Just look over the last twenty years of your life and look at where you are now. What percentage of the events through that time period fell in line exactly how you imagined they would?
What did you do with those unexpected twists and turns?
Did you grow from them, learn from them?
How did they shape your life into what it is today?
If you had the power to do so and with the perspective you have now, would you go back in time and change those unexpected events so that things worked out more according to your imagination? Why or why not?
What choices mattered most and what has turned out to not matter at all?
Sometimes, I like to imagine myself twenty years into the future asking my present self these same questions. It helps me to put things into perspective. Life can turn on a dime. There are really few things within our control from day to day but those few things within our control are so incredibly valuable and powerful! We can ask ourselves...
What will I choose to occupy my thoughts?
How will I choose to extend my love?
What can I do to make the most of the time I have in this very moment?
Neal A. Maxwell once said, "Life’s necessary defining moments come within our allotments, and we make 'on the record' choices within these allotments. Our responses are what matter. Sufficient unto each life are the tests thereof!"- Content with the Things Allotted unto Us (see Matt. 6:34)
Even with all the unexpected events we will inevitably face, we still have a great deal of control with how it all will end. Even without knowing the details, our hearts can be full of hope for the future.
"The joy we experience in this life will be in direct proportion to how well our lives are centered on the teachings, example, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ." -By Elder Richard J. Maynes
Of the Presidency of the Seventy
3 comments:
Today I had a thought: "I am becoming a much better version of myself, it seems that I am my self, even before this self I am."
Twenty years ago, I had recently finished my term in the military, stuck in a life that wasn't very happy but definitely going somewhere. I met my husband at a church I was trying to escape. I heard the voice of the Spirit, because somehow I knew how it sounded. My husband brought me to "the true" church. 10 years into our marriage life sped up at warp speed, sealings, ordinations, Temple experiences, long dead family members.Before that 10 years could realize itself in full, my husband died. Now, 1 year and 6 months into the end of the 10 years, I am myself, finding myself. Living a life where the Lord feels free to show himself to me in patterns and promises, and me, trying to find myself in that light.
I think if I were to go back 10 years, I would tell myself and my husband to "Not be afraid, and to seek help, and for most ailments there is a cure. I would tell both of us to be brave, and don't hold on so tightly to the temporal things of life, even to each other.
We do have a measure of control over our lives, even sometimes how we leave this world.
But I do know a little, and if you open yourself to the peace that God gives, and to the reality of his existence and ours in Him, he will show up in your life, and work a good work. You will experience Him, and as Jesus promised in John, commune with him, sup with Him.
This is my life at times, and even though at times I feel quite precarious, prone to unexplained accidents, like falling down my basement stairs, struggling from a really bad cold/flu and lately an unexplained anxiety attack that caused my heart to beat so fast, I felt like it was trying to escape. Rescued and saved.
Love you Alicia
Ramona
Ramona,
When I think of you, I think of a powerful, strong, and wise woman who has been shaped and molded by your deep faith and life experiences. I love the words you used to describe how you feel regardless of the pitfalls (or stairfalls) in life: Rescued and saved!
Peace is not the absence of struggle, tension, opposition, or pain... rather it is a perfect calm in the midst of all these things. A perfect trust in our Father in Heaven that casts out any fear of what might or might not unfold tomorrow. It comes from knowing one's own intentions and knowing their path is aligned with God's. This peace is the fruit born out of those personal moments where we come to know for ourselves something of God's omnipotence, omniscience, and infinite love for us, where we come to know that He holds everything in His perfect hands.
Love you and your beautiful example, Ramona!
Love you Alicia, you are indeed a wise woman, sister and treasured friend.
Ramona
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