To Be Content

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 for 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 bright 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 my mission.  Yes, it would be difficult (and it is!) and there is so much to be overwhelmed by, but I need to be hopeful and look for the beauty that always exists around me and be content.

Mormon taught us that hope does not mean ignoring or being naive about our personal problems or even the world’s problems.  Hope means having faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, whose power is greater and more everlasting than any of these problems.  It means “lay(ing) hold upon every good thing” (Moroni 7:19) and to look for the good that exists around you.  It means LETTING the Atonement of Jesus Christ  “and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind” (Moroni 9:25) and bring you peace.

I have always admired people who seem content in this world.  It is not a common trait but one that I have desired.  I have learned that it is a purposeful decision and is fundamental to having hope. When one is content, they don’t suffer the destructive effects of FOMO and needless comparisons. Nor is it a shoulder-shrugging passivity, but rather a quiet acceptance.  When I strive to be content, it shows that I trust God and His plan for me.  When I am content, I feel peace as I move forward regardless of my outward circumstances and without self-pity nor despair.  I believe that this is what the Lord meant when he said, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalms 46:10)

Elder Uchtdorf said in the  2008 October General Conference:

The adversary uses despair to bind hearts and minds in suffocating darkness.  Despair drains from us all that is vibrant and joyful and leaves behind the empty remnants of what life was meant to be.  Despair kills ambition, advances sickness, pollutes the soul, and deadens the heart.  Despair can seem like a staircase that leads only and forever downward.

Hope, on the other hand, is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances.  It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn.  It encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal Heavenly Father, who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism, confusion, and of fear.

Hope is not knowledge, but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us. It is confidence that if we live according to God’s laws and the words of His prophets now, we will receive desired blessings in the future.  It is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered.  It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2008/10/the-infinite-power-of-hope?lang=eng)

Scriptures

Psalms 46:10

10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

D&C 101:16

16 Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.

Job 37:14

14 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

Moroni 7:19

19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.

Moroni 9:25

25 My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.