Looketh on the Heart

I've been thinking a lot about competition.  I've been struggling with comparing myself to others.  I'm guessing I'm not alone in that.  But the problem with comparing is that normally we compare our worst to everyone else's best.  Well that's not fair or realistic, so we all need to take a page out of President Uchtdorf's book and "Stop It."

A few weeks ago I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting and the speaker said something that brought me back to reality.  He said, "the only person you are competing with is the person you were yesterday."  The Lord doesn't compare us to anyone else.  The Lord "looketh on the heart."  He looks at your heart.  He doesn't look at so and so's heart and then say, "you're not the same so you're not as good."  Instead He says, "good job, you are trying and I love that." 

As long as you are just a little better than the person you were yesterday, you are making progress.  The Lord notices that, and is pleased with that.  Don't worry that you may not be as good at something as he is or as pretty as she is.  The Lord's not worried about it.  And He gives them their own trials.  The Lord loves you.  All He asks is that you love Him in return and try your best.  You are worth something.  You're better than you think!  That is true doctrine. 

The Oak Tree

Shocking though it may be, the life of a missionary is far from easy.  I have truly been struggling to find value in my work, because as far as numbers go we have not been having "success".  Admittedly there have been days when I have just wanted to give up.  It has been a rough road for the last little bit, but I think this poem pretty well sums up my feelings and lesson learned.

A mighty wind blew night and day.

It stole the oak tree's leaves away.

Then snapped its boughs and

Pulled its bark

Until the Oak was tired and stark.

But still the oak tree held its ground

While other trees fell all around.

The weary wind gave up and spoke,

"How can you still be standing oak?"

The oak tree said "I know that you

Can break each branch of mine in two,

Carry every leaf away

Shake my limbs and make me sway

But I have roots stretched in the earth,

Growing stronger since my birth.

You'll never touch them for you see,

They are the deepest part of me.

Until today I wasn't sure

Of just how much I could endure

But now I've found with thanks to you

I'm stronger than I ever knew.

-Johnny Ray Ryder Jr.

I too have felt like this oak tree.  Facing rejection, doubt, opposition.  However, I have not and will not give up.  Because although I experience trials, I am learning and growing.  I have something so precious that needs to be shared.  I have stayed stong because my roots are deep.  My roots are in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Christ and His gospel is the only source of strength and peace amid trials.  In the book, The Continuous Atonement, Brad Wilcox describes it this way, "In those moments of struggle, our needs are accentuated. When we experience our own Gethsemanes, we truly begin to value Christ’s. When we recognize our own weaknesses, we stand in awe of His strength.”  I have felt the changing and strengthening power of Christ's Atonement in my life.  And although I may not be strong on my own, with my Savior I am stronger than I ever knew.