What a glorious weekend to sing in the Conference Center and listen to the words of Apostles and living Prophets! The messages were timely and many were meant just for me. I've been thinking of Elder Bednar's example of his friend's truck getting stuck in the snow. He said that the friend went about his work of cutting wood in the forest, loading up his truck, and praying that he could have enough traction to get out of the snow and back down the mountain. Turns out that the heaviness of the load provided the traction enabling the truck to get unstuck. How many times do we complain about our heavy loads, when all the time it is the heaviness of those loads that allow us to grow and gain the spiritual traction to move forward along life's path. What a great perspective! We should be grateful for our burdens that give us meaning and purpose. My dad always used to tell me that we need our troubles and problems. As a scientist, he well understood that without problems to try to solve, what a dull existence we would live. We need to have struggles and questions and hurdles to try to get over in this life. Without them, we would simply stagnate. Besides, "the idle mind is the devil's playground!"
So now the challenge is acting on the counsel we have heard. I have many projects ahead in the next few weeks. Instead of giving in to the feeling of being overwhelmed, I need to adjust my perspective and realize that it is the load that will give me the traction to move forward. I need to think about the wonderful knowledge and skills I will gain through the experiences. I need to be grateful that I have the opportunities before me and be happy that I can be productive and serve others. How wonderful to receive inspired counsel from our leaders every six months in General Conference!
The music was wonderful to sing, too. My favorite moments were when the men sang in four parts. The new arrangements by Ryan Murphy of "Come, O Thou King of Kings" and "I Stand All Amazed" were particularly meaningful for us to sing. Difficult, but meaningful. We even were given some kudos for how unified we were singing. The soft, unison sections are usually the most difficult to get unified. The next most difficult to unify are the ascending lines with sudden drops in pitch by dramatic skips. We worked very hard to do all that we were asked, and prayed that we could sing through our tears to make it all work. We have a difficult concert coming up in less than two weeks and a major recording after that. We are working hard on memorization and mastering difficult singing skills in order to sing Handel's Messiah. Our directors tell us that this diligence is what will give us the stamina to accomplish our goals. We are doing all this while continuing to try to also carry the loads of our regular daily lives. We are reaping great rewards, though, by trying to leap over these hurdles while carrying these loads. Once again, it's the load that provides the traction to move ahead.
So now the challenge is acting on the counsel we have heard. I have many projects ahead in the next few weeks. Instead of giving in to the feeling of being overwhelmed, I need to adjust my perspective and realize that it is the load that will give me the traction to move forward. I need to think about the wonderful knowledge and skills I will gain through the experiences. I need to be grateful that I have the opportunities before me and be happy that I can be productive and serve others. How wonderful to receive inspired counsel from our leaders every six months in General Conference!
The music was wonderful to sing, too. My favorite moments were when the men sang in four parts. The new arrangements by Ryan Murphy of "Come, O Thou King of Kings" and "I Stand All Amazed" were particularly meaningful for us to sing. Difficult, but meaningful. We even were given some kudos for how unified we were singing. The soft, unison sections are usually the most difficult to get unified. The next most difficult to unify are the ascending lines with sudden drops in pitch by dramatic skips. We worked very hard to do all that we were asked, and prayed that we could sing through our tears to make it all work. We have a difficult concert coming up in less than two weeks and a major recording after that. We are working hard on memorization and mastering difficult singing skills in order to sing Handel's Messiah. Our directors tell us that this diligence is what will give us the stamina to accomplish our goals. We are doing all this while continuing to try to also carry the loads of our regular daily lives. We are reaping great rewards, though, by trying to leap over these hurdles while carrying these loads. Once again, it's the load that provides the traction to move ahead.
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