2 Happy Sunday!

YES!

I would say close to zero things in my life make "sense" right now. This is hard. I am a logical person. There are a few things that have happened recently that have required me to take a leap of faith because I felt prompted. Faith is a funny thing because we are expected to have it, yet things still don't always turn out the way we plan. For a long time I thought about how that's not fair. But then, I realized how foolish that is. Who cares if it's not fair? It makes us better people.

It was a little over a year ago where I finally sat down and really got serious with myself. I said, "Self, things aren't good right now. There are a lot of things that are just out of your control. But what will you do about the things you have control over?" I decided right then and there that no matter how crappy things got or how disappointed I was in others, that I would always choose to trust in my Savior and in his plan for me. I really have gotten to the point where I can honestly say, "thy will be done," with no hesitation and with absolute trust that things will work out even if not how I planned. This is a key to happiness that I'm so glad I found sooner rather than later!

A few years ago in a Humanities class, we learned about  a Roman philosophy called Stoicism. A lot of times, Stoicism is thought of in a negative way as living your life void of emotion or feeling and being very passive to everything that comes your way. But the more I've studied it, stoicism teaches a lot of the same principles that Christ taught.

Although Romans were not Christian and really had no focus on religion at all, Stoics believe in the idea of,

"thy will be done."

We have accountability and choices and can make our lives better (or worse) with our agency, however there are things that we cannot change and when those things come our way, it is best to not worry, have faith and be submissive to the Lord's plan for us.
The Romans said "Begin therefore with little things. Is a little oil spilt or a little wine stolen? Say to yourself, 'This is the price paid for peace and tranquility; and nothing is to be had for nothing.'"

No peace comes from worrying after all you can do.

Our professor told us a story about how when their family was going through the great depression her father would leave in the middle of the night on a train to find work while her mom held down the fort at the farm with 6 young kids. They had 1 working horse that helped them do all of their work, which helped them make a living, and so on. One night, a cougar spooked the horse and it ran into a barbed wire fence gashing the horse all across the chest. Since they depended on the horse for their livelihood, if the horse died, they would lose everything. Her mom went outside, tied up the horse and had her 6 kids sit on the legs of the horse while she sewed it up. The horse healed and they were able to keep on living. Ever since then, her family has said "sew up your horse" when someone is going through a hard time. 


I always think of that story when things come along that are a little bit of a bummer. Buck up. Do what you can do about the situation and have faith in the Lord that all things will work out but also remember to TAKE a leap of faith when you feel prompted and learn to trust those promptings and ACT on them.

"I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."
William Ernest Henley


I've kind of run in circles here. These are my 4am wide awake thoughts! Happy Sunday!