This week when we had the Laurels and Priests over for dinner, we started by having everyone share their best spiritual advice for the Seniors. I was the first to go, "Find a way to be happy at whatever stage of life you are in. Never catch yourself saying, 'I will be happy when I am married, after my mission, when I get rid of this psycho roommate....' Find a way to be happy now." I thought it was great advice, I mean, doesn't it sound profound? Then as the week followed I thought, if that is such great advice, why in the world haven't I taken it to heart yet?
I will admit, that I am not in an "easy" time of life, as my sister JoDee says, "young motherhood is not for the faint of heart." And sometimes when the daily all-consuming tasks seem a bit overwhelming, I find myself saying, "Oh if I can just GET THROUGH these next couple of years, life will be good." But the thing is, I don't want to just GET THROUGH anything.
I want to be my neighbor, Jeanie May who says to me, "Oh aren't little babies the best! I loved raising babies. Then all of a sudden, you have teenagers, and they are the best too!" Today the High Council man gave a FABULOUS talk, written just for me. It is funny how that happens when I have never even met the man. He quoted an article called, "As For Years" by John S. Tanner. I will give you a snippet of the essay and leave you wanting more.
“As for years”—I take this to be a D&C carpe diem. It invites us to seize the day, but with an eye toward the future. We are not merely to mark time in this life but, as the hymn suggests, to improve every shining moment, knowing that eternity is composed of such fleeting moments. To paraphrase Thoreau: You can’t kill time without injuring eternity.
The whole thing seemed vaguely familiar. Something like a C.S. Lewis Screwtape letter that talks about time. "Focus their time on the future or the past, but never on this MOMENT or on ETERNITY, because it is in this moment that they make their plans for eternity." (By the way, that is not a direct quote, I make up quotes in my mind and sometimes get them confused with the real author, but you get the point.)
I think that Jeanie May had it right. Babies are the most fun! Teenagers are too! Whatever stage you are at, that is where it is at. The fun is at your house, with your kids. Not at the neighbors house, or in 10 years from now. Seize the day, just because it is hard doesn't mean it isn't fun.
I really "enjoyed" today's talk. :-) Seriously though, it did really make me think about my life and how I can be happy and live life to the fullest no matters what circumstances I face. I spent the seemingly quadrillion years that Jared was in school wishing they were over because I knew that life would get easier once they were. And it did get easier... at least for awhile :-) Still, looking back I realize that I really missed out on life during those years because I was always living for another day. And looking back I see all the wonderful things I missed out on or failed to appreciate because I wasn't living in the present. So now I try to be grateful for where I am right now, even if it isn't always perfect.
ReplyDeleteI loved that talk too. ty and i were discussing baby #4, and "if" we could still be happy. we realized that we had complete control over whether we will be or not. it was actually quite liberating. and i'm pretty sure it's going to be the hardest thing i've ever done : )
ReplyDeleteas always, love your posts.