Experience

     Ha!! Oh, what a word, what a word!!

n.

1.       Trial, or a series of trials or experiments;  active effort or attempt to do or to prove something, or repeated efforts.  A man attempts to raise wheat on moist or clayey ground;  His attempt fails of success;  experience proves that wheat will not flourish on such a soil.  He repeats the trial and his experience proves the same fact.  A single trial is usually denominated an experiment;  experience may be a series of trials, or the result of such trials.

2.       Observation of a fact or of the same facts or events happening under like circumstances

3.       Trial from suffering or enjoyment;  suffering itself;  the use of the senses; as the experience we have of pain or sickness.  We know the effect of light, of smell or of taste by experience.  We learn the value of integrity by experience.  Hence,

4.       Knowledge derived from trials, use, practice, or from a series of observations.

v.t.

1.       To try by use, by suffering or by enjoyment.  Thus we all experience pain, sorrow and pleasure;  we experience good and evil;  we often experience a change of sentiments and views.

2.   To know by practice or trial;  to gain knowledge or skill by practice or by a series of observations.

     I just think of that scripture that says

• Doctrine and Covenants 122:7

  7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

     Now, I haven't ever had anything THAT extreme happen to me but I have had some experiences in my lifetime that I would never have chosen...and I will say that I can see that there is good that has come from them.  Some things I am still looking for the good in...but most of them have shown the good right away.
     I would like to look at the word from another angle.
     I blogged about the word Experiment, and about the word Explore, and the word Exist among others.  These words all imply an Experience. Exist is day to day...Experiment and Explore suggest something special that we make happen in order to feel, see, create something new.  Then we get to experience the wonder of it, the value of it, the pain of it, the joy of it, the energy of it.
     Tonight I listened to a panel of 6 women answer some really hard questions.  Questions about how they have handled hard things in their lives...like death in the family, loss of jobs, relocating a young family, blending 2 families, wayward children, etc.  They shared their experiences with us as they answered those questions.  They wept and they laughed and they shared.  It was a good experience for me to have been there.  I learned that I am not alone in a lot of areas.  And that experiences can be shared.
     Those women helped someone in that room tonight to get through a tough situation of their own.  Sometimes we get to experience things so that we can have compassion and understanding for someone else's experience.
     Another really good word!

Here's to Growing and Glowing!!
Onward and Upward!
Tari