Life can be hard! Things don’t seem to go the way we want; hardships last much longer than we think is needed; and through it all, we still have good days and bad days. As time wears on during some of these trials, the bad days can become consecutive and make you not want to get out of bed. Maybe if you go back to sleep, you can wake up tomorrow and it will be a “good” day. Deep down, we all know this is not the answer and really should not ever be an option.
As I had one of those days recently, I really felt like my current life’s hardship overshadowed everything else and I wanted to go back to bed. In a moment of weakness, I expressed this to my wife. Rightfully so, she pointed out that the reality is that we are extremely blessed and there is much good in our lives. We have six wonderful children; we are all healthy; we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ and know our purpose here in this life. Of course, I already knew this; however, I needed to be reminded.
Tests and trials are part of this life. They make us stronger. Our loving Heavenly Father will not give us more than we are able to handle, even though our imperfect mortal minds and bodies may tell us otherwise. Satan uses every opportunity he can to try and undermine our divine nature as sons and daughters of God. Discouragement and despair are probably the most used tools in his bag of lies and deceit. God wants us to succeed and be happy!
This past week, a couple of things made me stop and think about what I can do to change my outlook on life and be happier. The first was a link I came across to 365grateful.com. This made me reflect on my need to be grateful for the good in my life. It also reminded of a talk by President Henry B. Eyring given in the October 2007 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entitled, “O Remember, Remember“, so I decided to re-read this great message.
Both of these focus on finding things every day for which we are grateful; and, I think most importantly, recording those things. President Eyring said, “Before I would write, I would ponder this question:
“Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.” He concluded is talk by saying, “Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him.”
This is what I think I need to do to keep life in its proper perspective. Find something for which I am grateful; recognize the hand of God in my life on a daily basis; give thanks to Him; share my gratitude with my family; then, record that moment for a future time when I or someone else needs to remember how much our Heavenly Father loves us. For now, that is the goal of this blog – to record those things for which I am grateful each day.
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