Today

My life, over the past year, has done a 180. Some of the changes have been wonderful, and some have been a bit less enjoyable, but in hindsight they will probably end up being wonderful for how they've helped shape my life.

This weekend I heard something that struck me. I've heard it before, but yesterday it shook me.

First, I'll give a little background.

Sean is the young men's president and I am one of the lucky sunbeam teachers. Sean has meetings every Sunday before church at 8 am. Since we have one car, I head into church early and finish preparing my lesson. This Sunday I finished preparations a bit earlier than usual. I sat in the car as the rain pounded, not wanting to make the dash in until it let up a little bit. I put in a conference cd and listened to the comforting words of Thomas S. Monson. The talk I was listening to is entitled 'Finding Joy in the Journey' (October conference of '08). My favorite portion of his talk was this:

"Day by day, minute by minute, second by second we went from where we were to where we are now. The lives of all of us, of course, go through similar alterations and changes. The difference between the changes in my life and the changes in yours is only in the details. Time never stands still; it must steadily march on, and with the marching come the changes.

This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and non-existent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now."

Needless to say, I have not been focusing on finding joy in all of my Pittsburgh journey. I have found joy in many things, but also have found time to complain about things that I don't love about my experience. The joys I have experienced here tip the scale in comparison to the ones that aren't so....joyful, but for some reason I remember the harder moments.

My new goal is to make every day count. I want to take every opportunity I have been given and make the most of it.

I don't want to wish for next year to come anymore.

I wanted to publicly let everyone know of the simple truths that I know to be true, yesterday, but decided I didn't have everything thought through. Here goes....

I know I have had constant companionship from a loving Heavenly Father through all the changes in my life. I know who I am and I know where I am headed. I don't know where I would be without this knowledge. I am grateful that our modern-day prophet put it all into perspective for me yesterday. I know that all experiences are for our good. I know I am loved.

“You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.” ~Professor Harold Hill (Music Man)

I want to make today count. I don't want empty yesterdays.