The little things...

A couple of quotes to start off with:

"Some people are stumbling over the big things in the dark, while others are wiping the dust off the furniture" - a new good friend of mine

"The Lord won't give you anything more than you can handle" - The Bible?

The first quote has to do with people that haven't "seen the light" yet. They are stumbling around in the dark, unable to see the big picture yet, and they are really struggling with some of the big things in life. I certainly don't mean to imply that I am now dusting off the furniture, but I would DEFINITELY say that I was recently stumbling over the big things! My recent enlightenment has moved me further along the path, and I am thankful for that.

The second quote is one that again, I have heard it again and again, to the point that its' relevance is all but lost on me. One of those phrases that I hear or think about and go "Oh, it's the saying that says such and such... ok..." rather than thinking about the MEANING of it. I think this is a danger all of us face in words that we hear too often. When our hearts are "hardened", we fail to embrace the words and seek out their meaning. It becomes so easy (for me anyway) to just stumble over those words, reading them, realizing the meaning of the INDIVIDUAL words, but not even trying to look at what the "big picture" meaning of them is. To risk possibly having a revelation of a new or different meaning by thinking about them again. For me, this is kindof a laziness that I have - if I have "already" learned something, I tend to be "done" with it.

As I write this, I realize I need a third quote, one that has some amazing relevance to me as an individual:

2Nephi28,29-30
"Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough!
For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have."

These are words that I know I individually must read often. I need to remind myself of their meaning and I need to find a way to not glance over these words and lose their significance.

I am one that needs to continue reading. I am one that absolutely CAN NOT say "I need no more of the word of God, for I have enough!" - for that will be my downfall, and I can feel it. Therein lies my personal devil; that is the method of my undoing, and I see it even now, so I must fight it.

So in the last few days, I had felt that I was not experiencing any more great revelations or amazing new insights or similar things. In thinking this, I felt it wasn't time to post on this blog because up until now, the revelations I have had occasion to share were extremely powerful to me. I felt it necessary to wait until something similar happened to post again. I have realized since then that this is a blog on which I need to post periodically. This is a journal of sorts, and I think a lack of posting here is a sign that I have strayed from the Righteous path, as my doubt in recent days has been.

Therefore, I share some things that are NOT insignificant, but rather are QUITE significant. But in my zeal to go down the iron rod in leaps and bounds, I lost sight of the small steps we all must take.

I have been walking with the Lord. I have been aware of Him throughout each day since I had that sincere revelation. This is an amazing and a wondrous thing. There are times that I wish I didn't know he was there, for he commands me to be Righteous, and the devil does tempt me to falter. But I have remained true to the path, and I need to remember how special it is not only that the Lord walks with me but even moreso - that I recognize it!

For me, one of the biggest benefits of knowing that I walk with the Lord is that I seem much more in tune with the promptings I receive. Much more willing to act on them. I have received so very many promptings in my life up to now and I have been so willing to embrace laziness and ignore them up until now.

What I say now, I say for myself to read for all time:

Following ALL of the promptings throughout a day is an AMAZING thing! It is like having someone at your side the whole day long guiding you down the correct path. At the end of such a day, you can look back and know that you have done Good. You can look back and know that your next days will be easier because THIS day you did what you should have. And if you follow the promptings the next day, they will be even easier the next.


For me, promptings cover the entire gamut. I had a prompting to give a specific message to two people. That one I resisted for a while, it felt so odd to me... More often, the promptings I receive are the knowledge that that "little chore" - that "small task" - that "thing so easily put off until later" is something I need to do right now. And if I do it right now, it is done, and I feel good for having done it. And I am not reminded later that I didn't do it. And I don't put it off the next day, and the next, and the next. All the energy and negativity of thinking about not having done something - GONE. And all the benefits that come from actually DOING that task, those benefits are here, and they are real, and they are tangible, and they are Good.

So, a couple of examples. I write this both to remind myself and to possibly help others as they walk down this path.

The first one, not so pleasant - the bathroom toilet...

Yes, it was backed up. And on the one hand, I was blessed that it never overflowed. On the other hand, it was backed up. And my Mother was coming the next day to watch my children while I went to some training. And the toilet was backed up. And it was 8pm at night, and I had no one to watch my children. Fortunately, the kids hadn't quite gone to sleep yet, they were in their pajamas and IN bed, but they hadn't fallen asleep yet. So I put shoes on them and I took them with me to a local CVS pharmacy very close to my house. My thought was that I could get a plunger and get out very quickly because it was such a small store. It had no plunger. So I packed the kids BACK into the car and I took them to a grocery store where I searched and ALSO failed to find a plunger. I was looking in the section with the toilet bowl brushes and felt certain that that is where it would be if they had one, and they didn't. Just as I felt the grip of despair and the knowledge that I was going to now have to drive several miles to yet a third store, I turned around, and there on the other side of the aisle, were plungers! I would never have thought of a toilet bowl plunger as a blessing, but at that moment, it definitely was! Fast forwarding to the point in time where my children were in bed, asleep and the toilet was back to normal, it had taken some effort to get the kids packed up in the car to visit two stores at that time of night, but I was really glad for having done it. I slept a lot better last night as a result. Now rather than handing over the house to my Mother with a real problem, I hand it over to my Mother with NO problems. I feel much better for that.

Finally, I had another prompting to talk about. Yesterday morning, I had a prompting to invite a new friend in my neighborhood over for dinner. I was to invite he and his wife and son over. I had an extremely busy day going at work and I knew I was going to have a lot of work preparing dinner for three other people. I don't normally do the whole "x number of courses with condiments and plates and silverware for everyone". What I usually do is I fix two things for myself and my children, I prepare their plates and put their plates on the table and we eat. Usually by the time I sit down to dinner, I have everything I got out to prepare the meal put away - in the pantry, the fridge, or the dishwasher.

So I was in nearly five hours of meetings for work yesterday and realized it was going to be late before I could call my new friend to invite them over. Part of me wanted to do just that - so my friend would say they already had other plans or had already eaten and I would get out of having to prepare the meal. But instead, while I was on the phone, I texted him and invited him over, and he accepted. Which was good. I knew in my heart that I needed to do this.

I had a meeting get canceled on me (actually moved to the next day is what happened), and that gave me some extra time to prepare. I scurried about and got everything ready for them to come over for the meal. I didn't have a meal anywhere near as nice as what my Mother usually prepares, but I did have hamburgers and hot dogs, tater tots, corn on the cob, some beans, and fixin's for the hamburgers.

It took a while to get everything finished preparing and in doing so, I did end up with some overcooked buns in the oven (they really dried out). That was the one casualty. We still used the buns and I think everyone enjoyed the meal (I certainly did).

It felt amazingly good to "host" dinner at my house. I can't even describe how good it felt - I knew it was something I needed to do, and I felt so much better for having done it, regardless of the work involved.

When the meal was over, I had a really good time talking to my new friends and they even helped me clean up the dishes and everything. We sat down and talked about a lot of things including the Church and some scripture.

I don't know specifically what I needed out of having them over for dinner, but I know I needed to do that yesterday. I feel so much better for having done it, and I think it has gone to start a good friendship with them. I found some surprising common interests with them that I sure didn't expect, and I think our future together as friends is a nice one. :)

So I just needed to sit down and write this all out this morning to remind myself that sometimes when I am in the middle of living my life, and following the path, that even though I may not be having unbelievable revelations of the magnitude I first did when starting the path, amazing things do continue to happen.

My life is better for following the promptings and for knowing that the Lord walks with me. And perhaps even more importantly, my childrens lives are better. They made a new friend yesterday! :)