This whole night I have been thinking about writing in my blog! Well at least the later part of the night haha. As I have mentioned in the past, I work in a bakery, we make all sorts of scratch breads meaning we start them from the flour & leaven and work to the loaf all in one day. It is very fun to see something you start with as mere powder and liquid become a delicious masterpiece. Yes, every loaf of bread is a masterpiece!
It has been amazing how much I have enjoyed writing in this blog. It had been on my mind for such a long time to do something of this nature but I never really took the time to. I always felt like it was pointless with so many other blogs out there and such little confidence others would want to read mine. Now I don't worry about it so much and simply enjoy what I write. I enjoy the story and I enjoy sharing. If there is but one person that gains from it then I will be happy! Even if that one person is me, haha.
Lately it has been weird. Life has been good. In fact, it has been nearly perfect. There has been so much that is right in my life and the Lord is clearly guiding me. At the same time I have found myself more frustrated than ever before. Mostly at myself but it is a strange thing for me to feel! I don't get angry! Ha, or so I thought. When I am frustrated, it is often something insignificant that causes me to react and be angry and when I am occupied with something else later I realize it doesn't really matter at all. In the end I am more frustrated I was angry at all than anything else.
It is crazy how life can be. It seems the more I live life the more I am finding, it is a journey. The goal I guess is to learn to enjoy that journey. I will not be able to live perfectly now and must be able to enjoy the process of becoming perfect. That is essentially what I struggle with, wanting to know & reach the end from the beginning. ha, ha. I remember back in the day when I played video games I would choose the hardest difficulty and play the same level over and over until I could finish that level. I expected to pass with "experienced" difficulty in ease when my hand-eye coordination only provided me a "beginner" ability! And how silly it would be. My friends would be able to enjoy the game. They would continue it knowing the story line and enjoying the experience or the atmosphere and imagination the game provided. In my case I was so focused on reaching the end that I missed out on the experience and halted my progression.
In my mission we often talked about goal setting. We talked about it frequently and were encouraged to keep planners of our daily activities, planning every week 10 days in advance and every night. At times they could be very thorough and others a little rushed. These plans helped us to achieve our vision of "helping others to receive the restored gospel." Often my mission president would encourage us to set goals to which we knew we could achieve and reach them consistently. It was only then, once we had consistently reached our goal, that we increased our goal higher. Even then it was increased enough we stretched but still knew without a doubt we could achieve it.
I know now as much as I knew then, that this is a true principle and will help me in my life as I live it. I am amazed constantly by the many lessons I am learning but I am always grateful for them. I am excited to begin applying this principle in my life again.
In the bakery I guess I know the end from the beginning and that is probably part of why I enjoy it. I know we start with mixing, go to shaping, and once we bake we are finished! We end with a delicious loaf of bread ready to be served : ) Perhaps life is a process just like the bakery with different steps that we must go through. And while a perfectionist might want to focus on only one part or even be the perfect baker on only his first loaf. We must take it step by step and as we do eventually the "Great Baker" will form us into His own masterpiece.
-Trent D. Nielson
"Keep the Faith, Never Give Up, Never Surrender"
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