One Day At a Time

No matter what your age, life can be overwhelming. Everyday we are faced with decisions. Some are simple decisions that we make every day, others can be life changing. And it is the life changing decisions that can be overwhelming. I think what makes them so overwhelming is that we can not predict the outcome. We have no way of telling how our life will be effected five or even ten years down the road. We can make guesses that may be pretty accurate, but ultimately we cannot tell how we will be effected until the decisions is made. I have always been one who over thinks everything. When I have a decision to make I think of every possible outcome, and then from there I try and think of how each will play out down the road, and for me, that is when it becomes overwhelming. But, I have found a solution that works for me. And that is to trust my gut instinct, and take it one day at a time. I have found in my twenty-one years of experience, that ninety-nine percent of the time my gut feeling is right. It's that natural human instinct (also known as the Holy Ghost) that leads us to do what is right. And then after you make your decision, stick to it, and take it one day at a time. Some of the decisions we make will be hard. They will try our strength and our will power. Sometimes it will be easier to just quit, but that is when we really have to dig deep and find our inner strength. That is when you take it one day at a time. Each day it will get easier, you find strength that you didn't have the day before. Plus, as you strive to do right you are blessed. Life is tough and it can be overwhelming. But, if you take it one day at a time you will find that it isn't too bad. It won't be more than you can handle. You will be able to make it through and find the courage it make it another day.

So, just remember take it one day at a time, and follow your gut :)

Oh, and P.S. if you want a good song that goes a long "One Step At A Time" by Jordin Sparks is your song.

The Only Way to See the View is to Make the Climb

This morning me and my family took a hike up Waterfall Canyon in Ogden. It had been quite some time since we had hiked that trail, and my mom had never hiked it. It isn't too tough of a hike, but it taught me a lot. As we were hiking a long, we came upon a couple of forks in the trail. The first fork we came a upon was the trail head for a couple different hikes and had a sign that pointed to the trails, so we followed the trail that led to our desired destination, which ultimately was the waterfall. The next fork we came upon had no sign and the trials led in opposite directions. One that followed the river, and the other that lead away from it. So, using my logic I said we should probably take the one that follows the river since we want to get to the waterfall, and the other path leads us away from that. So, we took that trail and kept hiking along. As we got higher up towards the waterfall, the trail became harder to see, and got very rocky and rough and at one point we had to cross the river on a make shift bridge. Because of the large amount of runoff water we have this year, in many places the river has shifted courses to accommodate the amount of water coming down. As we were climbing across the rough terrain, my mom made a comment that really made me start thinking. She said, there has to have been another way to get to the waterfall, because this terrain is rough and there really isn't a trail. Sometimes the only indication we had that we were going the right way was that other people were coming down. Well, we continued the hike over rocks and river and we did reach our desired destination. The waterfall was extremely pretty, and with all the run off was pretty big! But, on my way back down the mountain I really got thinking about what my mom said, and this is how I related it to life..

We are all here on earth on our our own hike. All with a specific desired destination, like the waterfall, or in our case back to our Father in Heaven's presence. At the beginning of our hike, we are told where what our destination is and we are sent on our way. Sometimes there are signs that will point to our destination, other times we must choose which way we think will lead us to that destination. There will be multiple trails that lead us away from our destination, so we must think things through and decide which trail will ultimately lead us where we want to go. There will be things that will help indicate which path is right (like the river). As we travel on our trail of life, it won't be easy! We will have to climb over rocks, and cross gushing rivers, and continue on even when we can't see the trail clearly. Sometimes things will get in the way that will make our path change every once in a while. We will have to hike on a little bit tougher terrain because the path isn't clearly paved before us. We might get tired, we might doubt ourselves and our direction, but if we look around, and really assess our lives we will know if we are on the right path or not. Life was not meant to be easy, it was meant to be trying and to test us, and to see if we really can make it to our final destination. If we want the blessing of Celestial glory we have to put in the work to get there, just like if you want to see the waterfall you gotta make the hike.

Life won't be easy but it will be worth it because, "The only way to see the views is to make the climb." (Elder Paul V. Johnson)