Monday, October 14, 2013

lessons from 2.5 months of life

today someone asked me how my "things" were going. knowing they were implying as to the status of my life stuff...i replied that it was all good. those words all good have haunted me ever since. and so i retract the previous statement and offer this response instead.

how are "my things" you ask? well let me tell you. i feel like i'm the rock and the river is rushing all around me. like i'm just stuck in the midst of it all.

i'm not getting the things done that i need to whether it be by my own time management deficits or the timeliness (or lack thereof) of others.

i find myself ignoring to-do lists or being settled with not completing everything on my to do list. while i hope i never overlook something major, there is something to be said about something that you were going to do two weeks ago that you didn't and just letting some stuff go.

that last thing probably isn't news to anyone else and it isn't to me either but boy do i try hard to do it all. and then i just get tired and inevitably grouchy. who wants to be around a tired and grouchy person? no one. that's why i have christin. she keeps me less grouchy and more grounded to what matters most.

the lesson that the past 2.5 months has taught me is this:

you can create the life you want 
by creating the attitude you want to have about it.  

possibly better is this statement quoted by a boy in my ward: "we attain joy by choose it over and over and over again, right now."

we just can't choose what we go through or what is going on in our life but we can choose how we respond. i believe in agency and i bleieve that agency fully applies in regards to choosing how we feel. i believe that one of my favorite hymns is absolutely right when it says:

know this that every soul is free.  to choose his life and what he'll be...

and so, while the river is a rushing on by, i'll be here with my whole hearted attempts at honestly being good and having a good attitude. as my mission president always said, attitude is everything. and isn't that the truth.

i am abundantly blessed. i choose joy. i choose to not let the things that i am not and that i don't get done define me because i am more than a conglomeration of my weaknesses and tasks left unaccomplished.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

I delight in themes of conference.

saturday am conference exodus
october 2013
salt lake city, ut

General Conference was SO good. Although the night before was long one (but such a good one), I met conference morning with happiness in my heart and great hope for answers that surely would come.

While you'll hear me talk about this conference for the next 6 months, I have to start by sharing some themes that stood out to me. Overall, I felt impressed that the prophets and apostles were speaking with a great voice of warning to the signs of the times that are upon us. Let there be no doubt that we have been warned about the wiles of the adversary which will tempt us in these the last days. Prophecy is being fulfilled at a rapid rate and it requires discernment, we need the companionship of the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.

Other themes included:
have courage not to compromise
how to receive strength
don't be deceived by satan and the world
covenants: make them, live them, love them
the priesthood and me
the essential role of women in the home
there are significant lessons to be learned in these difficult times
this is the Lord's church and the Lord's doctrine
pray to invite someone to receive the missionary lessons
the importance of our spiritual and physical well-being
we need the holy ghost's companionship
love others. be kind. have compassion.

Overall, I felt impressed that we as Mormons, as Latter-day Saints, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must be clear, we follow Jesus Christ.

Let there be no doubt about it in the thoughts of our heart, in our actions and deeds whose we are (children of a loving Heavenly Father) and who we follow (our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ). We must settle these things within us and live accordingly.