Let's Try Yesterday Again

OK.  If I had known yesterday what I know today, I would have posted this yesterday.  But I didn't know yesterday where to find what I know today, so I'm posting it today instead.  Many thanks to my fantastic SIL for the guidance! :-)

Monday, I had a bad day.  It was just hard.  Tuesday was much the same (if not worse, for the first half of the day).  I think I would have been distressed about it, except that I remembered reading this by Boyd K. Packer, from his April 1978 talk called "Solving Emotional Problems in the Lord's Own Way".  Just thinking about it made me feel better.  (So did a good nights' sleep, by the way.)

"It was meant to be that life would be a challenge. To suffer some anxiety, some depression, some disappointment, even some failure is normal.

Teach our members that if they have a good, miserable day once in a while, or several in a row, to stand steady and face them. Things will straighten out. [Yes, I added the bolding.]

There is great purpose in our struggle in life.

There is great meaning in these words entitled “The Lesson.”

Yes, my fretting,

Frowning child,

I could cross

The room to you

More easily.

But I’ve already

Learned to walk,

So I make you

Come to me.

Let go now

There!

You see?

Oh, remember

This simple lesson,

Child,

And when

In later years

You cry out

With tight fists

And tears

“Oh, help me,

God—please.”

Just listen

And you’ll hear

A silent voice:

“I would, child,

I would.

But it’s you,

Not I,

Who needs to try

Godhood.”

(Carol Lynn Pearson, “The Lesson,” Beginnings, New York: Doubleday and Co., 1975, p. 18)"

And that, my friends, is what makes me grateful for the good days that follow the bad, the lessons learned from opposition, church leaders who tell you it's ok if you aren't smiling all the time, and loved ones who help you find the things you remember reading (but can't remember where)!