I think I might have mentioned in my last post that I've been working a lot, trying to earn some money to be able to pay what it costs to serve a mission. And so yeah that's really consumed a lot of my time this past little while. I've been working between thirty five and forty hours a week at Domino's and then it seems like I fill in my off time there working on the cow fence for the Gregerson's (I guess I'd best describe them as a family of friends of mine. Something like that... haha). At the end of the week, I usually end up working a little over fifty hours, and it can be pretty exhausting, especially when I don't have a lot of free time to do other things to wind down and stuff.
All this work just brings to mind the role that working hard has played in my life and how that will play a role while serving a mission. Good parenting and various experiences through my life thus far have blessed me with an attitude of diligence in most of the things in which I become involved. Back when I was training seriously for swimming, I would pretty much always try my hardest at practice, and there was nothing that felt better than having a good workout where I was able to stay on top of the intervals and be consistent with any timed sets. Going through school, especially since about half way through my junior year in high school, I just haven't minded taking the time to do the work and most of the time I tried to do a good job with everything. And now, being employed, I'm just grateful to have a job and so I try to be the best asset to my employers that I can be by working hard. Out of the things which Heavenly Father has blessed me with, I believe that this attitude of diligence has taken more of a part in what successes I've had thus far than anything else.
Being persistent in the work helps a lot too. I'm sure there are a lot of big, successful businesses out there that have faced crises at various points in their existences, and had they just given up on their efforts, there would have been no progression or moving forward in the least. Same thing with athletes, if they were to just quit when they didn't get the results they wanted, then we likely wouldn't have any of the big names that everybody knows. I went through that a couple times with swimming, the first time being when I was pretty young, and pretty shortly after deciding to stick out the tough times, I had some great successes wherein my hard work had finally paid off (of course the same sort of deal happened when I did quit training seriously, but that was a little more complicated and turned out to be more of God telling me that swimming had played its role in my life and that it was time to move on to other things. So yep :T). Persistence is just as essential to success as is hard work. It's what keeps pushing you forward when everything else is pushing you back. It's the make or brake factor, what really determines where you end up. A persistent person is one who disregards the easy way because they know that in the end all of suffering and pain will give way to the triumph of victory.
Goal setting is another aspect of this conversation that really should play a role in daily living. I guess people don't always sit down and officially set goals, but I think that whatever you call it, it is important to have some sort of driving factor, some reason for putting in work and being persistent. Setting goals is definitely one of the biggest driving factors for my willingness to put in effort into the things I do. For instance, school- I work hard because I set goals to get good grades. But then I believe that goals go far beyond what you see at the surface and really give way to sort of a foundation of what makes you tick. So yeah lets jump back to school. I work hard because I want good grades. I want good grades so that I can get into a top notch grad school program. I'd like to get into a top notch grad school program so that I can get a good job. I'd like a good job so that I can make good money. I'd like to make good money so that money isn't a worry and so that I can take my family on nice vacations and so that I can have a good home to entertain. I'd like to be able to do all that to bring people together to have good relationships of love and genuine care. And I'd like to do that so that my family and I and as many people as possible can have the influence of the gospel in our lives and be able to essentially live together forever in joy. I guess that's kind of a long string of things and I don't know if other people think things out like that- maybe I'm just weird... But when I'm able to break things down and relate it to bigger, even eternal perspectives, then that helps me to continue to work at whatever it is with even more diligence than before. So goal setting = good stuff.
Now. How does this all play into missionary work? I haven't ever been a missionary before, but from what I've seen and learned, this all plays in as an essential part of the work. First off finding the motivation for becoming involved in the work leads to putting in the effort. I could go on for page after page describing why I've decided to serve a mission, but it essentially boils down to me having the desire to help pay back what I can to a gracious Father in Heaven who has blessed me with so much. Because of that, I want to share what's made me happy with other people, and I'm willing to work hard and get out of my comfort zone to so. And I know that even when I am willing to work hard, things are not going to just work out well and fall nicely into place. There are going to be many trials and hardships along the way, but the only way to get past and come out on top is to not give up, but to realize that Heavenly Father is behind you all the way, and that when you choose to rely wholly on Him, He'll give you the strength to keep chugging along. From what I've been taught and from what I've experienced, this pattern ultimately leads to success. It might not be five thousand baptisms, but you'll never know the fruits of your labor without the labor. I'd rather come home after two years with not terribly impressive numbers but knowing that I did all I could rather than knowing that there was more I could have done.
I hope I haven't sounded too prideful or boastful in any sort of way as I've described what I believe. I definitely don't consider myself all knowing or even particularly knowledgeable in any subject really. The things I write are just things that I feel like God has blessed me to be able to see, and I just hope to pass those on to anyone that's interested. God has been gracious to get me where I am today, and though I've worked hard, He's provided me with everything I've needed to get here, and I know that I would be nowhere if I were left to my own means. I think Ammon said it best when he explained, "I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things..." (Alma 26:11-12).
I guess my ending message that to be successful, you need to find good motivation, work hard and then be persistent. And when you do all that for the purpose of glorifying God, you'll just come out way on top :D
"For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;" -Doctrine and Covenants 4:4
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