attending the temple as gathering light. But every activity that we do in which we invite the Holy Ghost into our lives is a form of gathering light.

D&C 50:24 states: "That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continue in God, receiveth more light, and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day."

These researchers collect light so they can see more of the universe. But as I pondered this I wondered, "What are we doing as members of this gospel to gather light so that we can see more of God?" Since God is light and when we receive light we are receiving him, then it would be safe to say that the more we receive light (God) the more we are able to see of Him. After sacrament a sister came up to me and told me that she pondered these words. She shared with me that the more light we have the more capable we are to see forward. How true that is! Consider walking through a dark tunnel, the more light that is available to you the more easily you can see what lies ahead.

I challenge you to consider what ways you are gathering light and how can you gather more light.

To learn more about the Palomar Observatory click here.

Ponderize: 2 Corinthians 12:8

Life has been pretty busy and chaotic with work, school, and trying to balance everything else in between. However, I have been continuing my efforts to ponderize a scripture but somethings have taken less priorities than other things.

This scripture from 2 Corinthians has been the theme for my life these past couple of weeks and I have continued to think on these verses daily. It reads:

La Jolla Cove

"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

We have all had trials and tribulations. Many of us have things we have to deal with day in and day out. And most of the time we ask for these things to be taken from us. I have felt myself on my knees at the feet of my Savior pleading He would take the trial away or just the pain.

You may find yourself, or found yourself, in a similar situation as Paul, pleading endlessly with the Lord to take away these things but only to find them still with you. During these times we wonder why we are going through these things and the point of it all.

There is a powerful lesson that Paul teaches us in these verses through his own experience of petitioning the Lord to take his trials. That same lesson I have come to learn personally, which is everything we go through will make us better in the end. When we find ourselves in situations where the trial is too great and we have sent our petitions above, but no relief comes remember that your weakness will become a strength.

Catching the sunset

When we enter the arena of a trial we come out different then we were in the beginning and that is the whole point of it. The arena is our testing ground and building ground to become better through the battles we face. If we never entered the arena we would not become the end result but will remain the same. It is through difficulties and trials that we are changed. Growth and understanding is yielded through such things. If we stayed inside we would never know the beauty that lies beyond the walls that we are confined.

My trials have made me better. They have not been easy, there have been many trials where I have asked "why me?" and even wished to not have some trials but I would not change them for the world. They have taught me so much and have produced so much more of who I am today. Our trials make us stronger. My crazy life right now is helping me to become better, my depression helps me to see the good in the world even when its too hard to do, and my anxiety induced grad class is helping me to become better even though it is hard. All that I have gone through, am going through, and will go through will be difficult but I will come out better in the end because of them all. We should not shrink away from such infirmities but press forward having a hope that things will get better, because they will. The storm only last for so long and then the day will come when will witness that sun that has always been there behind the storm, still shining down on us.