Present and Focused

Three years ago today, they kids were headed off to the first day of school... in Chile. It is really weird to think that was three years ago. We've almost been back here in Utah for three years, and that seems like the same amount of time that those 5 months felt. ...and like the same amount of time that 3 months in Costa Rica felt. The years slip by pretty quickly once we're in a routine and living in familiar circumstances. So, here we are. We are glad to be here. When we were enjoying the slow and somewhat care free life of Costa Rica, and also in the "it's just us" family life we experienced there and later in Chile, I made some goals of things I wanted to do and to become. I'm still working on them, and I'm okay with that and understand that it will be a lifelong process. That's what "progress" is all about anyway, right?

In 2008, we were renting at a different house in Sandy, and it was a busy Saturday when Corey and I were trying to listen to the first session of the April of 2008 General Conference. There was a swirl of busyness and kids and toys and noise swirling about us as we tried to listen. As I felt myself sinking into helplessness, they quieted down long enough for me to hear this one statement from Cheryl Lant:

"Are we consciously creating righteous traditions, or is life just happening to us?"

I sat there a little dumbfounded as I nodded my head with enlightenment and thinking "YES!! My life is "just happening" to me! Heeeeeelp!!!" I wanted control and I wanted purpose but felt both areas severely lacking. I think it's been a continuous search and daily struggle since then to work and pray and fight for a purpose and joy in daily life (which "daily life" actually comes to make out what our whole life will look like at the end, right? The "years" we look back on when we are older are just going to be a bunch of our "today"'s.) We need to live consciously.

And then last week I heard this BYU Forum address by Andrea Thomas, and the part that stood out to me the second time were some thoughts near the end (start at about 24:52 through the end) of how it's not about finding time in our life for everything, but finding meaning in the things we give our time to. "Balance is about meaning rather than time." The things that we spend our time doing have got to edify us and lift us, or we will spend most of our life feeling bogged down and dragged through the mud. And along with that were more thoughts about how important it is to be present and focused. In this talk, Elder Soares shares that Michelangelo just used a hammer and a chisel to create the sculpture "the Pietà."

I can make a masterpiece of my life too as I use my effort like a focused chisel and hit it with a hammer of hard work. So there is my "preaching-to-myself" post for today, going to go focus five minutes at a time (the five minutes thing really works!) and work hard at things that edify me and make a difference for my family. :)

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein." 
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.