My Relief Society President, and my dear friend, Louise asked if I might help her teach lesson on contentment today. My patriarchal blessing refers to contentment as one of my specific blessings. She is aware that as a family we have face a lot of trials, and she wanted me to share how we manage to face them and still find contentment, since it seems that I have an ability to be cheerful most of the time, even through the hard times. I share here what I shared with my sisters. (It was also very nice to visit RS, since I've been in Primary then YW and again Primary for the past 11 years!)
We are a fairly private family, and
don't share much of what we deal with. But for the sake of this
discussion, some of the challenges we've dealt with: Recurring and
sometimes long term unemployment, some long term health issues in the
family that require a LOT of patience, including some disabilities we
are just coming to terms with, corrupt business partners who stole
much of our savings and contributed to some long term financial
bondage. Subsequently, we have sideline consequences such as taking
care of our home and yard that people around us have to live with,
(like the broken lawn mower, and having to mow the lawn with a weed
whacker, it's not pretty, I'm sorry!) There are other long term
struggles requiring much energy and patience. Sometimes I feel like
I'm hanging on by my fingernails.
But I'm SO thankful the Lord gave me
the ability to be cheerful and even content through it all.
I believe it has been mostly the
gratitude and a focus on eternal perspective that has made such a
difference.
Elder Bradley Foster of the Seventy in
the March Ensign wrote, “Remember, it’s not what happens to us
that matters; it’s how we handle what happens that makes all the
difference. 'When the universe itself seems shattered and the shards
of our world lie littered about us in pieces,' the Savior’s power
and assurance can still make it possible for us to experience joy and
peace.” (That whole March Ensign had lots of ideas on how to keep
our perspective properly focused so we can survive through our many
challenges of life.)
I was talking to a friend about trials
recently, and we talked about the story of when Jesus Christ invited
Peter to walk on the water to Him. Several times in the scriptures,
Jesus calmed storms, but on this day, the disciples were in the boat
without Christ and a scary storm came up. They were debating
whether to return to where they left, or to follow His previous
direction to go to the other side. Then they saw Jesus walking to
them, but feared that maybe it was a ghost instead. Can't you just
feel the fear heaped upon the fear? Long story short, after His
invitation, “Come,” Peter was able to get out of the boat without
questioning, and took the first few steps ON WATER before he noticed
the wind and waves and realized what he was doing. At first he was
focused on the deliverance, (Christ,) and all was well, but when he
began to focus on the trial itself, he sank. Then when he asked for
help, it was IMMEDIATELY given. It wasn't until after they both got
into the boat that the wind ceased! Did you catch that? He did just
fine when he was focused on his deliverance, who was Christ, but
couldn't do it anymore when he moved his focus onto the trial itself!
What Elder Uchtdorf said in General
Conference a few weeks ago about being grateful in any circumstance
was so incredibly powerful. If you ever have any trials in your life
that are hard to bear, (and we all do!) and you haven't heard or studied that talk
yet, bless your life and DO SO! I think that what he said has a most
consistent effect on being able to have daily joy, and it so
effectively brings happiness that it makes it easier to do it the
more you practice it! It brings your focus into joyful eternal
perspective. One thing he said was, “Being grateful in times of
distress does not mean that we are pleased with our circumstances. It
does mean that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our
present-day challenges...This is not a gratitude of the lips but of
the soul. It is a gratitude that heals the heart and expands the
mind.”
What these brethren and more have said
captured what has worked for me over the years even through the
multitude of dramatic trials we have faced, and been why my life has
been so good even through all the struggles. When I get bogged down
with feelings of being overwhelmed, I usually start by making of list
of what's overwhelming me, but I finally start to heal when I turn
that around and instead make a list of the multitude of blessings
that are mine. “Counting your blessings” really has power.
Remembering the eternal perspective, with the Savior's atonement at
its pinnacle is the answer for ALL trials.
I am so grateful I have a husband who
is committed to me and to all of us and loves us; (I'm grateful that
we both understand that appreciating that love feeds it too, and it
keeps growing!) I'm thankful we forgive each other for our
weaknesses, because we both have SO MANY of them. I'm grateful that
the Lord's timing was fulfilled after long last, and Nels and I were
able to FINALLY become parents...five times over! I so appreciate
children who want to do what is right and are working toward that
end, even though their timing is different than mine! I'm
grateful that I'm learning that even though God's timing is usually
different from what I want, His timing is always perfect!
I'm grateful we live where we can go to the temple regularly and that
I always feel so at home there! I am SO grateful that I have a
testimony that these mortal challenges we face are just
that-temporary challenges for this life only, and that I know that
they were designed perfectly for us for the perfecting OF us.
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