Can I just say I'm going through an adjustment period? I just got switched to teaching early morning and first hour seminary. Leaving the house at 6 a.m. every morning has had its challenges. And at the top of the list would be the worry that I might not hear the 5 a.m. alarm go off. So I wake up with a start every hour during the night to look at the time. "No not yet" and roll over to try to go back to sleep. It's been such a good time that by the 3rd night of no real sleep accompanied with dizziness, I took a sleeping pill. Good news... sleeping pill worked. I slept the sleep of the Gods. It was heavenly. The only repercussion was my processing was a tad delayed, which led to taking longer to get ready, which led to leaving later. But then I told myself, "You're ok, it's Friday which is late start." That thought calmed down the building anxiety. Then a mile or so down the road, a single word came to my mind... "Keys." I shrugged it off, " I have my keys, I put them in the zippered part of my purse." And then another thought hit me... "Check." I'm at a stop sign, so I decide to follow through with this thought, even though pretty sure it's in the zippered pocket. I check, it's not there. Hmm. Then I check every pocket.. nothing, and then in a frantic pursuit I'm checking every nook and cranny. No keys!
It's here that I turn around and drive like a formula one race car driver back home. I run upstairs and check the coat I had worn the day before and in the 2nd pocket ( there's only 2) I find them! "Hallelujah!" Grab keys, race back to car and drive in previous like manner all the way to the seminary building only to find the students who ride the school bus are already there, huddled together in below freezing temps. waiting to be let in.( And as you know teens don't wear coats, so they got to be pretty near frozen at this point.) It quickly registers that even though it says it's "late start," the bus schedule is the exact same. Note to self, there is no difference between late start and early start.
As I drive home after classes, I ponder those quiet little thoughts "Keys" and "Check." What would I have done if I got to the seminary building without keys? There was no one else there. The Lord knew this and helped me sidestep a minor disaster . I then wondered if the Lord had even tried to convey that message before I left? Maybe. But, I was in a frenzy trying to get out the door. It wasn't till a mile down the road that my mind was calm and I received the message. Elder Packer shared this quote: “The Spirit does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand. Rather, it whispers. It caresses so gently that if we are preoccupied, we may not feel it at all.”
I wonder how often the Lord speaks to us through the Spirit, but because we are too preoccupied with other things, we are missing the messages. I think I can safely say a lot of messages are getting by me undetected. And seeing that it's January, it feels like the right time to start a new goal like slow down, quiet your mind, and just listen. Can you imagine if we all slowed down and listened to the good thoughts coming to us and then acted on them? Maybe politicians would know how to be peacemakers, and the lonely could be led to connections, the lost could be found, the downtrodden lifted, the anxious comforted, and the holes in our hearts filled with love. I think this one small change, could possibly be the key to changing the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment