Choices

by Kasey Tross

Yesterday morning before the Sunday Morning Session of the semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began, I took a few moments to write down some questions I hoped to find the answers to during conference that day. 

One of my questions was this: "How can I stay motivated to continue writing and finish my novel?" 

Imagine my surprise and humble gratitude when my question was answered during the first thirty seconds of the first talk by the first speaker- who happened to be the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, no less. 

He said, 

"It has been said that the door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. The choices we make determine our destiny." 

For some reason, the thought of a big, heavy door, and those small hinges, and the choices I make each day suddenly opened my eyes. I make a thousand tiny decisions each day, and how many of them impact my writing? How many times do I choose to hop on Facebook rather than work on my writing? Or watch TV at night instead of write? Or do ANYTHING to put off writing? 

Choices are small. They are simple. And as we know, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Entire books are written. Or, in my case, not written.

At the end of the day I got even more added encouragement from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who told me, 

"Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."

He told me I don't have to be perfect, I just have to keep trying. Even if I don't succeed, trying still counts.

But if I'm not trying- well, to paraphrase a movie I watched the other day, you'll always miss the shots you never even take, right?

So today I'm going to commit to oiling my hinges and making sure that door of my destiny is pushed wide open by the choices I make every day. 

Care to join me? Let's meet back up here tonight for a writing sprint. I need all the motivation I can get. 9pm EST- that's 7pm for you Utahns. ;-)

Let's go! Heaven is cheering us on!

Reasons My Kid is Crying...and How that Applies to Life

by Katy White

A few days ago, this happened:

That's a picture of my daughter sobbing on the ground for her milk. Which is also on the ground. Less than a foot from her.

 When I asked her what she wanted, she said, "Milk." When I asked her to grab her milk, she said, "Momma do it." I explained to her that she was closer, that she was capable, that the milk was right in front of her, etc. She didn't care. It was Momma or nothing. 

I'm a very rational person and, resultantly, have a tendency to value reason over emotion. So I found this entire display beyond amusing, to the point that I pulled out my phone and recorded it, with me chuckling in the background. During the video, I asked her again what she wanted and tried to help her see how she could get what she wanted. But as I was doing that, the strangest feeling came over me that she didn't need a lesson, she needed love. At that moment, she looked up at me and held out her arms for me to pick her up, and that's exactly what I did.

She gave me a long hug, and I reveled in it for that tender moment. When she stopped crying, I asked her if she wanted her milk, and she nodded. I asked her if we could get the milk together, and she nodded again. I leaned over and, still in my arms, she reached down, scooped up the milk, and started drinking it. 

Soon after this incident occurred, the words of Jeffrey R. Holland came to mind, where he implored us to:

...cease withholding our means because we see the poor as having brought their misery upon themselves. Perhaps some have created their own difficulties, but don’t the rest of us do exactly the same thing? Isn’t that why this compassionate ruler asks, “Are we not all beggars?”¹¹ Don’t we all cry out for help and hope and answers to prayers? Don’t we all beg for forgiveness for mistakes we have made and troubles we have caused? Don’t we all implore that grace will compensate for our weaknesses, that mercy will triumph over justice at least in our case?

It's easy to look at people's problems and think of a dozen ways they could fix them, if they would just try. But sometimes, people don't need a solution, they need a shoulder to cry on. They need to know they're not alone. They need to know that somewhere, someone is willing to get in the trenches and fight alongside them. They need to know that, however capable they are of getting the milk themselves, Momma is willing to help sometimes, too.

I hope the next time I see that need, I'll recognize it a little more readily.