Cleaning up

One thing I dislike just as much as the next person is cleaning up! I really don't care to make my room presentable, sanitary, or anything of that matter, I just want to live in it. But, As always, whether at home or in college, I am asked to clean up my room. Something I grew to be very good at through this has been hiding the mess. I find space under my bed, in my closet, or really anywhere that is not noticeable to the naked eye. I would make it look just nice enough that when my mom would come check she would be somewhat satisfied and stop getting on my case about it.

In most cases, my mess would accumulate to be so large that I no longer had anywhere to hide it and it would be overwhelming and not fun to handle. I would finally realize that my problem was so large, that I could not neglect it any longer and inevitably I always take the long, arduous process of cleaning, organizing, and folding.

The result though of my hard work, a sense of accomplishment. I, at that moment, did not want my room to get messy again, I wanted it to stay clean and spotless, especially after all the time and hard work I had put into making it look nice. These feelings didn't last more than a couple weeks at the best until the mess began to accumulate all over again. Now it may just be me being an inherently messy individual, because others are probably a lot cleaner than me, but that is a non germane tangent of my introspection of life. Now may we return to the aforementioned field of contemplation. But somehow at sometime, it gets messy again, hopefully I have learned my lesson by now to just clean as I go. That would make it a ton easier!

I am sure the real life application is basic and straightforward. As we go through life, we can accumulate a plethora of filth that keeps us from being clean in the eyes of God. Luckily, we have been given all of the necessary tools to make our lives as clean as we can make our rooms and even cleaner! 

Take A Hike!

Here in Montana, one of the best activities to do in this gorgeous piece of the country is to go hiking. Many hikes out here are deep into the mountainous valleys with scenic overlooks awaiting at the end of the trail. I myself have been blessed enough to go on a few of these hikes. There is something about hiking that is different from everyday life. In life, if you have had enough of something, you can just quit doing it and move onto something else. You can stop a movie to go play outside, you can get up from dinner and go to a friends house. You are not just plain stuck there. 

Hiking is a little bit different! The longer you hike, the longer it takes to just leave if you have had enough of it. I was taking a hike over in the beautiful Bitteroot Mountains in Western Montana and we had traveled quite the distance in and one of the missionaries began to get quite tired, enough so that he would need to lay down periodically to catch his breathe. But he was determined to make it to the end of the hike to the lake. After a much longer time than expected we had all pushed through and made it! What a feeling it was to know that we made it all the way up. After a glorious break from walking at our destination, we soon had to make the hike back so we could get home. The hike was equally long and arduous with some slips and falls, but we all knew we just couldn't stop, we needed to press on. If we stopped, there would be nothing to do, nowhere to go. So we finished and all enjoyed relaxing our feet after a 6 and a half hour long trip.

Sometimes in life we are in very tough situations, Heavenly Father gives us mountains to climb to push us to become the people he needs us to be. And many times, I have found myself in a spot where I cannot stop continuing to push forward or else I will face severe consequences. But when I would pick myself up and push forward having faith that I would make it and the God would help me, it made the journey seem a lot easier. I know all who read this will in the future or maybe even are in this situation. My plea is to NEVER lose hope, NEVER give up! Keep pushing, no matter how far away the end of the trail is, it is worth it to make it there. I know from personal experience that lingering in one area is demoralizing and can even be dangerous. Christ is always there with His arms extended towards you to turn to him to ease your burdens as long as you are willing to do your part and push forward. 

In Your Face

When I think back to the good ole football days, one of the main aspects of life on the practice field was the coaches. Football coaches, as many may know, are not known to be tranquil or quiet at all! In fact, they are often loud and in your face! Having a coach yell at you is probably one of the least desirable situations I can think of next to watching one of the Twilight movies! 

I used to think that when a coach was yelling at me that I was just making him angry because I couldn't do what I needed to correctly. This was largely demotivational to me and made me think that not only was I not a good player, but I had no potential compared to all of the other players that were doing so well and seemed to be far more experienced than myself. 

I was severely mistaken in my thoughts. After talking with one of the coaches, he told me that the reason they yelled at me and some other players so much is because they see the potential in us that we don't see. When we aren't doing things the way they know we can, they let us know it. One coach even told me when you aren't getting yelled at is when you need to worry. That basically happens when you do the wrong thing over and over basically showing the coach you aren't willing to listen.

This is similar to how our Heavenly Father interacts with us. He doesn't usually get up in our face and yell at us like coaches do (unless you are Mahonri Moriancumer). He will still show us in different but distinct ways that he does care. He sees our potential and puts us through trials and tribulations so that we can grow to that potential, to be like Him. So when tough times come, don't get discouraged, know it is because God loves you and wants you to grow. He is always there to help and will show you the way you need to go. He cares for you and loves you and only wants the best for you, and I know that to be true!