Of Life, Love, and the Gift of a Cupcake

I'm sure that before we came down to earth, we all knew that there would be times when we felt discouraged.

We all knew there would be times when we felt we couldn't carry on.
Times when love wouldn't happen the way we planned it.
Times when our worries seemed to swirl around us uncontrollably.
Times when those we loved would turn away from us.

We knew this. We agreed to it. We knew in our hearts that the joys in this life would be worth it.
That the spirit would guide us through, and the Lord would put people into our paths to serve as his hands in offering relief.

Elder Bushe gave a talk at a BYU Devotional in 1996 about ways to get through this life. The ones in blue are my favorites, the ones that inspired me the most.

1. Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks.
2. In your life, there have to be challenges. They will either bring you closer to God, and therefore make you stronger, or the can destroy you. But YOU make the decision of which road you take.
3. First and foremost, you are a spirit child of God. If you neglect to feed your spirit, you will reap unhappiness. Don't permit anything to detract you from this awareness.
4. You cannot communicate with God unless you have first sacrificed your self-oriented natural man, and have brought yourself into the lower levels of meekness to become acceptable for the light of Christ.
5. Put all frustrations, hurt feelings, and grumblings into the perspective of your eternal hope. Light will flow into your soul.
6. Pause to ponder the suffering Christ felt in the garden of Gethsemane. In the awareness of the depth of gratitude for Him, you appreciate every opportunity to show your love for Him by diligently serving in his church.
7. God knows that you are not perfect, as you suffer about your imperfections, He will give you comfort and suggestions for where to improve.
8. God knows better than you what you need. He always attempts to speak to you. Listen to the uncomfortable suggestions he gives you. Everything will fall into its place.
9. Avoid any fear like your worst enemy, but magnify your fear about the consequences of sin.
10. If you cannot love someone, look into that person's eyes, long enough to find the hidden rudiments of the child of God in him.
11. Never judge anyone. When you accept this, you will be freed.
12. If someone hurts you, so much that your feelings seem to choke you, forgive them, and you will be free again.
13. Avoid at all cost any pessimistic, negative, or criticizing thoughts. If you cannot cut them out, they will do you harm.
14.While on the road to salvation, let questions arise, but never doubts. If something is wrong, God will give you clarity, but never doubts.
15. Avoid rush, and haste, and uncontrolled words. Divine light develops in places of peace and quiet, be aware of that as you enter places of worship.
16. Be not so concerned about what you do, but what you do, do with all your heart, mind and strength. In thoroughness, is satisfaction.
17. You want to be good, and to do good? That is commendable, but the greatest achievement which can be reached in our lives, is to be under the complete influence of the Holy Ghost. Then he will teach us what is really good.
18. The pain of sacrifice only lasts one moment. It is the fear of the pain of the sacrifice that makes you hesitate to do it.
19. Be grateful for every opportunity to serve. It helps you more than those you serve.
20. When you are compelled to give up something, or when things that are dear to you are withdrawn from you, know that this is your lesson to be learned right now, but know also, that as you are learning this lesson, God wants to give you something better.

Today has been a hard day. But I know that God loves me--He is looking out for me. He is working through those around me to give me comfort on a day when I just wanna go home and hug my mom and dad and siblings, but can't. Through the small gifts of cupcakes, popcorn and hot chocolate, God is showing his love for me, and words can never describe what those little things mean to me.
I only hope that when the time is right, I can return those gifts from God and help another along their way.

One more quote from Elder Bushe's talk:

"Thus we prepare, all the days of our life, and as we grow
death loses its sting,
hell loses its power,
and we look forward to that day, with anticipation and joy,
when He will come in His glory."

Friends. Family. Life. 12:52 am.

Right now....

I should be cleaning my room.

I should be doing some reading for class Monday.

I should be walking into the kitchen to fill up my water bottle so I'll stop thinking "dang, I'm thirsty!"

Heck! I should be sleeping.

But I can't stop thinking. So I'm gonna write. Okay, maybe I'll go fill up my water bottle first.

What am I thinking about? I'm thinking about
life.
 And where your decisions will eventually take you.

I once had a very good friend. We told each other everything. All the time. But one day while I wasn't looking, he went off and changed completely! The age difference between us wasn't severe then, but now I feel that it is. Everything is just....different.
I can't help but stop and think about him every once in a while. Wonder where he is, what he's doing, and what he's thinking right now. I wonder if he realizes what he's doing with his life, if he knows how all those around him feel, if he knows that I'm thinking of him. He's sort of taken on an "I don't care" mindset with his life, he's very unashamed. I sometimes wonder if that is a mask for his real feelings of guilt. And inevitably, as my mind wanders, I wonder if I ever do this with my life....

Do I fake an unashamed attitude to hide my guilt about anything? My sarcasm? My laziness? My incurable dislike for the dishes?

Another example is the horrible manner in which he treats those closest to him. Those most willing to serve him and give up their time and energy to offer him relief and aid.

At a moment when I was almost consumed with horror over such a selfish attitude--and disbelief over how anyone could possibly be so callous....I was astonished and ashamed to realize that there were people in my life that I treated that way. It was a terribly sad moment for me, but also a moment of determination. I promised myself that I wouldn't allow myself to take those around me for granted any more.

So, in a way, every time I think about this friend of mine, I'm led to a silent reflection on myself. I can't help but almost thank him for that...but at the same time, thinking about it makes me miss him, and not him, but who he used to be...

So the question is: How can I be an influence for good, in a positive way?