Sunday, March 16, 2014

Life is Difficult, and I Love It

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been thinking quite a bit about life the last few months.  Part of my pondering has been driven by the difficult time which I've been going through lately.  I find that in my current state I have a lot of decisions which need to be made.  Some of these decisions are mutually exclusive while others aren't.  I've spent a great deal of time praying to know what it is that would be best for me to do.  After several months of continuing this, I finally received an answer.  I was told that the answer to my prayers would not come easily.  Rather, I just needed to act in faith on these decisions, and the Lord would help me in whatever I chose.  I started to think about life, and I realized how difficult many of the things of this life are.  Many of the things which we choose are difficult because they require us to do something we aren't terribly comfortable with.  For instance, many of the difficulties which I currently face constantly test my comfort zone socially.

I wanted the answer to come easily, I wanted a job to magically appear for me.  As I thought about this it didn't make any sense to me why it would come easily.  If it were to come easily what would I gain from the experience?  How would that benefit me?  How would I change?  Isn't that kind of the purpose of this life?  We came to Earth because we were sitting there in the pre-mortal existence, and we could see God and all that He is.  We wanted to be like Him, but we couldn't in our current state.  We had to grow and develop in different ways to become as God is.  I think we looked at our current mortal state as a challenge.  We saw it as something that was difficult to do, but at the same time it was necessary for us to be changed enough to be as God is.

I love to exercise, and as I've gained knowledge about nutrition and fitness, I've found many parallels between them and the Gospel/life.  When exercising, we don't get change and results by doing the same thing over and over again.  We can't expect to lose weight/fat by eating the exact same way and moving in the same way all the time.  We only get results by doing things that are hard and out of our comfort zones.  To see the biggest changes in our physiques, it requires pushing ourselves further and further, near the point of physical exhaustion.  Such is the way of life.  We have to continuously push ourselves.  Convenience brings complacency.

I mentioned in my last post that I believe we chose our own missions for this life, with guidance.  I have personally been told my mission in life through my Patriarchal Blessing.  When I first heard it, I was somewhat underwhelmed by it because I didn't really understand it.  However, I now see it being fulfilled around me every day of my life.  I've come to love the mission which I have.  It's something that comes very naturally to me, and I was fulfilling it long before I had heard it.  At the same time, it is something that really requires me to push myself beyond my comfort zone.  It requires some work on my part, but I know that with the work comes change.

The struggle for me is to always remember this fact.  I often find myself losing sight of this, and that is when life almost seems unbearable at times.  Just remember, when life is hard, it's for your good.  Think about how it will allow you to change and progress.  With the difficult times in life comes an opportunity to become more Godly.

1 comment:

  1. I appreciate your words. It's been a hard week. I needed a reminder that it is for my good!

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