My Journey to Discovering Me

What a week to be able to reflect on gratitude. President Monson's talk seems to be especially fitting to my feelings this week. As I write this, I'm currently on my own journey of gratitude. Currently, I'm sitting in a beach house right across the street from the ocean in Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand. We took 3 planes, traveled over 1000km, and endured a 100 year storm. One day we had to back track several hours because Hasst Pass was closed due to flooding on the road. We were planning on traveling up the west coast but had to take a detour all the way over to the east side. We had to book new accommodations, cancel some activities, and spend several extra hours in the car. When we arrived at our Airbnb, we learned that an entire bridge and been swept away in the storm. I couldn't help but feel grateful that we were not able to travel that road. We were safe and we weren't stranded. Not everything had been a disappointment. Because of the intense amo...

  This week's readings were very powerful and the most thought-provoking. Jeffrey R. Holland is my favorite apostle to listen to. He speaks with such power that his words sink way down into your soul. In his talk,  Are We Not All Beggars,  he pleads with us to help those in need. After all, we all need something. Holland says, "  Don’t we all cry out for help and hope and answers to prayers? Don’t we all beg for forgiveness for mistakes we have made and troubles we have caused? Don’t we all implore that grace will compensate for our weaknesses, that mercy will triumph over justice at least in our case?"  One of Jesus Christ's first messages was to take care of the poor. This admonishment wasn't just for his time, it applies to us now. We have been blessed to obtain an education through BYU-I, and now it is our duty to better our circumstances so that we can better society. It doesn't even have to be in a monetary way. I have also grown s...

This week's readings were my favorite ones yet. President Monson gave great counsel to fill our minds with truth, service, and love. He said, "That which you selfishly keep, you lose; that which you willing share, you keep." He was referring to testimonies but this could also stand true for sharing our talents, time, and experiences. We are much better off when we take what we have and use it. We had a very popular institute teacher in our ward who taught Sunday school. When my dad was the bishop, he asked him if ever tired of teaching. His response was that teaching was a gift that he was given and the best way to express appreciation for that gift was to use it. I found the article, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness fascinating. There is a difference between being happy, being satisfied, and being fulfilled. It is interesting that a large part of our happiness is genetic. It seems a little disheartening that people who are miserable right now will probably s...

In one of this week's videos, we learned that Google lets its employees use 20% of their time working on projects of their choice. Most would think that would be a waste of resources but the actually found that the employees are much more productive with that 20% of time. I've experienced this with my kids so it makes sense that it would be true for everyone. If I give my kids 30 minutes to play or watch a show, they come back ready to work on their homework. They get it done much faster than they would have without that small break to do what they wanted. A few weeks ago in the book, Mastery,  he said that if we want more energy, we need to use energy. Google is allowing its employees to use their energy and because they do, they have a better focus and are able to get more done. I also loved Elder Oakes talk, The Challenge to Become. The Savior is more concerned with who we are becoming through are choices than what those choices are. Sometimes I worry about making the ...

My favorite article that we read this week was on the book, Good to Great. It said that good is the enemy to great. I think this is true in a lot of areas. I was just talking to my son about this last week. He mentioned a friend of his that was trying out for the school soccer team. I was surprised because last time I saw this kid play he wasn't very good. When my son first started playing soccer, he was one of the best players on his team. He was fast, aggressive, and had incredible stamina. When he was younger, it didn't matter that he didn't have the best ball handling skills. He never wanted to practice at home and didn't see the need for it because he usually scored more goals than anyone. As he got older though, he couldn't rely only on his speed. Kids who had spent time perfecting their dribbling skills could keep the ball from him. Because he was a good player, he never bothered to become a great player. Now there is no way he could compete with those who ha...

This week we read some articles and started reading the book, A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey. One of the things that struck me the most was that President Brigham Young told the saints, “The Temple will be built as soon as we are prepared to use it.” It took them 40 years to build it. I haven’t even been alive for 40 years. I can’t imagine the dedication that it must have took for a lot of these saints to keep going when the progress seemed so slow. It made me think about the second coming. Maybe Jesus Christ will come again when we are ready for him to. That’s probably why nobody knows when it will occur because it isn’t a predesigned date, it is when we have done the things that need to happen before Christ can return. He won’t come until we have proven ourselves worthy. During the 40 years that it took to build the temple, there were probably people who gave up. Maybe it became too difficult, maybe they became impatient, or maybe they couldn’t understand why they faced s...