When Things Go Awry
Posted in: What's the Buzz
When things go awry, I recite a thought in my head as a way to properly deal with the resulting situation: God gives us such experiences to provide opportunities to apply what we learn in church!
Stub my toe? Time to apply the For The Strength of Youth council to use clean language. Get cut off in traffic? What an opportunity to apply all the lessons I’ve taught and talks I’ve heard about patience. My ward is currently dealing with the repercussions of thieves raiding and destroying our building’s air conditioning system as they “mined” for copper. What a splendid time to apply the scriptural “second greatest” commandment to “love my neighbor as I love myself, and God”! And to throw in a good measure of forgiveness to boot…
Am I grateful for these opportunities? I’ll just say that my rebellious Irish tempered attitude determines that I’d be more grateful if such opportunities did not exist. But my Gospel-taught spirit directs me otherwise.
Our Stake President shared during Stake Conference the thought of finding joy in serving, joy in our profession, our families, our callings, our relationships. It should not be frustrating, but rather joyfully fulfilling to solve problems and improve all aspects of our lives. The natural human screams in our minds otherwise. The spiritual being embraces the lifestyle of “men are, that they might have joy.” (2Nephi 2:25)
In the past I interpreted this scripture as having joy only in the afterlife. Because I reasoned that while joyful episodes do happen in mortality, life is hard and joy is something to anticipate once we pass all tests this earth administers. Then I absorbed the idea that joy is found during mortality as a result of conversion to Christ. When life gets cranky, we can and do turn to Christ who overcame all. When I get salty, I recall an October 2016 Russell M. Nelson talk in which he exclaimed “…the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation … and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening – or not happening – in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy… For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Chris is joy!”
Since we pattern our lives after The Great Exemplar, we too can be full of joy even as we roast during church due to lack of air conditioning.
One thing is for sure: It is a joy to publish each issue of The Arizona Beehive Magazine. Thank you for reading …
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