Lost and Found

It's interesting that whenever we get lost, we seem to find ourselves.

Why is it that we never realize we're being led until we look back at what we've learned?

Have you ever cared about something so much that it tickled you inside just to think about it? For example, I remember when I was a young lad in elementary school when my mom purchased our very first pet. A pair of tiny, adorable little hamsters! Now was my moment to show my mom that I was responsible enough to take care of a pet all by myself, and that I can one day get a real one... a dog! (no offense to the hamsters). I loved those little guys, though. I remember how I couldn't wait to come home from school each day to play with my hamsters. I remember running downstairs and looking in the cage with joy to see that they were still alive! Hallelujah! I loved those little guys.... then came the tragic day when they got in a fight with each other and... died. I was devastated. The only pet I ever had was gone. It always brought me to think if I'd ever get them back, or if I could have done anything better.

I remember another time when I had a 5th grade teacher that I loved to death. Mrs. Bishop was her name. She was the best teacher I ever had. Then one day, she told us that she'd be moving to Kansas. This took me by such surprise. I never would have thought that this person whom I cared so much about would be leaving, and that I'd never see them again. She was the first person that I lost in my life. I cried all the way home from school.

As my life went on, I found that there was a pattern. As I lost things, I eventually found different things of far greater worth. As I lost my grandma and grandpa, I gained a more personal experience of life after death, and a stronger testimony of the plan of salvation. As I lost my family when I left on my mission, I gained a greater understanding of the importance of my family, and a much more grateful heart for my time with them, and those little things that my mom would do for me that I at first took for granted. It seems that after experiences like these, as little as they seemed, I came away from them a better person. I came away from them with a little piece of knowledge about myself that I did not have before. I came away from it more capable to face whatever else lie ahead. The more I lost, the more I seemed to find.

"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 10:39)

 "If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it is quite intolerable. Think of it as a place for correction and it's not so bad... So that which seems the ugly doctrine is one that comforts and strengthens you in the end." -C.S. Lewis

So always remember, "Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain." ~ Vivian Greene