Today In
my Book of Mormon Class we talked about my new favorite concept.. "Therefore moments".
We were reading in Heleman13:4 about the story of the prophet Samuel who was
trying to testify of Christ and preach repentance to the people and they “would
not suffer that he should enter into the city; THEREFORE he went and got upon
the wall thereof and prophesied unto the people whatsoever things the Lord put
into his heart”. Samuel could have
turned around right then and left without delivering his message, but instead
he took the experience in stride and chose to react by changing course and
trying something different. He could have been disappointed and spiteful at the
people who drove him out but instead he handled didn't let him phase him. I
imagine him laughing just a little and then stealing his resolve and climbing up
that wall.
One of my
favorite quote: “One day she (or he..you can be a Queen too guys) finally
grasped that unexpected things were always going to happen in life. And with
that she realized the only control she had was how she chose to handle them.
So, she made the decision to survive using courage, humor and grace. She was
the Queen of her own life and the choice was hers.”
Samuel
handled his disappointment with resolve, with grace, courage and I hope there
was a bit of humor to soften to blow. I love this example- that is what the whole Book of Mormon (as well as the Bible) consists of- specific examples, preserved by God to help us know how to handle this life and everything that comes with it. There are so many instances I have seen
and see in my life where I have to make the decision to react to things
differently, to try again, to be positive..ect.
A
kid in my class raised his hand and compared these “therefore” moments to guys
as they’re rejected or let down by girls. I had to laugh, Bro Kivett said “those
arrows those girls are throwing aren't gonna hit” and he replied “oh yes they
do.. and they hit hard.” Probably one of my favorite moments in this class. And every other person in this room was laughing because they knew just how true that was. Elder Ballard’s talk "The Power of Followup" was brought up, “I got her telephone number and called her the very next day to
ask her out, but she was busy with school and social commitments. Thankfully,
my mission taught me to be persistent even in the face of discouragement, and I
was eventually able to make a date. And that date led to others. Somehow during
those dates I was able to convince her that I was the only true and living
returned missionary—at least as far as she should be concerned”, and I felt the
need to give some serious props to some really good guys who know “the power of
follow-up”. There’s this awesome guy I know,
who I was figuratively throwing the arrows at (unintentionally of course) and
last Saturday he asked me out to lunch. Instead of lunch I ended up on an
elaborately planned spy scavenger hunt to collect our lunch from some secret “agents”
all over campus while getting text-ed directions from “intel” and then met him
in the gardens to eat. The same guy answered my “I need some time to figure
some things out” let down with a “well I’m just gonna keep asking you out, and
you can say no till you’re ready (he says his motto is “The power of Follow-up” from last conference- haha)” And my eventual “I
have a boyfriend now” let down, with a “that’s fine, don’t disappear on me”. I
don’t have a boyfriend now and I still haven’t “figured out” all of whatever it
is I want to figure out.. and i might never. But this guy is super great and his "power of follow-up" is commendable.
THEREFORE, because life never happens
exactly the way I think it’s supposed to - I’m just going to suck it up and
love what comes.
