Don't Wait!
I dream about someday having a house with an entire sun room or a backyard shed with lots of windows to let in natural light—a space I can commandeer as my own creative work space where I can set up an easel and paint any time I want. But that is not the reality at present, and sometimes I let that lack stifle my yearning to create. Sometimes I feel guilty about the mess I make when I’m working on something—paints and papers sprawled over the dining table or top of the piano (my drawing table sits right next to the piano right now, and the supplies tend to overflow). But if I let that guilt/longing for a different space/negativity discourage me from drawing or painting, I miss out on all the beautiful joy that comes from creating right now!
“There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings—we hope and seek after things that are ‘virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.’ The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold as we wait for some future event—our golden ticket—to appear.... The lesson here is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us. This is not to say that we should abandon hope or temper our goals. Never stop striving for the best that is within you. Never stop hoping for all of the righteous desires of your heart. But don’t close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day’s ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life. The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy.”
Don’t think you need to wait for that golden ticket to find joy today!
This reminds me of Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk “Forget Me Not”(https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/.../10/forget-me-not...) and the third thing he suggests we forget not: to be happy NOW. He references Willy Wonka’s golden tickets and how so many people let their happiness hinge on chance—on whether or not they happened upon one of those rare golden tickets. If you don’t have time to go read or listen to it all, here are a few paragraphs from it:
“There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings—we hope and seek after things that are ‘virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.’ The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold as we wait for some future event—our golden ticket—to appear.... The lesson here is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us. This is not to say that we should abandon hope or temper our goals. Never stop striving for the best that is within you. Never stop hoping for all of the righteous desires of your heart. But don’t close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day’s ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life. The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy.”
Don’t think you need to wait for that golden ticket to find joy today!
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