A few thoughts . . .

I was flipping through a notebook that I use to write insights in while I'm reading my scriptures on public transit. As I read the passage below, I realized I really needed to remember that lesson or thought that I had, so I decided to share it . . .

Dwelling only on how far we've got to go and what we've done wrong while ignoring what we have done right and improvements we have made is like focusing only on what we don't have and not being grateful for what we do have.

Man, sometimes I am surprised by things that I have thought and recorded. But boy am I glad that I do think them, and do record them!

I'm also reminded of some words from Elder Neil A Maxwell:

"The first thing to be said of this feeling of inadequacy is that it is normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. Following celestial road signs while in telestial traffic jams is not easy, especially when we are not just moving next door—or even across town.

In a Kingdom where perfection is an eventual expectation, each other’s needs for improvement have a way of being noticed."

So, I will feel inadequate sometime (or even often). Others will be aware of my flaws, and I definitely will be painfully aware of them. However, if I keep my focus on where I want to go, acknowledge the progress I've made and remind myself that with Christ I can get there, I know I'll be okay.

Elder Maxwell put this far better than I can:

"Yes, brothers and sisters, this is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage . . ."

Leaving a Trail

“Do not go where there the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

There was an ad campaign up at my Metro stop for a long time with that quote. I've been thinking a lot about the choices I have made over the past few years and how many times I have "chosen the path less traveled" (to borrow Frost's metaphor). Or maybe it is just "the path I never thought I would find myself on" - Either way, I find myself being told by people that I am brave. Brave to just pick up and move on. Brave to move to a new city without a job (more than once).

Do I feel brave? No. Sometime I feel rather foolish. Those are crazy things to do. And in many ways they go against my methodical, list making, planning personality. But, I have to admit that things have always worked out when I choose to leave the comfortable path I find myself on and pursue a new course I feel prompted to follow - or when I listen to a prompting to leave my old path without knowing exactly what the new path is.

As I thought about that tonight, I realized I am in good company. Centuries ago a young man named Nephi was directed by his father to go back to the land they had just fled from in order to complete a task - getting the brass plates. These brass plates were important because they held the history of his ancestors and more importantly because they contained the word of God.

Whenever I feel like I have been led by God to do something, a part of me expects it to be easy. Or for all of my actions to be guided. So often that is not the case for me, and it was not the case for Nephi either. He followed his fathers directions to go back. He tried two times with his brothers to get the plates with no success. Did he give up? No. He goes a third time, and this time he says, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." (1 Nephi 4:6). He succeeds.

What this teaches me right now is that we don't have to see a path in front of us. We can go forward and we can be successful. And when we look back, we may be surprised to see how clear the path behind us is - far to clear to be random or just some detour on an un-traveled or un-planned path.

God Bless the USA

I would describe myself as someone who loves America. I love the 4th of July celebrations and many of the associated songs (Confession: when I was about 9 my cousin and I memorized all the words to "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood and would sing it at the top of our lungs in my grandparents backyard . . .)

Some of my favorite lines from patriotic songs:

"If tomorrow all the things were gone
I'd worked for all my life,
And I had to start again
with just my children and my wife,
I'd thank my lucky stars
to be living here today,
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom
and they can't take that away."

- God Bless the USA, Lee Greenwood

"America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
. . .
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw"

- America the Beautiful, Katharine Lee Bates

"from every mountainside let freedom ring!
. . .
I love thy rocks and rills,
thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills, like that above."

- My Country, 'Tis of Thee, Samuel F. Smith

"Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust" "

- The Star Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key

Now, I know that not everyone in this great nation believes in or worships God. I'm grateful that they and I can live and work side by side. I also know that not everyone thinks we should be proud of America.

George Bernard Shaw said: "Patriotism is your conviction that this county is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."

I don't think this has to be true - or that this is THE definition of Patriotism. When I first read this quote, it reminded me of a quote that hung in my locker all through high school - it went something like this:

'Learn to love yourself without comparing yourself to others. This will help you love yourself properly without conceit.'

I'm not saying I am good at this, or even that I actually know how. I am saying I love the concept, and it is something I strive to do. I have even worked to learn this lesson in relation to places I have lived - is the West better than the East or the South? I don't think so. I love them all - they all have wonderful and beautiful things about them. While I have never lived outside the USA, I am sure the same thing is true of other countries in comparison to here.

Sure, America's not perfect. I'll repeat the plea in America the Beautiful - "God mend thine every flaw". But, I'm still grateful for all the wonderful things about this place I call home. And I'll repeat: "God bless the USA!" bless us to become better, bless us to be grateful for what we have and bless us to treat one another as brothers and sisters.