Often I find myself overwhelmed with my duties as a teacher, my church responsibilities, trying to date and be a good person etc., and I tend to be pretty hard on myself. Often I find myself trying to meet the demands of perceived high expectations of people around me, and it's tough to keep my center. To encourage myself, for a while I had a line on my mirror that I've seen floating around that I tried to believe: I am enough. I tried telling this to myself, but somehow sensed there is a lie in it. I cannot be all things to all people, and frankly, I'm not kind enough, I don't have enough energy (physical or mental) to meet the needs of the people around me, I don't have enough time to complete everything I think I 'should' do. I'm not always (or even often) the inspiring teacher I want to be. This phrase never satisfied me.
The past couple weeks have been a bit challenging: my enrollment for orchestra is down, and I've had to work to keep up my morale despite the fact that I will have 1/3 less orchestra students and 1/3 less contract at one school.
I find it comforting that the scriptures do not teach us we are enough. In fact, they tell us God intentionally gives us weakness! It's a relief to know that while it's true I am not enough, I am supposed to be this way. Instead, we are taught to rely on the Lord.
"...the Lord spake unto me saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness; ...I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." -Ether 12:26-27
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is His grace sufficient for you, that by His grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." Moroni 10:32
"Our divine nature has nothing to do with our personal accomplishments, the status we achieve, the number of marathons we run, or our popularity and self-esteem. Our divine nature comes from God. It was established in an existence that preceded our birth and will continue on into eternity" "Discovering the Divinity Within," Rosemary M. Wixom, Oct 2015
The past couple weeks have been a bit challenging: my enrollment for orchestra is down, and I've had to work to keep up my morale despite the fact that I will have 1/3 less orchestra students and 1/3 less contract at one school.
I find it comforting that the scriptures do not teach us we are enough. In fact, they tell us God intentionally gives us weakness! It's a relief to know that while it's true I am not enough, I am supposed to be this way. Instead, we are taught to rely on the Lord.
"...the Lord spake unto me saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness; ...I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." -Ether 12:26-27
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is His grace sufficient for you, that by His grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." Moroni 10:32
"Our divine nature has nothing to do with our personal accomplishments, the status we achieve, the number of marathons we run, or our popularity and self-esteem. Our divine nature comes from God. It was established in an existence that preceded our birth and will continue on into eternity" "Discovering the Divinity Within," Rosemary M. Wixom, Oct 2015
WE are not enough, HE is enough! And the more I learn about Him, the more I see that He works by touching one life at a time, one instance at a time. We are not expected to do great miracles, just to have faith that if we trust God, He will make great miracles out of our small and simple efforts.
"And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." Alma 37:7
Gratefully, we have a God who is more than enough :). If we just keep doing the small things the Lord will make our efforts into more than we can even imagine! Love you!
Gratefully, we have a God who is more than enough :). If we just keep doing the small things the Lord will make our efforts into more than we can even imagine! Love you!
He can make us enough for the most important task we are given, to return to Him
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written, and so true. Thank you for sharing! :) You're amazing!
ReplyDelete