Connor’s Conundrums » ‘Twasn’t meant to be easy

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‘Twasn’t meant to be easy

Posted by Connor on September 16th, 2004

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To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan… believe… act!
- Alfred A. Montapert

In the last 11 days I have come to realize how interesting life can be. One person can enter your life and completely flip your world upside down. Sometimes that can be good, sometimes bad. But I have come to appreciate God’s hand in my life and have tried to see where He is leading me, but I seem to lack a little thing called “foresight”. Maybe that’s a good thing–if I always knew what would happen down the line, I probably wouldn’t learn and grow as much. Joseph Smith said “I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else…” Perhaps that is why life is so hard/difficult/crazy/confusing/ironic/blah. We start off in this life with millions of imperfections and shortcomings. Yet as God now is, man may become–but we have a loooooooooooooong way to go until we get there… thus the necessity of trials and problems in our lives. We need to come into contact with those things that will polish us here a little and there a little (hey! not there! I barely know you… sheesh!).

I don’t think the Lord gives us guidance in every aspect of our lives. Most of the time He just leaves us on our own. There might be two possible solutions that would work out equally great. He might not even care which one we pick, because both would be for our benefit and optimal growth. Yet the hard part is knowing when He “doesn’t care” (meaning he’s not going to give us a definite answer about a certain option) and when He has a certain plan for us that we need to figure out. That’s the hard part… knowing when to wait for God’s answer and when to decide on your own. Yet even when God answers us, it’s usually only after we’ve made a decision, and then He confirms us. Rarely in my life have I received an answer or confirmation before taking a step. Usually it’s as I am in the process of making that step that I feel good and right about whatever it is.

Hence the quote at the beginning. It has gospel application. We have to visualize and think of what we want to do, ponder it, pray about it, have a little faith that all will work out will, and then ACT. No, that’s not the acronymn for “American College Test” (which I’m glad I never have to take again), but is simply in caps for emphasis. Just in case ya missed that… I think being assertive is a good trait. A lot of people in life just wait for things to happen - you need to MAKE them happen. PPPG. Persistence Pays Pretty Good. There are certain things in life that you will never get unless you push for it. Don’t be a pushover. Be a push…under? Okay, that didn’t work.

Is there a moral story to this blog entry? I find myself rambling a lot lately. One of the many adverse effects that a certain someone seems to be having on me. Gotta love it. My co-worker Jocelyn just up one of her two favorite quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do the thing you fear most, and the death of fear is certain”. A bit confusing at first, but it raises a good point. When I had a fear of doing a flip off the diving board when I was a kid, the only way to get over that fear (which I had to do, since I’m obsessive-compulsive) was to confront it. I had to plan out how I’d do the flip, think about it, pray I wouldn’t crack my head open (that was an interesting prayer), have a little faith, and then act. Boy was it scary. But boy was it worth it. I’m no olympiad with bulging pecs and thighs and such (darn) but I can flip with the rest of them.

Okay, really I’m ending this post now. I apologize to all who have fallen asleep while reading this mumbo jumbo. But hey, you decided to read my blog, so back off! It’s all your fault…

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