Principal Learned on a Beautiful Morning in June

The day before Dave and I left for the Mission Training Center in Provo, I was sad as I went for my morning run. The thought of being a mission leader was overwhelming enough, let alone in a foreign country and language. I wondered about my capabilities, and I thought a lot about my weaknesses.  I also worried about my children and knew that I would really miss them.  I was tearful and watched my feet as I trudged along, following  the dirt path that leads up a large open field towards a windmill.  Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head that interrupted my thoughts.  It said, “Lisa, don’t miss out on this beautiful Colorado morning just because you are sad!”  Startled, I glanced up from my feet and looked around at an incredibly pleasing morning! The sky was clear, the birds were singing, I was surrounded by tall green natural grasses dotted with wild flowers, and I could see the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains in the distance.  It was so stunning and I almost missed it! I then asked myself, “how often do I ignore the beauty around me because I’m too concerned and focused on my worries, like I had focused on my feet?”  I don’t need to be always focused on my feet, or my worries because they will be there regardless of whether I’m watching them! I then thought of how this applies to everything in life, as well as how I should approach this mission.  Yes, it would be difficult (and it is!) and there is so much to be overwhelmed by, but I need to look for the beauty that always exists around me and take note, and be grateful.  In Matthew 6:28-30, it reads:

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

I have thought of this principle every day since and it really has helped me!