Gratitude

 As we near the end of the semester, I feel a great sense of relief.  Not because my classes have been more than I could handle per se, but because life in general has felt very heavy over the past few months.  I decided to take a lighter semester next term to really allow myself time to focus on enjoying the summer with my children. I look forward to this summer with great hope that it will be a time of rest and that when the fall comes around, I will have the strength and energy to jump back into the weightier classes with full force.  Even as I have struggled these last few months, however, I have been extremely grateful for what my studies have given me this semester.  I have had wonderful professors who have taken an interest in me and also in the personal challenges that I have faced recently.  I have had classes that were interesting and personally fulfilling on levels that helped me reevaluate my life and rediscover things that I knew about myself but had forgotten along the way. And my classes themselves have given me something to focus on that allowed me to keep progressing forward when all I really wanted to do was give in to the depression that seemed so willing to swallow me whole.

This week, we have taken a look at the role that gratitude can play as we pursue our dreams, careers, and entrepreneurial adventures.  I really loved the talk that we read by President Thomas S. Monson this week titled, "An Attitude of Gratitude."  President Monson said, "We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude."  This sentence gave me great pause.  I pondered how well I had "refused to remain in the realm of negative thought" this semester.  It's been a challenge for sure, but I can safely say that I have remained grateful for my classes and especially grateful for my Savior. I have felt his hand in my life as deadlines were met, prayers were answered, and all the little tasks of my home, church, and family life still somehow managed to get done even when I found myself leaving my husband and children to fly from one end of the country to the other to support my parents and siblings, not once, but twice within a month's time. I looked at the insurmountable tasks before me this semester and thought, "there's no way I can accomplish all this."  And by myself, I would have been right.  There was no way that I was able to do the things that I have done over the last three months if I had done them on my own.  I have had tremendous help from all those who matter most and that is something to be grateful for indeed.  

As we pursue challenging dreams and meet unexpected difficulties, we will all need help from time to time. Isn't it a wonderful thing that we can always rely on our Savior to support us and send us angels to strengthen us in our times of need?  I know it is a wonderful thing to me and one for which I am extremely grateful. 

Location: Indiana, PA 15701, USA

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