And Perhaps Until the Day I Die

Big surprise: I've been thinking a lot lately :) I'm looking for a new job, and I just spent a couple weeks in a place I'd never been before with some people I didn't know before I got there. Plenty of time, and reason, for introspection . . .

The people I stayed with are relatively new to the area themselves, and not sure how long they will be there - but they talk about the quality of the high school in the area and told me they are "planting roots like we'll be here a long time. But, who knows."

My long term plans are equally up in the air. And if I do move to a new area in my immediate next steps, I have no idea how long that next step will last. A few months? A few years? A decade? Who knows. But, doesn't that make it hard to move on and then hard to connect to people and things in the new area? Yes, I think it does.

This concept has become particularly poignant as I am applying for jobs - in multiple locations. How do I convince myself, let alone the person who I want to hire me, that this is a good move? Who wants to hire someone who might be gone in a couple months? Or even a year?

A story from the Book of Mormon came to mind as I thought about all this. Ammon and his brothers leave their homeland to teach and serve among the Lamanites, a people that their people are often at war with. They have a great desire to teach them about Christ and a love for the Lamanites, despite the wars between their people.

When Ammon first enters the land of the Lamanites, he is bound with cords and taken to the king of the land. The king could decide to kill Ammon, to put him in prison, to cast him out of the land - anything he felt like. If that were me, I would have been terrified. I would want to say something that would keep me alive and safe.

I have no idea what Ammon was thinking - but when the king asked if Ammon wanted to live among the Lamanites, Ammon responded: "Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die." (Alma 17:23)

Till the day he dies? Does he think that will (or at least might) be today? Does he really want to live there for the rest of his life? Is he just trying to make the king happy and stay alive?

I don't think so. I think what he is saying is more along these lines: I have come here with a purpose. It is a decision I made. It is something I intend to see through. I don't know how long that will take, but I have no plans to walk away from this goal, so I'll be here till it's done.

That is powerful to me. And I feel that is an attitude I can adopt. To me it embodies a "be happy now" or "blossom where you are planted" attitude. Don't wait till the next best thing comes along - because when it does, you'll just want the next next best thing. It also seems like a pretty good attitude to take into an interview. "Yes, this is where I want to be. And this is where I see myself for the foreseeable future."