This week was pretty wild, transfers hit super quick and now I'm 4 hours out from St. Louis in Danville Illinois! There are parts of this area that have Indiana in it! So some lessons are scheduled for 6pm then after that lesson we head to the next lesson...also at 6pm haha (2 different time zones)
Anyways I'm running out of time here shua always is, but here is something from my studies recently!
I was invited to study the talk "Where Will This Lead?" a little while back and the talk began with a line that beyond stood out to me. "We make better choices and decisions if we look at the alternatives and ponder where they will lead.". This is a very simple, straight forward statement. But it is so true. How often are we truly pondering alternatives rather than just using our instinctive knowledge to assume quickly which decision is better for us at any given moment??
Further into the talk, a story is shared as follows:
The setting was a beautiful college campus. A crowd of young students was seated on the grass. The speaker who described this circumstance said they were watching a handsome tree squirrel with a large, bushy tail playing around the base of a beautiful hardwood tree. Sometimes it was on the ground, sometimes up and down and around the trunk. But why would that familiar sight attract a crowd of students?
Stretched out prone on the grass nearby was an Irish setter. He was the object of the students’ interest, and the squirrel was the object of his. Each time the squirrel was momentarily out of sight circling the tree, the setter would quietly creep forward a few inches and then resume his apparently indifferent posture. This was what held the students’ interest. Silent and immobile, their eyes were riveted on the event whose outcome was increasingly obvious.
Finally, the setter was close enough to bound at the squirrel and catch it in his mouth. A gasp of horror arose, and the crowd of students surged forward and wrested the little animal away from the dog, but it was too late. The squirrel was dead.
Anyone in that crowd could have warned the squirrel at any time by waving his or her arms or crying out, but none did. They just watched while the inevitable outcome got closer and closer. No one asked, “Where will this lead?” When the predictable occurred, all rushed to prevent the outcome, but it was too late. Tearful regret was all they could offer.
...
Well all I am going to do from here is INVITE you to ponder which character in the story best represents you. (the crowd watching, the squirrel, or the dog) then ponder how you will act in future when a situation similar, metaphorically speaking, occurs.
I love you all. And more importantly Our Savior Jesus Christ loves you. He cares about you. He listens to you. Heavenly Father lives and He loves. I am so grateful for this opportunity, this sacred privilege I have to serve as a missionary for Him. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is infinite. We must strive each and every day to help each other and hold each other accountable for utilizing this special sacred gift in our lives daily.
-Elder Shua
(beautiful skies, I cut my eye brow in half, got drenched from a lovely bipolar weather bike ride)
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