A few weeks ago, a high school friend of David and Nancy posted about her feelings about her brother's wedding. It was really hard for her because she is divorced, and while she mostly is happy about that, sometimes it is just hard. And her brother's wedding was one of those hard times. She still did lots of things to help, and went to it, but it just was hard and she had lots of sad thoughts mixed in with happy thoughts. Anyways, she wrote in her blog about her feelings, and some random person commented, saying, "What is your point?"--was she trying to hurt the feelings of her brother and his wife.
Well, she ruminated on that, and today posted about the answer to that why--and it was lovely, as she talked about life in all its mess--the good, the bad and the ugly--and how she wanted her blog, which is essentially her journal--to reflect the truth of her life, her sad times as well as her happy times. She talked about her perfectionist syndrome: "If I am just really, really good and do everything right, then my life will be perfect." But of course, it won't be. Because life isn't meant to be perfect. Life is messy, and good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people, and that is just the way it is.
Anyways, she posted a link to her blog on Facebook, and one of the comments there was just so awesome, so worth remembering, so I am going to post it here, so that maybe one day I can find it again, if I need to read it again.
Amy R. Nelson One of my favorite scripture stories is Ether 6 where it describes the journey of the Jaredites to the promised land. It was a journey they got to undertake because of their righteousness, but it was a really hard one. At times they were buried in the sea, sea monsters were knocking their boat, the wind was fierce and the waves really strong. But then there is a line in verse 8 that gets me every time "And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind." That same wind that was causing all their difficulty was the wind that made it possible for them to reach the promised land. If the wind had been calmer their journey might have been more comfortable, but they might not have ever arrived at their destination.
I love what this teaches me about my life. The same difficulties that cause me so much distress are the exact same things that are helping me to become what I want to become. And remember, this was a journey that was a reward for the obedient, not a punishment. They were strong enough to handle it, and they were worthy for the reward. They just had to survive the journey.
The wind never ceases to blow me towards the promised land.
Well, she ruminated on that, and today posted about the answer to that why--and it was lovely, as she talked about life in all its mess--the good, the bad and the ugly--and how she wanted her blog, which is essentially her journal--to reflect the truth of her life, her sad times as well as her happy times. She talked about her perfectionist syndrome: "If I am just really, really good and do everything right, then my life will be perfect." But of course, it won't be. Because life isn't meant to be perfect. Life is messy, and good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people, and that is just the way it is.
Anyways, she posted a link to her blog on Facebook, and one of the comments there was just so awesome, so worth remembering, so I am going to post it here, so that maybe one day I can find it again, if I need to read it again.
Amy R. Nelson One of my favorite scripture stories is Ether 6 where it describes the journey of the Jaredites to the promised land. It was a journey they got to undertake because of their righteousness, but it was a really hard one. At times they were buried in the sea, sea monsters were knocking their boat, the wind was fierce and the waves really strong. But then there is a line in verse 8 that gets me every time "And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind." That same wind that was causing all their difficulty was the wind that made it possible for them to reach the promised land. If the wind had been calmer their journey might have been more comfortable, but they might not have ever arrived at their destination.
I love what this teaches me about my life. The same difficulties that cause me so much distress are the exact same things that are helping me to become what I want to become. And remember, this was a journey that was a reward for the obedient, not a punishment. They were strong enough to handle it, and they were worthy for the reward. They just had to survive the journey.
The wind never ceases to blow me towards the promised land.
