It is enough

So often, I run through my day like a chicken with it's head cut off, as if my frantic efforts to "do as much as possible" is going to somehow "save" me and my family.  Okay, maybe not "so often" but practically every day. It's sad.  I think I tell myself sometimes, subconsciously, at the end of the day: "Well, I may be worn out, but look at all I accomplished!"

I was struck by some things this morning as I was reading the account of Jesus washing his disciples' feet.  Please forgive my liberty with interpretting Peter's reactions, but they really hit home to me:

 1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

 2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;

 3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;

 4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

 5 After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

 6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?

Peter is confused...why is his Lord and Master washing his very own, dirty feet?

 7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

"Trust me, Peter."

 8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet...

"No!  You may be the Son of God, but I know best!"

...Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

 9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

"Well, in that case, please wash all of me, because if washing my feet does that, surely to wash my whole body is better..."

 10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

 11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.

 12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?

 13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

 14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

"Trust me, to just do what I said and what I tell you to do is enough to save souls...including your own."

 15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

 16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

 17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

Can I simply trust that the things the Lord is telling me to do--not the world, not the example of my amazing neighbors and friends, but the Lord--is enough to save myself and my family?   He even promises us happiness in the meanwhile!  I will try to listen to that still small voice, read my scriptures and pray, and then try to be content that what I do with that is enough and be happy.  Unfortunately, it is far to easy to become addicted to hollow accomplishments and busy-ness and feel disappointement and failure when we don't "do it all."

Alma 37:6 "By small and simple means shall great things come to pass..."

Perfection: making the blooms so big and beautiful, the weeds have nowhere to grow

I love gardening.

Something about working with the earth, clearing the ground for beautiful or delicious things to grow, just satisfies something deep within me.

Not only that...when I am weeding, pruning, watering, weeding, planting, and weeding some more, my mind has a chance to ponder and think.  I have always known this to be one of the benefits of working outside, but today I learned yet another truth as I tilled the soil.

I have worked hard to get our yard back to where it was before I completely neglected it just before moving to Hungary.  It was a mess!  The front yard is blooming and growing, but, as we have other financial priorities, there are some gaps in the garden where no blooms or plants are growing.  No plants other than weeds, that is.  I find that the best way to fight weeds is to plant something else to use the soil.

 Today I noticed some weeds growing in a spot that I have weeded several times.  Resigned, I thought, "Sometimes, you just have to let a few weeds grow and concentrate on the blooms around them."  I thought about my house that gets dirty in the midst of creation, in the midst of homeschooling. I thought of the bad things that grow up around me when I am focusing on big, beautiful good things.

But that led me to thinking...if I have enough blooms to fill my garden, then the weeds really won't grow.

My mind wandered back to my analogy and I think I stumbled across a very beautiful parallel:  when we focus on growing beautiful things in our life--those things that are God's priority and the best and most beautiful things that we can put there--then there will not be time for those weeds of selfishness, bitterness, discontent and envy to grow. If we focus on helping the blossoms of our children grow, focusing on planting good things in their hearts and minds, there will be no room for the bad.  When we fill our mind and lives with the good, the bad simply doesn't have place to grow.

Now, that doesn't mean that there won't be storms, early frosts, and adversity.  However, the weeds will be less to non-existant, depending upon how much time we invest in planting.

I can weed and weed and weed the same spot again and again and the weeds will still keep coming up.  However, if I plant a big beautiful plant in that same spot, my need to weed diminishes.  Similarly, if I poke and prod and poke and prod my children or myself about the "weeds" without planting beautiful things to replace them, I will default to poking and prodding more to try and "keep the weeds down."

Well, time to go weed some more. I didn't read through this again, so I apologize for redundancies and incongruencies, but felt I needed to just get these thoughts down.  Feel free to comment and share your thoughts and experiences on this! :)

Moving rocks

I loved this article from a recent "Friend" magazine!  Sometimes some of the greatest truths come in the simplest packages:

Once a young boy was trying to smooth out the dirt area behind his house so he could play there with his toy cars. There was a large rock blocking his work. The boy pushed and pulled with all his might. But no matter how hard he tried, the rock wouldn’t budge.

His father watched for a while. Then he came to his son and said, “You need to use all your strength to move a rock this large.”

The boy answered, “I have used all my strength!”

His father corrected him: “No, you haven’t. You haven’t had my help yet!”

They then bent down together and moved the rock easily.

The Lord wants us to rely on Him in solving our problems. Then we can feel His love more constantly, more powerfully, more clearly, and more personally. We become united with Him, and we can become like Him.

 I was just reading the parable of the talents this morning and was struck how our meager efforts are made into many things only as we allow the Lord to consecrate our performances.   It is only through His hand and presence in our lives that we are able to have "all that the Father hath."

Yes, we must do all that we can do, but sometimes I think that our "all that we can do" in the Lord's eyes is much more realistic and much more merciful than what we think it is.  The key is to allow Him into our lives daily to help us measure and feel His enabling power through prayer and scripture study and whatever else we feel prompted to do. 

It's funny.  After all these years, I know that those are the answers but sometimes I still really have to drag myself to the altar, as it were, to partake of those mighty blessings that come through those simple acts.  I am reminded of something Quinn mentioned last night in our Family Home Evening on obedience: the people of Moses could be healed from great, deadly sickness if they would just look up at the snake on the rod Moses held up.  That was it.  Look up.  Naaman was healed of debilitating leprosy by simply bathing 7 times in a dirty river.  Do it.

If simple obedience is really the answer, why do I fight and ignore the promptings that often indicate simplicity?

Time to start inviting the Lord with me on my journey more, so I can start moving those rocks that seem to be before me.  Obedience to even the most ludicrous promptings (and maybe especially to those!) will surely yield great miracles in my life.  Why do I insist on doing it "my way", when experience indicates that my way seems to not only not move rocks, but find more to push :)?