I had the opportunity to teach in Relief Society a few weeks ago. I stressed over that lesson so much. I have never taught in Relief Society before, so I was a nervous wreck. I spent many hours in prayer and study while preparing for this lesson. Every spare second I had I was praying and studying. A few days after it was all over, I got thinking about how weak I was, that I couldn't even prepare a lesson without leaning so heavily on my Heavenly Father. Then it hit me... I am weak, and I can't do anything without the help of my Heavenly Father. But instead of continuing to feel weak, I felt strengthened because I know that with my Heavenly Father helping me along the way, I can do anything, I can be anything. It is when I don't rely on Him that I am weak, that things are harder. I am grateful to know that without my Heavenly Father, I am nothing, I have nothing. These are things that I already knew, but it struck me so hard that day, that I believe it will be harder for me to forget in the future.
While out running errands the other morning, I noticed that all of the trees along the side of the road were covered with frost. It was a beautiful sight to behold! About 30 minutes later, I was driving back from the way I had come and noticed that because of the way the wind was blowing, the other side of the trees were devoid of frost. They looked as green as they do on any other day. This got me thinking about perspective. When I changed my direction, or point of view, the tree looked very different. I couldn't help but think about "perspective" in every day life, and how when I have a better, or clearer, perspective on things, I am able to cope with life better. After thinking for a while about perspective, I remembered a talk that was given at a General Conference by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (Come What May, and Love It). He gave this talk shortly before he died. It is one that I loved hearing at the time, and one that I love to read and refer back to.
