Peace

I decided that my purpose today in fasting would be for more peace in my life.  There’s so much going on in my life right now and none of it is really conducive to peace.  There’s work and my grandparents and surgery and just generally trying to decide what I actually want out of life.  None of that is truly conducive to peace.  So rather than ask for a specific answer to any one problem, I decided to ask for something that would cover all areas of my life and then some.  I think peace is something we can all use more of in our lives right now. 

The footnote below was the quote that followed my scripture reading on readthescriptures.com tonight.  It’s a good quote and really makes you think about forgiveness and why we’re commanded to forgive everyone.

I guess Sister G. and I are going to do a song for Christmas.  I talked to her today and it sounds like we’re going to get together sometime this week to start it.  Really, I think it’s a pretty simple song that won’t be hampered by taking a few weeks off while I have surgery and then recover.  All in all, it was a great day spiritually, something I desperately needed.  I need the spiritual renewal I get on Sundays.  It’s only the last weeks that I’ve begun to understand that and cherish the respite from the world that Sunday brings.  While I’m not planning to go over to the ward building on Sunday, I am planning to watch Conference next weekend at home (I LOVE getting BYU TV at home!).  I’ll probably tivo the two Saturday sessions as we’ll likely be down in Illinois. 

As I mentioned above, I’m trying to decide what I want out of life.  I don’t want to reach the end of my life and have the Lord ask me what I did with the talents He gave me and not be able to give Him an answer.  I know that as a daughter of God I have so much potential…but I’m not always sure what I want to do with that potential.  I know that there are so many things I *could* do and that’s part of the problem – there are so many possibilities.  So I’m doing a lot of thinking, trying to decide what exactly it is that I want.  I know that I don’t want to hide my talents under a bushel but I’m also not sure how far I want to take them.  I’m not even convinced that I’ve discovered all the talents my Heavenly Father gave me.  I’m only 24. I’m not naive enough to think I know everything or that I’ve discovered everything the Lord has given me.  But I’ve discovered some of the things the Lord gave me and I have a responsibility to do something with those talents.  The only question is what that something is….

"Not only our eternal salvation depends upon our willingness and capacity to forgive wrongs committed against us. Our joy and satisfaction in this life, and our true freedom, depend upon our doing so. When Christ bade us turn the other cheek, walk the second mile, give our cloak to him who takes our coat, was it to be chiefly out of consideration for the bully, the brute, the thief? Or was it to relieve the one aggrieved of the destructive burden that resentment and anger lay upon us?"

Marion D. Hanks

"Life is measured not by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."