I came across this article from Meridian (LDS) Magazine today. A lady who was in my ward several years ago posted it on facebook and the title caught my eye: "
When Your Life is a Pile of Shattered Dreams" by Susan Elzey. I thought-- Wow, sounds dramatic! And I'll admit, I have felt like that a time or two in the past, so I decided to read more. I think it was inspired because I found a couple of gems that apply to me right now.
She talks about how life doesn't always go the way we planned and she references Elder Packer's conference talk, "The Play and The Plan." In this talk, he describes how we are in Act II of a play, and we have forgotten what was in Act I, so we don't know a lot of what is going on down here on earth, or what exactly our part is. I thought about our move here, and how we don't exactly know why this is the Lord's plan for us, we just know this was what we are supposed to do at this time. The Spirit told me without a doubt that moving here is what we should do, and trust me, if it were up to me, we would never have done it.
Then she described the following,
"So then, aware of what our eternal destiny is through the gospel plan, but working with an incomplete knowledge of what exactly our plan is on how we get there, we might construct a plan for life that isn’t exactly what is best for us or was planned for us. Then as a consecrated person, or even halfway so, when that plan changes, we fight against the new plan and decide that life just isn’t turning out “the way it was supposed to.” Therein lies our discontent when perhaps it isn’t the plan that is the problem, but our limited understanding of what the plan really is.
I am a worm saver. After a rain, I seek out the stranded worms on the sidewalks and try to save them from the sun that will dry them out and kill them. With my superior knowledge I know they need to be in the moist earth once again, but they consistently struggle against my help, preferring instead to stay where they are, unaware their position will render them lifeless within a few hours."
Then she made a point that seemed to strike me like a lightening bolt:
"I empathize with them, feeling that I am often one of those stranded worms on the sidewalks, fighting against the God who knows what is best for us, trying to pick us up and placing us somewhere doing something that will eventually bring us the most happiness."
Bring on the tears, thank you! That is my challenge right now. Not to fight against the God who has placed us here. It is hard for me to imagine anything bringing me more happiness than living near my family in my home of Northern California. I was as happy as could be in our town and in our ward and at our school. My challenge is to trust Him that this is place for us right now, and that there are parts of the Play that we don't see.
