Go to Work!

As a long winter comes to an end (or SHOULD be coming to an end) we start feeling a little under the weather.  Literally.  I absolutely feel that being patient, kind, and happy is taking great effort.  I laughed at Storytime yesterday because all the kids were crabby and the moms looked a bit frazzled.  You could feel the static tension of the air-- we are all craving sunshine!

What do you do when you feel the crankies pulling you down?

I exercise.

I eat healthy.

I choose to be grateful.

I listen to good music.

I serve others.

I ponder, pray, and study good things.

I apologize quickly for my mistakes.

I seek healing.

I keep trying.

I went for a walk this morning, bringing my dog who is no longer safe in our backyard and is as stir crazy as the rest of us.  Rocco has learned that he is an Olympic leaping dog who jumps fences with finesse and ease.  Outside the fence is more fun than inside the fence.  Thank you, 4 foot snow piles, for teaching our pup this skill.

Rocco listens very well to me, I thought.  But his "heal" only lasted until we got near the road and he ran right in front of a car going 50mph.  I still don't know how he wasn't killed.  (I screamed and closed my eyes.)

We are moving into the electric shock stage of dog parenting.  My moral opposition to shocking animals has been replaced by my moral opposition to watching animals get hit by cars.  

Our walk was definitely good exercise, but I'm not sure it was relaxing to my nervous system.  Ha!

I have laundry that would circle the globe, and I still haven't put away my own laundry from last week.

I have had an extra 18 month old over night because his brother has a heart scan early this morning and his mom needed a sitter.  

I have friends coming for dinner tonight, then I'm watching their kids till late.  After inviting them, Todd found out he had to work late and then go straight to the training meeting.  

I have a play-date tomorrow and a mall scavenger hunt birthday party tomorrow after school. 

Busy, busy.  

I love when I'm busy doing good things.

This is going to be a great day.

“While young Gordon B. Hinckley was on his mission in England, he received some counsel that has served him well throughout his years of challenging responsibilities. Being somewhat discouraged, he wrote a letter to his father, saying, ‘I am wasting my time and your money. I don’t any point in my staying here.’ After some time, he received a short letter from his father that said: ‘Dear Gordon. I have your letter. … I have only one suggestion. Forget yourself and go to work. With love, Your Father.’

“President Hinckley said of that moment: ‘I pondered that, and the next morning in our scripture class we read that great statement of the Lord: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:35). It touched me. That statement, that promise, in conjunction with my father’s letter, prompted me to go upstairs, … get on my knees, and make a covenant with the Lord that I would try to forget myself and go to work. I count that as the day of decision in my life. Everything good that has happened to me since then I can trace back to the decision I made at that time’ [Gordon B. Hinckley: Man of Integrity, 15th President of the Church,videocassette (1994)].

I have been a homemaker for 16 years and I still haven't surrendered to my life completely.  I want to trust God with my life but there is one chunk of rebellion that I just hold onto.  

“Every one of you was endowed by your Father in Heaven with a tremendous capacity to do good in the world. Train your minds and your hands that you may be equipped to serve well in the society of which you are a part. Cultivate the art of being kind, of being thoughtful, of being helpful. Refine within you the quality of mercy which comes as a part of the divine attributes you have inherited. …

 “You need never feel inferior. You need never feel that you were born without talents or without opportunities to give them expression. Cultivate whatever talents you have, and they will grow and refine and become an expression of your true self appreciated by others” (“The Light within You,”Ensign,May 1995, 99; an address during a General Young Women Meeting).

“I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.

“So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings. …

 “We are carrying a message of self-reliance throughout the Church. Self-reliance cannot [be obtained] when there is serious debt hanging over a household. One has neither independence nor freedom from bondage when he is obligated to others” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 70–71; orEnsign,Nov. 1998, 53).

Oh, I love President Hinckley!

Elder Eyring told this story as part of Pres Hinckley's funeral.  "President Hinckley’s best may be so much more than we can offer the Master. But all God asks of us is that we give our best. President Hinckley would understand our feelings of weakness. He once looked at the pictures of the prophets who preceded him in this dispensation. He said quietly, “When I look at those pictures and think of where I am, I feel so inadequate.” President Hinckley rarely showed emotion. But in that moment he began to weep, I think not out of fear but out of gratitude. He had consecrated all he had and was to the Savior’s service. Because of his trust in the Savior, he knew that would be enough. Faith in his heart left no room for doubt or fear."

I made a decision last night.  I'm sick of feeling Bleh.  I decided that I would CHOOSE to wake up and DO what happy people do.  

I'm still choosing that!  I'm not sure how much power I have over how I feel but I do know two eternal truths...

1- I have the power to choose how I act and what I do

2- Joy comes from doing good

I was surprised in the hospital how clearly I understood that faith is a choice not just a feeling.  When good or bad things happened to me, I had to choose to focus on the positive.  I had to choose to believe that God loved me and that He was blessing me.

I'm still surprised in the power of choice.  I may not get to choose if I feel like doing laundry, but I do get to choose whether or not I guide my body through the actions of doing what I know needs to be done.  

Life is good!

I'm pro choice!  Happy Thursday!