The Golden Ticket

I was having kind of a rough time this weekend just with stupid things. So I started talking to Austin about it and he bluntly told me that I need to stop complaining about the one thing I don't have and start being grateful for the things I do have. I have a great family, I'm going to a great school with a full tuition scholarship and I have great friends and I'm doing things right in my life. Who cares if I don't have someone. At first I thought he was just being rude so I was blocking out things he was saying. I thought: "He doesn't know what I'm going through, he doesn't know what it's like, how dare he be that shallow." I told him I just wanted someone to vent to, not someone to tell me what to do. I was pretty mad I'm not going to lie. So he left, me being not too happy with him.

But then later on I started thinking about it, I really do have everything I need, why was I complaining about my one stupid little problem. How selfish. I felt like a complete idiot. I didn't want to admit it to him, but I texted him and told him sorry and thanks for the reality check, I really did need it.

Then later that night I went with my mom to the Relief Society broadcast, just at our stake center. I loved all of the talks, but I was ESPECIALLY blown away and spiritually filled from President Uchtdorf's talk. His talk was meant for me (I know everyone thinks this all the time, but this time it really was meant for me :D) and it spoke to me, and was overwhelmingly powerful. What I really loved was his story about Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

No one was satisfied with regular chocolate anymore. Everyone was searching for something better, the magic golden ticket. They would stop at nothing and do everything they could to obtain this one thing they wanted most. He goes on talking about our golden tickets in our lives. How many times do we want something so bad that we will not be satisfied until we obtain it.

He tells us that we need to slow down and enjoy the sweet chocolate in life that we already have and stop wanting more, or, the golden ticket.

I wanted to cry. He really was talking to me, and after the talk with Austin I felt even more stupid and like I really needed to change. All I was doing was looking for my golden ticket, and that's all I was concerned about. It was slowing down every other aspect of my life and I wasn't being grateful for what I have now and what is here. I really changed my perspective on how I'm living my life and made me want to be better. It didn't make me feel inadequate, it just made me want to be better. President Uchtdorf really has that power over people. Never making you feel like you are worthless or not doing enough, he always tells you how wonderful you are and gives you tips for improving your life.

The next part of his talk that I really loved was the analogy about the Forget me not flower. He gave 5 examples of things we should NEVER forget.

Forget not...

1. To be patient with yourself.

2. The difference between good and foolish sacrifices

3. To be happy NOW

4. The "why" of the Gospel

5. That the Lord loves you

All of those things are thing we all need to remember but especially me and I'm grateful that I had this time to really reflect on myself and what I need to be doing and it helped me so much! It helped me see the whole picture and I loved every second of it :)

Another experience I want to share is what happened in church today.

We have a little boy in our ward named Brandon. He just turned 12. But today he passed the sacrament. He has another boy in our ward standing next to him and guiding him the whole time because Brandon has some disability and can't do it on his own yet. So the boy helped Brandon pass both the bread and the water. It made me really think about Christ and how he is always with us and guiding us. He doesn't do it for us, but he is always there and helps us when we need it, or ask for it.

It also made me once again realize how special these people are. I love them to pieces and admire them. They were chosen before they came here to be in this body. Satan cannot touch them. That's why they are in these special beautiful bodies. They also bless, strengthen and humble the lives of everyone they meet. I can see the light in their eyes. They are literally perfect and have a one way ticket to heaven no matter what.

Another boy in our ward that I know very well bore his testimony today. His name is Sebastian. He has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair and can hardly speak or hold his head up. He has always had a special place in my heart. The way he bears his testimony is his dad or mom (this time is was his mom) brings him up and face him towards us and they talk to him before about it but he just has the biggest cutest grin on his face. His mom goes to the pulpit and asks him questions like: do you love Jesus, does he love you, do you love your family, do you love to read the scriptures and simple things like that. He responds yes with a squeal and a huge grin, and a no with saying no. Every question he just gets a huge grin and squeals. You know he knows it's true. He may not say it. But he knows that it is true. It's such testimony builder to me.

Anyways that's all. :) crazy fun weekend but that's how I like them.

The End