I know that there are some that think that their family is the best but I am here to let you all know that hands down I have the most amazing family in the world! I know that others have real reasons to believe they are blessed and I am sure they are, but if you even try to argue with me in my thinking that your family is better than mine you will have a real fight on your hands!
The secret is out I guess that we have lost our home to foreclosure and that Paul's business has failed. It all happened in the same week and it was, to say the least, a bit overwhelming! One day we were all thinking that the banks were going to work with us and re-modify our home loan and the next they told us that they sold it on the court house steps and we will have basicly a month to get out. It was quite a whirlwind and then that same week Pauls landlord told them that they had to be out in 36 hours! Yep, we have moved a house and a business this week and decided that if it is ok with all of you we don't really need any of it (the trappings of this earth) All that is really necessary is the love of a good family and the spirit to sustain us.
When I called my mother the morning of the foreclosure I cried and hurt. She was out of town helping my sweet sister Laura have her 3rd baby and couldn't do a thing, but of course she called in the army and hearlded the troops and my family was on the property not 5 hours later helping to pack and load up a trailer to take to Logan and store in the warehouse while we find the next place to land. Not many sisters and brothers in law would be so generouse to take work off and leave their own responsibilites and come to the aid of their sister but mine did! They were amazing! Then they took all our stuff to Logan and unloaded it themselves without us there. Kyle and Riley were amazing and didn't quit working even while the rest of us rested between loads. The help they gave me was as if there had been a death in the family and they were there to support and sustain us!
Before they got there I decided that I needed some perspective in all of this and went to the Lord, again as well. He is always so merciful and gives me just what I need (including the family that I often take for granted). Well, anyway, I was reading in D&C 121 1-8 where Joseph Smith pleads with the Lord during the saints direst trials and this is what Heavenly Father tells him: "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thing afflictions shall be but a small moment: and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triump over all thy foes." Well, this has the possibility of making someone who is suffering very angry because I promise this past year has not been "but a small moment" and the experiences that lie ahead don't seem to be small in time either. Then I thought I better look at it from an eternal perspective and figure out what Heavenly Father meant by what he said.
So I took the understanding that a day in Gods time is a thousand years our time. With this I did the math and figured that if we live until we are 80 years old we will have spent 2 hours of one day Gods time here on Earth. That means that we could have gotten up, had breakfast, said our good buys to Heavenly Parents and brothers and sisters, come to Earth for our 80 years, and been home before lunch! What a small moment! Do you remember what you did last week between the hours of 9 and 11 a.m. on any day? I would have to really think about it! I remember that one of my labor and deliveries was 3 hours and that was really painful and hellish the whole time and it seems but a small moment to me now. I can hardly remember what the big deal was. I knew that I could do anything for a few hours!
And now here I am on Earth and I have forgotten all that I knew before and I have lost the perspective of what a "small thing" it is to endure 2 hours of heavenly time, on top of the fact that much of what I am experiencing that is painful is just the sprinkling on the beautiful sunrises and sunsets of my life. The beautiful things that happen are far more often and far more memorable than the pain, if I choose them to be.
So here's to my 2 hours of eternal time here on Earth, can I endure it well? Can I remember what it is to have the confidence that I can do hard things when the Lord is with me? Can I rememer that I shouted for joy at the opportunity to come here and experience the bitter and the sweet and give glory to God in all of it? Yes!!!!! Today I can! And to have a family that supports and loves me even when they have to come to my rescue and save me from my mudpuddles makes it all the better to remember that I came from a loving family in the eternities and I can be excited to return home to the Heavenly Courts on High and embrace my Father and Mother and thank them for the pain and the joy of going to Earth School and gaining experience! They have and are and always will turn those mudpuddles and rainstorms into sunshine and joy! The bitter BECOMES the sweet as we look back on it and see the strength we gained and power we garnered from the trials. I am grateful and it is enough to love and be loved!
