Considering ... Optimism, Sun/Mon 10/23-24/2016

I found an article titled "Savor every Moment of Life" by Janice Southern from the October, 2014 Ensign magazine. Here are some excerpts:

It was 4:00 a.m. and I sat at the nurse’s station of the hospital where I worked, pondering my life and wondering what was next for me. As my mind drifted back over the years, I wondered for the hundredth time why I still wasn’t married. My friends were getting married and having children, but I couldn’t seem to find the right person.

The nurse call system rang, pulling me from my thoughts. I went in to help the patient who had called. As I sat with him and tried to help him get back to sleep, I turned my attention to the television program that was on. It was a rerun of a BYU devotional, and I recognized the speakers as Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Patricia T. Holland.

As I listened, I realized the Hollands were talking about the very things that had been on my mind. As they talked of those who were still waiting for marriage, I laughed quietly to myself at their amusing counsel to not “march to an arbitrary drummer who seems to be beating a frenzied cadence to the passing years”1 and to trust in the timing of the Lord.

But tears came to my eyes as I heard, “Life ought to be enjoyed at every stage of our experience and should not be hurried and wrenched and truncated and torn to fit an unnatural schedule which you have predetermined but which may not be the Lord’s personal plan for you at all,” and “Don’t wait to live. … We of all people ought to savor every moment.”

It has been many years since that experience. I have long since moved on from a young single adult ward to a family ward, and so far I’m still single. My situation isn’t what I expected for my life, but Heavenly Father has shown me how “to savor every moment” of life, as the Hollands counseled, even amid my trials. Here are four principles that have helped me the most during this time:

Be Optimistic

One of the characteristics I admired most in President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) was his never-ending optimism. As I study the scriptures, I find this principle repeated over and over. I am amazed at how many times the Lord commands us to be cheerful (see, for instance, D&C 61:36; 78:18; and 123:17). I have learned to be optimistic about my future.

Look for Compensatory Blessings

Closely related to being optimistic is realizing how blessed we are, even when things seem to be going wrong. During a particularly difficult time in my life, when a relationship I thought might lead to marriage was ending, I found a statement Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles made: “Find the compensatory blessings in your life when, in the wisdom of the Lord, He deprives you of something you very much want. … You will discover compensatory blessings when you willingly accept the will of the Lord and exercise faith in Him.”3 I am so much happier as I look for the many blessings that I have instead of focusing on what I do not have.

Find Ways to Serve

Looking for ways to serve others helps me to focus outward instead of on my own problems. I have found that one of the most important ways I can serve is in my own family. As I serve my family and help nurture my siblings’ children, I learn much that will help with my own family someday.

Have Faith in the Lord’s Timing

The Lord has a perfectly tailored plan for each of us. As I turn my life over to Him and trust in His timing, it works out.

I still hope and pray and do all that I can to find a husband, but now I know and understand that “all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things” (2 Nephi 2:24). There are still moments of heartache and perplexity, but they are now only moments because the Spirit assures me that Heavenly Father knows what is best for me.

Today's q/q: How do you feel about this article? Are you generally optimistic? If not how can you become more optimistic?