“If you are on the right path it will always be uphill. The Lord is anxious to lead us to the safety of higher ground. “
Henry B. Eyring
Do you ever wonder if you are walking the right path in life? Are your choices good ones? Right now my house smells like a mix of saffron rice from dinner and chocolate chip cookies baking. That was a good choice. The two spoonfuls of cookie dough churning in my tummy…maybe not so good.
My one BIG goal this year besides moving to Bora Bora for a month (ok that is my dreamer if I had a trillion dollars goal) is to Be Still. So often I feel like I am on a hamster wheel just running and running and running some more. I have decided to be deliberate about slowing down.
Each year I read a classic that I have not read in the past. Last year I read Heidi. It was so SO good. I highly recommend it. This year I want to read Moby Dick.
I am spending time each day in the scriptures and I am enjoying several podcasts. The first is All In. I love to listen to it as I run. The second is This is the Gospel. I am also about one eighth of the way through the first volume of Saints 1815-1846 The Standard of Truth.
Last Wednesday I was at my sons wrestling match. If you know Aydan he has pretty recently sprouted and grown some muscles. I mean he has like four chin hairs! It’s so weird. However, I would call him a late bloomer when it comes down to it. He is just putting on muscle and is pretty lean. He is still learning how to use and move this new body he has.
In his match last week the boy he wrestled was ripped. Aydan was hurt. I knew he was hurt. Luckily his shaggy hair covered his eyes as I could tell he was trying to squeeze back tears and be tough. We left the match and he couldn’t move his arm. I called my Mom because isn’t that what we all do..if there is a problem call Mom. She is also a nurse and I explained to her what had happened and she said to rush to the ER at Banner Gateway.
We were waaaay out in Phoenix and we still had a drive ahead of us. I asked Aydan what his pain level was and he said maybe a seven. He couldn’t move his arm and I had to help him get his jacket off. I was worried. As we were driving though I felt calm. I was debating the ER or home and as we headed home the pain began to subside. We decided he would ice it and take Ibuprofen and see where he was at in an hour or so.
He began to feel better and decided he would talk to the sports trainer the next day. I made flop overs. I was so tired from working then rushing to his match in Phoenix that some dinners are just simple ones. Flop overs are basically a bean quesadilla. I had some grapes that I put out. We ate and then cleaned up. At this point we realized it was Wednesday and had totally missed mutual.
This is exactly why I need to BE STILL. Sometimes I am not even sure what day it is. Some mornings I wake up so tired I’m not sure if it is the work week or weekend. Sometimes we don’t get to mutual, but it is never on purpose. It’s the pressure of one Mom juggling all of the things.
I decided to give myself a little grace in this moment. The truth is the path is not a manicured gravel road. It is more like the tumbleweed trail I like to hike at San Tan Mountains. The path is straight uphill, gravelly, and very rocky.
Aydan had sprained the joint that connected his shoulder to his collarbone. On Sunday surrounded by his parents and grandparents he was ordained a Priest. And now I must go to take those cookies out of the over for a church meeting tomorrow.
P.S. My Christmas Tree is still up.
