Helaman 2:9

"....And he ran and told Helaman all the things

which he had seen, and heard, and done...."

    You guys know how much I love to talk but I REALLY want to talk about this. In case you're unfamiliar with what's happening in this chapter this servant just killed the assassin, Kishkumen, who was about to kill Helaman (the new chief judge). But this guy is SO smart! He doesn't hide it or worry about it because weather he's done something wrong or not he goes to tell Helaman what's happened. And he doesn't just take his time or try to schedule it into his day, no, he RUNS to Helaman. Now take that principle out of the scriptures and apply it to life.

    When you make a mistake don't just think about how and when you'll go to the Lord, run to Him. When you're scared, nervous, anxious, worried, anything really, run. Run to the Lord and tell him all the things you have seen, heard, and done.

     I can't tell you how many times I've begun telling Him everything I've seen or heard that has bothered me and it always leads to telling Him everything I've done. Not only does He want to hear about it all, but like Helaman's reaction, God will help you. He will take the next step. Going to Him was the right decision. Run to where you need to be, run to make yourself clean, run to find peace, and don't hesitate or try to talk yourself out of it. Run to the Lord and you will always find what you need.

Atittude

Isn't it funny how attitude really does change everything? I mean, I always knew it was true and I believed it but it wasn't until today that I saw it. Okay, maybe I should change that. I've seen it in my life and others before but today it was different.

Let’s start at the beginning. I've had trouble with my choir teacher ALL year! He’s been driving me crazy! But today I had to come early for something and I was just gonna deal with it and I decided to go and try to enjoy myself and ya know what happened? I loved it. It was an absolute blast! And it started my day off so nicely!  I was in a good mood when I finally got to class and I was prepared for everything that was coming my way.

But it gets better!

I was in my advanced cooking class (called ProStart) and there was SERIOUS drama! First off let me explain, there are some groups who………….are less effective, and slightly more idle. The largest group happens to be this group of boys who are amazingly creative and quite capable when it comes to producing a final product. However, they are not the best when it comes to time management or cleanup. Frequently their jobs are done by my group or others and it’s slightly frustrating. So their cupcake project was going beautifully, if a bit slow, while ours fell apart! I have no words for how fantastic it was! So just check out the pictures….

…..it was amazing. I don’t know if I've ever messed up so bad in my life :) It was an impressive feat. So a couple of my group were suddenly stressed out of their mind. I, however, just died! I started laughing and couldn't stop. It was just so funny to me! So from that point I was just in a super good mood. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn't delighted that our assignment for the day had bombed so terribly but what was I supposed to do!? It wasn't like we could fix it at that point, we just had to start over. But then my friend Alex and I got the more-than-gentle impression that we should do something other than cupcakes for the rest of class. So we started on the dishes with our friend Kristina. Well we had a blast! We laughed like crazy and got so much work done and it was just fun. Quite possibly the best time I've ever had in that class.

And then things went downhill. It was quite literally the last five or ten minutes of class and everyone who hadn't been working decided to start working and so OF COURSE it wasn't going to all be done by the bell. Dishes and cleanup are the longest part and everyone lollygags. That’s so not our fault though. And we’d done a lot so we moved away from the dishes and started on counters, clearing down and wiping off. Then some of our peers who we try to think positively of, despite the difficulties we have with them, yelled at me. Now you’re reading this, you can’t tell that the whole time I've been quite amused in my writing up until now. I don’t like yelling, and I don’t tolerate yelling at me. Especially when they yell “Don’t leave! You have to help! You haven’t helped all class!!” and I have never wanted so badly to smack someone. I had been doing SO much work for probably more than half the class and HE was yelling at ME…….I wasn't happy. But I was just like “Dude chill! I wasn't going to leave.” and I kept helping. Then our teacher (I wouldn't say yell but…) yelled at my friends to get to work and that just grated on their nerves.

Neither of them is a bad kid. They work really hard and their good people, excellent students, super hard workers. Well she yelled at them and that was so uncool. We hadn't done anything wrong and we always feel like she’s picking favorites with those boys in our class and it just isn't fair. It’s not. And you know how I hate injustice! It’s infuriating!! We talked and I let them all vent (to be fair I wasn't the happiest camper either but I was trying to remain positive and I was still totally laughing at our cupcake attempts, I mean just look at it…..

….tolja). And then I was like, “Let’s lodge a formal complaint” and I could tell that Alex was a little like “...no, I don’t know” because that’s crazy scary so I don’t blame her. I was a little hesitant now that I’d said it too! At this point Kristina had gone (in tears? Not totally sure) and our friend Kayela was trying to be supportive and help out. Well we did. We made a complaint and we talked to our principal about it and ya know what? I felt really good about it. I felt like we’d gone through the proper channels and our principal gave us some advice, made us promise to come back after we talked to our teachers and it was just good. It was like I real restoration in my faith in authority. So I don’t know how things are gonna go but my attitude about everything has just made today brilliant! This is a long story to make a simple point but just remember that attitude isn't everything, but it certainly can change everything.

Come Back With The Story Of Your Life

Life's a lovely thing, isn't it? I like it. most the time :) The thing is, life is supposed to be wonderful and brilliant and perfect and you're supposed to be happy. And I know a lot of us aren't. For me so much of it is what I learn about the world the older I get. The more I learn the more I long to either have the power to change it, or the ability to return to my childhood innocence when I thought all the world was as happy as I was.

"When you're a kid they tell you it's all...grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid, and that it'. But the truth is the world is SO much stranger than that. It's so much darker, and so much madder. And so much better."

I feel like that quote is just....perfect? Yeah, I think that's what I want. Because the world can be a dark place and it can be strange and scary and terrible. But oh how beautiful it can be too! There can be so much joy and so much beauty if we just look for it and if we just try. I know it's there and better yet, I know it's there for us! It wasn't put there just by chance but it was put there for us to see, and use, and love, and to make us feel like there's hope and happiness even in the landscapes and sunsets, and stars, and it was made to be perfect for us.

But let's not forget our part. We can't just expect to be happy all the time and for things to be perfect and sometimes even when we're having a brilliant adventure we're not necessarily happy and excited and in love with what we're going through or what we're doing. But we have to explore, we have to try things out and we have to embrace all of our adventures because that's how we live!

It's like this quote. Some people really do live more in twenty years than others in eighty! And it's true that it's not at all about how much or how little time we have, it's about the things we're doing and the people we're spending that time with. I know that for myself I've seen that I don't always look back on the day and think "Wow that was so much fun!"and those are the days that I realize I need to re-evaluate myself and what I was doing because I shouldn't have to have days that I'm not happy with. Every night I want to crawl into bed feeling completely exhausted from the emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual fun I've had. Everyday should be packed full of things we'll never regret. And so we should all spend each day with people we love to be with. I know that there are teenagers out there thinking "But I have to go to school everyday."And I wanna be like "THEN LEARN TO LOVE THE PEOPLE YOU GO TO SCHOOL WITH!!"I mean, after all, you can't dislike them all. There must be someone you like and think is super cool. It just takes a little looking and a little of being the kind of friend you'd like to have and in no time at all you'll find people who don't bother you so much as you think everyone does. Life is meant to be lived and you can decide what that means for you personally, but for me that means loving each day. Sometimes I don't, it's a work in progress, and it's a goal that I haven't quite reached, but it's the attempts that are success, not the completion of the goal. Plus I don't think I'll ever really be done with this goal. I've got so much to do in my life and I want to live every moment of it until I look back and have stories to tell.

One time, my sister and I were talking and she told me that for a little while she'd try to go out in the mornings  and come home at night with a story to write down in her journal. If everyday of your life you had a new story to tell, oh, think of how glorious those stories would turn out to be.

So don't forget to live. There's still so much life left in each and every day. Don't be discouraged and don't stop trying, because you'll come back with an even greater story to tell then you'd ever thought you'd find. You'll have the story of your life.