Your Golden Ticket

How many of you watched Women's Conference last Saturday? I admit I didn't watch it on Saturday, I did watch the whole thing on the internet last night thoug and President Utchdorf did not disappoint. As always he was right on the nose with what we all need to hear. Here's a link to a copy of his talk. You must read it before reading the rest of this post. Go on, don't worry, I'll wait for you....
Good, your back! Now to my point of today's blog. I loved when Pres. Utchdorf talked about the golden tickets. How we sometimes want the golden ticket so bad, we forget how wonderfully dreamy the chocolate is on its own. (An analogy from Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I love that book!) It made me evaluate my goal to be a published writer. Do I obsess over the publish part so much that the writing isn't even fun anymore? I'm not sure honestly. I know I'm better than I was a couple of years ago when I sent agent queries out and got rejected. That was when writing lost its flavor for awhile. Afer all, I worked so hard on the book only to be told I need to work harder. It was devastating, only because I let it devastate me. Yesterday, my 15 yr old daughter ran in a cross country meet. She's ben training since before school started in August and she is improving so much. When she came across the finish line yesterday her breathes came out in sobs and tears streaked her face. Not because she was happy or sad, but just because of the sheer effort she laid out there. She gave it everything she had, but she still didn't win. After she caught her breathe, the tears stopped and she reflected on the improvement she had made and ,as her parents, we guided her to see how wonderful her time was and how proud we were that she gave her all. but mostly I was proud because I know that if she continues to give life everything she has, while enjoying her progress, she will live a very happy and productive life. That is what most parents want for their children and it is what Heavenly Father wants for us. So write that book, send it to agents, get your rejections, have your cry, but then look at the journey and rejoice in it. Remember that life IS the golden ticket. It is the prize!