Perspective

Sometimes there are moments in life when you slow down enough so that God has a chance to tell you things you need to hear. Today is one of those days. I'm at work and there are hardly any people here in the library and it is silent. It has been a great chance to think and read. I read a talk by President Eyring from way back when called, "A Child of God". He talks about the importance of realize who we really are and how knowledge that we are children of God should dictate the way we live our lives and continually seek learning. I highly recommend reading it, whether or not you're a student.

One particular part that stood out to me was the story of his mother's death. Eyring explains: "She died after a decade of suffering with cancer. At her funeral President Kimball said something like this: "Some of you may wonder what great sins Mildred committed to explain her having to endure such suffering. It had nothing to do with sin. It was that her Heavenly Father wanted to polish her a little more." -" A Child of God", Eyring, 2007 

I really appreciative this perspective. Lately there have been a lot of new challenges and changes introduced into my life most of which I feel totally inadequate and unequipped to handle. Especially this whole being a teacher business. I'm in all the classes that are supposed to be teaching me how to teach the language arts to adolescents while anticipating having my own class in the Fall secretly freaking out in each class not knowing how on earth I'm ever going to be qualified to do so. There is just so much to learn between now and then! It is easy to get discouraged and it is easy to get caught in the "I'll be happy when [fill in the blank] is over..." and it is easy to wonder about the purpose of hard things in life. However, until today I had forgotten that all these little challenges in life can be used to polish me into a better woman. There is purpose to the journey, not just the destination. I had forgotten that there is no time in my life that God can't use to help me move closer to my ultimate goal of coming back to him. Even when it might seem like I'm in the eternal-twenty-something-single-college-student-limbo-land he's working on me and where I am is perfect for right now. I'm grateful that God doesn't waste time like I do...