Driving

So it is currently about 2:43am in Provo and I just got back to my apartment not to long ago. I drove about 22 hours worth of the time. It was a super long trip and at times quite challenging. Adam and I both brought our cars up and my dad came with us so the three of us rotated as to who was driving. I was to follow my dad as Adam slept in the car with my dad. In case we were to get separated, my dad gave me a printed out version of the step by step directions on how to get to our destination. As we started out on this journey, I stayed as close behind my dad as possible. I put my blinker on exactly when he did, I changed lanes when he did, I copied his every single move. Later on it was my brother's turn to drive and I was following him. I was trying so hard to keep up with him, but he was speeding and going in and out of lanes. My car doesn't accelerate very fast going uphill and so every time we went up a hill, I got left behind. It frustrated me so much and I just wanted to quit. I couldn't keep up with him and he was getting frustrated that I was so slow. I just felt like crap. From this trip I learned two important lessons. First- my dad did exactly what our Heavenly Father did for us. Christ showed us the way, but we were separated in that we don't have him here right now for us to follow his every move. However, we were left with written instructions that tell us step by step how to get to our destination- our Heavenly home. I should check out that map more often in my life. Second lesson- on how to be an example. When my dad was leading he was patient and understood that my car wasn't that fast and that I was not one to speed so he accomadated my needs as he took the lead. When we are trying to lead someone or be an example to them we need to understand that maybe they don't have all the right tools right now, just like I didn't have the best accelerator. Especially when things get hilly, we need to be patient with others and try and figure out what's best for them. I think I have tried to lead by example the wrong way. I just go about my daily life and expect others to follow me. That's not how I should be doing it. I should go about my daily life, but I should look to others' needs. I need to be more patient and understanding. I can't get frustrated if they don't progress as fast as I want them to. Everyone has a different accelerator. Some people's works better than others. That doesn't mean they are any less worthy. Not at all. We progress at different levels. More often though, I think I get down on myself and want to quit when I see how quickly others are progressing. I feel like a failure when I don't get things as fast as others. I want to learn things fast and be a pro at everything. Who cares how fast we progress? As long as we all get home safely to our Heavenly Father, that is all that really matters. As long as we are putting forth our best effort we are good to go.

Falling

So a couple of days ago I was playing with my nieces and nephews outside. They were riding bikes, scooters, and whatever else we have to ride. Anyway, my niece kept falling down and she would cry and look to someone older to scoop her up and make it all better. This would have been totally fine if she had fallen just once or whatever, but she kept falling and crying. It was so hard to not just run to her and make it all better, but I know that she needs to learn for herself how to get through things and be strong... otherwise she will turn into a brat and a crybaby. As I was watching all this take place, I thought about how it's just like Heavenly Father. He watches us and sometimes we fall and just expect Him to pick us up and make it all better. Sometimes that is exactly what He will do, but sometimes He has to let us just figure it out for ourselves. If He just fixed everything, this would be a world full of brats!!! No, really. There are times when I really need Him to just scoop me up and make it better, but He knows when I need that and when I need to figure it out on my own. A lot of people expect Him to just fix everything and if He doesn't, they stop believing in God or say that God must not love them. I think the exact opposite is true. This life is so that we can learn. It isn't to prove to God that we can make it through anything that is thrown at us. It is for us. He already knows what we are capable of. This life is so that we can prove to ourselves that we can make it through anything and that our faith is strong enough. If I didn't have hard times in my life, I would never have to use my faith. I would never have to push myself to my limits. I would have nothing to be proud of! I'm not saying I am perfect at life. We aren't supposed to be! That is the whole point! We are supposed to fall and make mistakes and have hard times. But we can't expect a truly loving Heavenly Father to just automatically fix everything. We have to learn.