The Art of Patience

We have FHE (Family Home Evening) every Monday night. Sometimes we have a family council where we talk about schedules, or vacations, or rules. Or it could be an activity like carving pumpkins, or planting the garden. My favorite has been the birthday tradition. We all take a turn telling the birthday person why we love them, appreciate them and even like them! And we always end with some sort of treat. Yesterday, we went out for ice cream. But before that, Pete gave a "lesson" where we read James 1:2-4 and parts of a talk given by Neal A. Maxwell entitled, "Patience" (https://www.lds.org/ensign/1980/10/patience?lang=eng).

We all have expectations and sometimes we are disappointed if things didn't work out like we expected. We sometimes want to play victim and have any emotion we feel appropriate. And feel Justified in that emotion. We talked about some things but here is what i heard: Instead of complaining or being sad at what I am limited with or things I cant do that I loved, find Joy in the life I do have. Joy in things I can do.

His examples were things i had thought of before; a gym meet that didn't end as expected....; mom and dad didn't sign up for our lives to be difficult like this....; our dog having to be put down because of old age. The thing that made me look at things a little deeper was when he mentioned that Christian didn't sign up to be a baby when his mom had surgery. Although, that made me so sad, Pete followed it up with saying in spite of that he still chose to be a happy boy, starting kindergarten and enjoying life.

We all get to look at the wonderful things in life and not add up the unfair things instead. Christian may only be 5 but that is where we can try to be more like a child. Instead of looking for compensation, look for the happy. You'll find whatever you're looking for.

Mount Rushmore

Waterpark with cousins...Awesome!

Door County was CHILLY! We got cool hoodies to stay warm.