Sunday, December 14, 2008

Quote of Inspiration

"Often doors have closed before you that seemed to lead to the opportunities you thought you had to have. You may have assumed that the closed door was a reflection of some inadequacy in yourself; but perhaps the closed door had nothing to do with whether you were good or bad or capable or incompetent. Rather, even now a loving Father shapes your path according to a prearranged, premortal covenant; the opening or the closing of these various doors is dependent on the Lord's perfect perception of your developmental needs..."

President Monson

"When you know your life is in line with the Lord's wishes, you become content with yourself and accepting of those around you; you gain a clearer sense of your situation in life and what direction to take. You learn that many of the seemingly important things you stubbornly hang on to are not so critical after all. And when you finally let go of them, you feel a burden lifted."

"A person can spend a lifetime asking the whys and whatifs of an experience. But placing life's events in God's hands helps us keep an eternal perspective that gives meaning to even the most senseless experiences."

Richard Paul Anderson

2 comments:

goodbyes said...

Wow! What an inspirational quote that we should all frame!
Thanks, Heather! Can't wait to see ya all this weekend!
Mom

Jennifer said...

This is really good. . . great stuff to remember. Every phase of life has its trials (though I'd have to say single life was probably my least favorite, but we've talked about that). It's really easy to ask why. Sometimes it's this, just that He has something better ahead. Sometimes it's just occupational hazard of living this imperfect, sometimes painful mortal life that we signed up for.

But rarely is it us; I just don't see Heavenly Father as this vengeful Being that punishes us on a regular basis. He doesn't take away our agency, or the agency of others, and sometimes that means we suffer from the decisions of ourselves or others. Often He lets chips fall where they will to let us grow through hurt and discouragement.

But the Good News, the beauty of the Gospel and this life that we eagerly agreed to, is that He has never, ever left us alone. I love that painting of Christ outside the door with no handle. We just have to open the door.

Sorry to rattle on. This just reminded me of some things I learned during some hard times I had.