What Matters Most . . . .

Tonight in family home evening our family watched the short video by our church titled, "What Matters Most." I confess that lately I have given a lot of thought to this very topic. President Monson reminded me that what matters most is people. He said something that I want to always remember:
Never let a problem to be solved be more important than a person to be loved.
It reminds me of the adage that when in doubt, if you have to choose between being right and being kind, be kind.

This is not easy for me. Not that its hard to love. Its been such a blessing to have my calling right now. I have found that when my sisters need to share the hard things in their lives, listening with love and pointing them to the Savior actually infuses my soul with light and increases its capacity to love them even more. I never feel burdened but grateful for the opportunity to share His love. No matter the problem, my loving them is always the right thing for me to do. How easy is that to know my role and have it so clearly defined for me.

Sometimes, though, in the relationships that do matter most, I find myself distracted by problems. I find that its not my natural inclination to respond with that great mantel of charity and glorifying the Lord. Those problems are not mine. I can show empathy, and sometimes I have experienced something so very similar, but this is different. This is my own real life. . . reality in its most raw form.

Charity never faileth. The one thing I can count on no matter what is that Jesus Christ's love me for is perfect, and it has not, and it does not, and it will not ever fail me. Knowing that I am REALLY a daughter of God means that the promise in the scriptures that Charity never faileth was meant for me. It is my Heavenly Father's own testimony that He put into place a way and a means for me to get back to Him. I can trust deeply in His love for me. It is real and it is everlasting. Just typing it here brings tears to my eyes, so grateful I am for that knowledge which is unwavering within my soul.

In my quest for doing what's right even when its not always so evident and clear, the Lord has led me to the words of others that have inspired me. The web is a deep, wide place. I went to the obvious sources of inspiration first. Then on just faith, I clicked on links that had the exact answers I was looking for. Why did I remember one woman in Idaho's blog address, and feel the need to click on one particular friend in the long list of links she had? I can only reason that the Spirit directed me to do so. These were the voices of women I do not know, but am so grateful for the truths they spoke. It resonated in my soul that their wisdom was that which I needed. It doesn't change the fact that when life gives you lemons and you make lemonade and sometimes you realize those lemons weren't really what you were expecting them to be that you have a problem to solve. However, with President Monson's and everyone else's advice to focus on loving more than the unexpected bad lemons, in the end it will all be all right. I trust in the Lord. How grateful I am for His continued sustainence for me. I pray He will lead me where I need to go most, and to have the courage to follow whatever directions he offers.

If today was the day to climb into the ark, would I go when there are no clouds in the sky? I pray to listen and lead and learn so that the things that really do matter most are the things I focus on too. . . in every situation, especially the ones that aren't so easy.