For the Ordinary

Ever make yourself a commitment when you wake up in the morning to be a little better at something than you were the day before?  And maybe it's because you're too overly focused on that virtue that you miss the mark?  I don't know but I did not feel very patient yesterday.  It wasn't like I was rude or mean but I was definitely below par and I wasn't as grateful as I should have been.

It could have been associated with starting my day with shopping for kids clothes.  Shopping is not my idea of fun.  I like to get what I need and get out!

I tried to make things a little more exciting by taking the children and their friends to a dollar movie afterwards.  Miriam wanted to pick "Goosebumps" because she read all the books.  Chandler didn't like the idea but decided because it had Jack Black in it, he might enjoy some parts.  (Truth be told, it was pretty lame and I kept volunteering to go out to the lobby to re-fill the kids popcorn bucket.  Shhh just let them think I was doing it to be nice.)

Anyway, I began to feel disappointed in myself for not smiling more, for not... well... being happier.

At the end of the day, as I was driving home from the Wash Hut with a van full of laundry, I thought to myself, "You kinda bombed it today, Alicia.  Come on, you can do better than this."  I pulled into the apartment and my husband rushed down the stairs to help me bring the baskets in.  He was happy and helpful and had a spring in his step.  I was so glad to close the day with his bright attitude, glad that I have him and my four beautiful children.  And I was glad when I woke up this morning because I get to start over and try to be a little better today.

This is my take-away for the week- this is what truly matters most... 

I just need to practice this more.  :)

"Instead of grumbling and murmuring, we should be consolidating and reflecting, which would not be possible if life were an uninterrupted sequence of fantastic scenery, confrontive events, and exhilarating conversation.

Patience helps us to use, rather than to protest, these seeming flat periods of life, becoming filled with quiet wonder over the past and with anticipation for that which may lie ahead, instead of demeaning the particular flatness through which we may be passing at the time. We should savor even the seemingly ordinary times, for life cannot be made up all of kettledrums and crashing cymbals. There must be some flutes and violins. Living cannot be all crescendo; there must be some dynamic contrast.

Clearly, without patience we will learn less in life. We will see less; we will feel less; we will hear less. "Ironically, “rush” and “more” usually mean “less.” The pressure of “now,” time and time again, go against the grain of the gospel with its eternalism.

There is also in patience a greater opportunity for that discernment which sorts out the things that matter most from the things that matter least. The mealtime episode of the Savior in the home of Mary and Martha is an example. Anxious, impatient Martha focused on getting food on the table while Mary wisely chose “the good part”—companionship and conversation instead of calories—a good choice, the Savior said, which would not be taken from her." -Elder Neal A. Maxwell - 1979 BYU Speech - Patience

-Alicia