Monday, April 7, 2014

A favorite take-away from General Conference

April 7, 2014

I had it pointed out to me that my fabulous blog readers don't have the faintest idea como se ve mi companera (how my companion looks), so here's a picture to satisfy inquiring minds. 

Yeah, she's pretty great!

So. This weekend we watched general conference, which is the greatest thing since sliced bread....Actually, I'm pretty sure the first General Conference preceded sliced bread....and it is also much better so I apologize for my trendy yet inaccurate comparison. let me try again.

Yesterday we watched General Conference and it was infinitely better than any overly processed grain-based product.

Bishop Gary E. Stevenson gave one of my favorite talks.  He spoke about how, like an Olympic event, this life is our very, very short time to prove ourselves. This is IT! This isn't the warm-up or the qualifiers, this is our moment to shine and to use every moment to show what we've got.

That hit me hard as I am currently in a very short season of my life that really does require everything I've got. And not just a mission, some of you may be in school, raising a family, working, or any number of other things. At the end of this season in your life are you going to be able to look back and take pride in all the effort that you put into it, or look back and wish that you had done more?

Right before someone takes the ice or mounts the board, there are always those competitors that try and mess with their heads. They may say things like: 

1. You're not as good as the others, you can't possibly do very well.
2. You’ve already messed up on the first run, you can't possibly come back.
3. You've got this in the bag, you don't need to go all out.

Well, we've also have someone who doesn't want us to succeed, and he uses these same tactics. The Devil wants to convince us that:

1. We’ll never be as good as someone else, so why put in all of our time and effort?
2. We've already messed up in life/school/as a parent/in a relationship/at work, and nothing we can do will make up for it.
3. We're doing plenty well, no need to exert all of our effort.
We’ll just naturally do fine.

But remember. These are all LIES, meant to distract or derail us. To keep us from really shining in the short time we have. The most impressive Olympic stories, the ones that everyone remembers, are of those athletes that went through the most adversity to achieve their dreams. A setback isn't necessarily putting you on the bench, just another thing to overcome that makes your story that much more impressive when you emerge victorious. Never become complacent, never become discouraged. You are here to win!

-Hermana Thomas

link to an awesome talk I love:

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