Every once in a while, I hear the voice of our heavenly parents. They speak in my voice, using the same words that I speak to my children:
“Jenny, you are a good girl. Thank you for being helpful and kind today.”
Those are wonderful revelations to receive. I need divine affirmations, because by I am falling short by most earthly rubrics.
My to-do list is less concrete checklist and more exponentially-increasing-wish-list. Few inspired ideas come to full fruition. Friends that go uncalled and parties remain unplanned. Of the hundreds of books on my Goodreads wishlist, I only plod through a few chapters each night. I intend to do my hair each day, but the hair elastics spend more time on my wrist than in my hair.
I’d like to spend more time writing, more time outside, more time studying, more time with people I love. Julie Beck nailed it when she said,
A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all the people or do all of the worthy things her heart longs to do. Life is not calm for most women, and each day seems to require the accomplishment of a million things, most of which are important.
Sometimes I feel the good pleasure of our heavenly parents, but too often I agonize over the many things I’m NOT doing.
But I think, actually, that I’m doing alright. And very likely, you are too. I recently flopped onto my bed at the end of a long day, wondering which task was most important for me to focus on next, and the spirit reminded me of a scripture verse that I had found that morning. It speaks to missionary work in particular, but I think it applies nicely to ALL of our efforts to live in Christ:
[It] mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss.
It doesn’t matter how I’m trying or which specific tasks fill my day, so long as I’m obediently striving! As our good prophet reminds us, “the Lord loves effort.”
