Marshaling

Last weekend Terry and I went to the Simplot games.
Those of you that don't know, it is a track meet, for high school athletes.
It has been held for the last 34 years, every February in Pocatello Idaho.
There are kids that come to the meet from all over the US and from Canada.
Terry and I sit in almost the same seats every year and watch as the games unfold. We love getting away in the middle of the winter and we have so much fun!!
This year I was watching for that special something, the thing that I take home from the games that has inspired me.
I love to look for inspiring things! I think they are all around us, but most of the time we are too busy or maybe too stupid to notice them.

Yes, I said stupid...

This year I was inspired by the marshaling area.
This is the place where all the athletes go to check in and prepare themselves for their race. They take off all their extra sweatsuits, ipods, jewelry, etc...
They put all of their things in a crate that is taken to the meeting place after the race so they can reclaim them.
They receive all of their instructions and make their final preparations for the race.
When they step on the track all they have with them is what they have chosen to wear.
I was impressed as I watched all of those kids.
Some of them took the warm-up time seriously, while others just kinda wandered around and visited.
Can you just imagine what was going on inside their heads? All the preparation, all the advice of coaches, friends, and parents. But when they step on that track it is just them.

No one can run that race for them.

So, this makes me think about life. All the time we spent studying, preparing for this life. And when we get here....

No one can run that race for us.

I am grateful for the ones who came before me. Who can teach me because they understand what it is like to run the race. They know what it feels like to fall down, to be completely out of breath. To sometimes give a shoulder to lean on or to cry on.

Most importantly I am grateful for my Savior, who understands everything completely, perfectly. I am grateful that He prepared Himself for His race and then He ran it with perfect integrity. Never a better example, teacher or friend.

Each day we choose to get on that track, to run that race. Let's not be bogged down by the things we don't need, the things we can leave in the marshaling area.

Make it a good week, a good race. I love you all!

Through His eyes

I have been reading a book by Virginia H. Pearce.
(President Hinckley's daughter), the title of the book is, "Through His Eyes, Rethinking What You Believe about Yourself".
On the cover is a picture of an oyster shell, and in the shell is the most beautiful pearl. That reminds me of a poem that I love...

Author: Unknown
There once was an oyster
Whose story I tell,
Who found that some sand
Had got into his shell.
It was only a grain,
But it gave him great pain.
For oysters have feelings
Although they’re so plain.

Now, did he berate
The harsh working of fate
That had brought him
To such a deplorable state?
Did he curse at the government,
Cry for election,
And claim that the sea should
Have given him protection?

No – he sad to himself
As he lay on a shell,
Since I cannot remove it,
I shall try to improve it.
Now the years have rolled around,
As the years always do,
And he came to his ultimate
Destiny – stew.

And the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.
Now the tale has a moral;
For isn’t it grand
What an oyster can do
With a morsel of sand?

What couldn’t we do
If we’d only begin
With some of the things
That get under our skin.

So the book isn't really about oysters, or pearls, it is about how we perceive ourselves. She starts with writing about cleaning out her closet. Pulling everything out and then sifting through it all and deciding what to keep and what to throw away. She uses the closet as a metaphor for our minds, or our belief systems. We clean it all out, separate the truth from the lies and then only put the valuable stuff back in. So I did the cleaning, I found I had a lot of lies in my closet that I chose to believe about myself that just aren't true. I don't know why we hold on to the lies, it really doesn't make much sense when you think about it.
There are several things that I highlighted in the book...
I am going to share them with YOU!!!
It's like it happens in steps or line upon line...

First we evaluate our lives and really decide what we KNOW or THINK about ourselves.

"All of us carry around troublesome little pockets of small truths or lies that cause us pain. Some of them can be easily dismissed once we recognize them. However, sometimes they are so deeply embedded that we need professional support to identify and change them. There is no shame in that. In our modern society we have doctors and lawyers to help us through illnesses or problems that we lack the skills to negotiate on our own. It is the same with therapists. If your emotions are chronically debilitating, you will want to consider getting good professional help."

Second, we LEARN truths....

President Boyd K. Packer said, "True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."

Then third we TEACH truths...

S. Michael Wilcox describes his experience with teaching truth: "Sometimes I start a class or a talk feeling my soul is as empty as a dry lake bed and I have nothing to offer, but when I rise and begin to speak, the water of truth seeps in and fills me, and I know that I know. I am strengthened by my own voice. The memory of hearing the water flowing into me stays and sustains me even in the driest periods."

"As we persevere in our efforts to find and feed Truth, over time we will become the people we were meant to be."

AND THEN MY VERY FAVORITE!!!

"We may not be completely successful in throwing away erroneous beliefs gained during childhood. But the experiences that created them can be consecrated for the welfare of our souls as we turn to the Savior and His atoning sacrifice. They will no longer hold our emotions hostage; they can actually lead us to compassion and understanding."

I love books that help me evolve. Are we ever done evolving? I don't believe we are. I think it would be a fool who would say..."Aren't you done yet?" or "Shouldn't you be over it by now?" I think there is wisdom in fixing what we can, when we can. I believe if we are becoming the best version of ourselves we must constantly search for ways to improve.

Don't ever settle with mediocre...

Be REMARKABLE!!!

I love you all.....Make it a REMARKABLE week!