Today is Thursday.
Today is January 30th, 2014.
Today is the day I would have entered the Argentina MTC en route to the Uruguay Montevideo Mission for an eighteen-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
But here I am.
A few months ago I made a post about how I made my decision to stay at Brigham Young University and serve the Lord in other capacities instead of serving an LDS full time mission at this time. In just the short amount of time I have made that decision and stuck to it, I have learned a great deal about my relationship with God. I have been able to serve His children, my peers, in a fuller capacity than before. I have learned that all I have comes from my Heavenly Father, so keenly aware of my needs and tribulations each and every hour. Perhaps most importantly I have learned that this is where I need to be at this time.
Tonight was also Poetry Night for me, my roommates, and others we invited into our home to share in some fun. Some may say by coincidence, but I disagree, that Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken was one of the first poems we shared. All of today I have thought about today's date, and how if I had taken the other path before me I would be on another continent right now, prepared for a very different sort of adventure. This poem hit home, as I pondered the many forks in the road that we may encounter, and how I took the one less traveled by in the plans of my life. If I could only choose one principle which I have taken from this turn of events, it would be to trust God with all of my heart, always willing, and never doubting.
And that has made all the difference.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Strike That; Reverse It
In the 1971 Willy Wonka film (a movie that I hope all of you have seen or I may be getting old), Gene Wilder proclaims the famous line "So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it." As the year 2013 has ended and 2014 has begun I have felt the effects of the Earth's rotations on my desire to achieve, complete, and progress. Just a little over three and a half weeks ago I concocted a list of goals and checkpoints I wish to accomplish for this year. A little over three and a half weeks in, I realize that this may not be as easy as I had thought.
One of my favorite books holds the line, "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God...the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." I hold that to heart as each day I try a little harder to be a little better, to prepare to meet my Heavenly Father and let Him know that I sure did put a lot of effort into this existence of mine. Reading those words, I think of the goals I have set, some in fun, some in preparation for the future, but all in the desire to be a better me; more well-rounded, more kind, more organized, and more Christ-like. Reading those words, I think of the immense amount of tasks and progress I want to complete, but the contradicting sliver of time I am given to stuff them all into.
And then I realize I've got it all wrong.
I do not have so much to do and so little time, and I do not have so much time and so little to do. It's like I'm Goldilocks, and everything is "just right." My life here on Earth is not the beginning, nor the end. I existed and lived before, and I will continue to exist and live after. So in reality I have much more time than I think I do (and also more to get done). I'm certainly not saying I should procrastinate the goals I have set here, as it is clear I have an overall achievement to reach: prepare to meet God. Yet does that mean I will be perfect when I meet my Father? Oh no. No, no, no. I'll probably still be barefoot and crazy (hey wait...isn't that perfection?), with a lot more to work on. But that's the thing, if I was perfect then I wouldn't have anything to do with my eternal life, nothing to do with what comes next. So bring on the days and weeks that seem to fly by. Bring on the milestones reached, achievements collected, and goals left for another day. I will embrace the rotations of the planet, the revolutions that leave me reflecting and planning, and the many, many adventures along the way.
One of my favorite books holds the line, "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God...the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." I hold that to heart as each day I try a little harder to be a little better, to prepare to meet my Heavenly Father and let Him know that I sure did put a lot of effort into this existence of mine. Reading those words, I think of the goals I have set, some in fun, some in preparation for the future, but all in the desire to be a better me; more well-rounded, more kind, more organized, and more Christ-like. Reading those words, I think of the immense amount of tasks and progress I want to complete, but the contradicting sliver of time I am given to stuff them all into.
And then I realize I've got it all wrong.
I do not have so much to do and so little time, and I do not have so much time and so little to do. It's like I'm Goldilocks, and everything is "just right." My life here on Earth is not the beginning, nor the end. I existed and lived before, and I will continue to exist and live after. So in reality I have much more time than I think I do (and also more to get done). I'm certainly not saying I should procrastinate the goals I have set here, as it is clear I have an overall achievement to reach: prepare to meet God. Yet does that mean I will be perfect when I meet my Father? Oh no. No, no, no. I'll probably still be barefoot and crazy (hey wait...isn't that perfection?), with a lot more to work on. But that's the thing, if I was perfect then I wouldn't have anything to do with my eternal life, nothing to do with what comes next. So bring on the days and weeks that seem to fly by. Bring on the milestones reached, achievements collected, and goals left for another day. I will embrace the rotations of the planet, the revolutions that leave me reflecting and planning, and the many, many adventures along the way.
Joy, not stress you guys. Joy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
