Renewing and Reinforcing My Focus

There are cycles of good and bad times, ups and downs, periods of joy and sadness, and times of plenty as well as scarcity. When our lives turn in an unanticipated and undesirable direction, sometimes we experience stress and anxiety. One of the challenges of this mortal experience is to not allow the stresses and strains of life to get the better of us—to endure the varied seasons of life while remaining positive, even optimistic. Perhaps when difficulties and challenges strike, we should have these hopeful words of Robert Browning etched in our minds: 'The best is yet to be' ("Rabbi Ben Ezra," in Charles W. Eliot, ed., The Harvard Classics, 50 vols. [1909–10], 42:1103).”

L. Tom Perry, "Let Him Do It with Simplicity", Ensign, Nov. 2008, 7

That is certainly my challenge in life right now. "Remaining positive, even optimistic" in spite of the roller coaster of life. And trust me, my roller coaster has been rough. This year hasn't been as many ups and downs. Rather it has been many, many lows. And if any of you are enjoyers of roller coasters as I am, you know that a roller coaster of all lows is very depressing, boring, and even a bit suffocating. Why wouldn't you want that rush of wind and excitement that you get with all the highs and even the loops?

Every time I try to make that roller coaster go higher, I get shoved back down. Often it is my own self doing the shoving. I believe it is because I've been focusing on the wrong things. While the Savior is ever at my side and I try hard to rely on Him, it is the particular things that I'm trying to change that I'm wrong about. I don't change myself. The Savior changes me, through His Atonement. All I can truly change is my attitude and how I choose to let the down times affect me. I've been trying for happiness. But I don't think I've been trying hard enough. I am determined to find a truer, more lasting happiness that can be felt by anyone around me.

And I really do think that I can bring that happiness and turn it into joy by continuing to focus on the Savior and following His commandments, and remembering that the best really is yet to be. So much has been promised me. I'm just in the preparation stages so I can handle all of that wonderfulness. Plus, it will mean more to me when it does come having gone through what I've had to.