Drops of Awesome
Last night I was able to attend a fireside given by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. He and Elder Ballard were in Boise for a Priesthood leadership meeting, and Elder Christofferson gave a fireside for the YSAs of Boise.
He started off talking about how your life might not be where you thought or planned on it being at this point in your life. He then said, "Welcome to the club." In all, it was exactly what I needed to hear. I turn 26 in three weeks, and I am not were I thought I would be in my life when I was 20. I actually planned on going to graduate school this year, but that is not going to happen (sometimes I think it won't happen because I won't be able to get into a school). I know I thought I would be married at this point. I'm not, and that is not really a big deal because I'm not ready to be married. A year ago I thought I would at least have some kind of real job by this point (that's what I get for majoring in Art History and having no other skills or knowledge to fall back on).
But, the point of all this is, Elder Christofferson stated something that really hit me. He talked about not being disappointed with plans that don't come to fruition even when it was something good, and we don't understand why it didn't come about. We don't see the big picture and wherever you are in your life right now it is not as good as it gets. He said, "There is so much more coming." That line pricked my heart. "There is so much more coming." There is so much The Lord has in store for me. I'm almost 26 and still have so much of life left to live and then eternity after that. Even if I feel like I wasted the past year or chose the wrong major or wasn't the best missionary I could have been or that I need to be a better missionary now or that I should have been a better example in high school or that I've made choices that I can't come back from, mistakes I can't fix completely, in the end it's a very short time that will not set in stone the rest of my life.
Which brings be the second thing that I wanted to talk about: Drops of Awesome. In Relief Society today the teacher talked about how we focus on the negative way more than we focus on the positive, and that we tend to put down the positive things we do because of the negative. I do this all the time. The example she gave was reading your scriptures, but thinking about how you didn't read yesterday or the day before, so this one day of reading doesn't even count for much. This is a horrible way of thinking. She shared this quote about Drops of Awesome. I don't have it, but the gist of it was every time you do something good (study the scriptures, have sincere prayers, give service, etc.) that is a drop of awesome in your jar. It doesn't matter if you have or have not been doing it previously, you did something good. You added a drop of awesome.
It reminds me of this quote from Doctor Who (don't give me that look, you all know I'm a nerd), "The way I see it, life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant." We will make mistakes and will have to repent. It must be done. But just because we have sinned it doesn't take away from the good we have done. Sin does not negate all the right choices we have made. It isn't a balance were every good thing you do makes up for a bad thing, or every bad thing takes away a good things. If that was the case, we would all be drowning in bad things. So what do we do? We count up our good things, realizing we can be good, and we use the Atonement.
You know the bike analogy to the Atonement. A little girl wants this bike, so her dad tells her to save up what she can to get the bike. She does, and it's a whole dollar and some odd cents, so he dad says he will make up the difference. Brad Wilcox (author of The Continuous Atonement) says that isn't really a good analogy for the Atonement. The bike has already been payed for, the Atonement has been made. There is no "save all you can and I'll then make up the difference" because it is actually "I've bought you the bike, now use it." Using the Atonement means focussing on the good because it is focussing on God. God is all the good. Focussing on the good in others, the good in our lives, and especially the good in ourselves. Obviously this doesn't mean we ignore the bad, but we don't dwell and focus on it. We recognize and resolve to do good, to add drops of awesome to our jars. Because let's face it, we are awesome. We are children of God with the potential to become kings and queens, priests and priestesses, gods and goddesses. So, we need to get on the bike and ride it because it's already been bought and payed for and is ours to use and enjoy.
This is what using the Atonement should feel like. It brings joy, and who doesn't what joy in their life?
DDoG:
My Heavenly Father.
He started off talking about how your life might not be where you thought or planned on it being at this point in your life. He then said, "Welcome to the club." In all, it was exactly what I needed to hear. I turn 26 in three weeks, and I am not were I thought I would be in my life when I was 20. I actually planned on going to graduate school this year, but that is not going to happen (sometimes I think it won't happen because I won't be able to get into a school). I know I thought I would be married at this point. I'm not, and that is not really a big deal because I'm not ready to be married. A year ago I thought I would at least have some kind of real job by this point (that's what I get for majoring in Art History and having no other skills or knowledge to fall back on).
But, the point of all this is, Elder Christofferson stated something that really hit me. He talked about not being disappointed with plans that don't come to fruition even when it was something good, and we don't understand why it didn't come about. We don't see the big picture and wherever you are in your life right now it is not as good as it gets. He said, "There is so much more coming." That line pricked my heart. "There is so much more coming." There is so much The Lord has in store for me. I'm almost 26 and still have so much of life left to live and then eternity after that. Even if I feel like I wasted the past year or chose the wrong major or wasn't the best missionary I could have been or that I need to be a better missionary now or that I should have been a better example in high school or that I've made choices that I can't come back from, mistakes I can't fix completely, in the end it's a very short time that will not set in stone the rest of my life.
Which brings be the second thing that I wanted to talk about: Drops of Awesome. In Relief Society today the teacher talked about how we focus on the negative way more than we focus on the positive, and that we tend to put down the positive things we do because of the negative. I do this all the time. The example she gave was reading your scriptures, but thinking about how you didn't read yesterday or the day before, so this one day of reading doesn't even count for much. This is a horrible way of thinking. She shared this quote about Drops of Awesome. I don't have it, but the gist of it was every time you do something good (study the scriptures, have sincere prayers, give service, etc.) that is a drop of awesome in your jar. It doesn't matter if you have or have not been doing it previously, you did something good. You added a drop of awesome.
It reminds me of this quote from Doctor Who (don't give me that look, you all know I'm a nerd), "The way I see it, life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant." We will make mistakes and will have to repent. It must be done. But just because we have sinned it doesn't take away from the good we have done. Sin does not negate all the right choices we have made. It isn't a balance were every good thing you do makes up for a bad thing, or every bad thing takes away a good things. If that was the case, we would all be drowning in bad things. So what do we do? We count up our good things, realizing we can be good, and we use the Atonement.
You know the bike analogy to the Atonement. A little girl wants this bike, so her dad tells her to save up what she can to get the bike. She does, and it's a whole dollar and some odd cents, so he dad says he will make up the difference. Brad Wilcox (author of The Continuous Atonement) says that isn't really a good analogy for the Atonement. The bike has already been payed for, the Atonement has been made. There is no "save all you can and I'll then make up the difference" because it is actually "I've bought you the bike, now use it." Using the Atonement means focussing on the good because it is focussing on God. God is all the good. Focussing on the good in others, the good in our lives, and especially the good in ourselves. Obviously this doesn't mean we ignore the bad, but we don't dwell and focus on it. We recognize and resolve to do good, to add drops of awesome to our jars. Because let's face it, we are awesome. We are children of God with the potential to become kings and queens, priests and priestesses, gods and goddesses. So, we need to get on the bike and ride it because it's already been bought and payed for and is ours to use and enjoy.
This is what using the Atonement should feel like. It brings joy, and who doesn't what joy in their life?
DDoG:
My Heavenly Father.
Rach awesome post (I guess you get to add a drop of awesome!) Thanks for helping me start the day out right when I know I'm getting sick.
ReplyDeleteThis post is really good. And strangely applicable to me, why...? oh wait, we were born in the same year on almost the same day. 26 is coming up for me, too.
ReplyDelete