Feeling Grateful
Here I am again. I am sorry it took me so long to post again but I'm going to try and get regular with this again. On the real though I am just feeling so grateful. Fulfilling my duty and reading the Words of the Prophets in the Church Magazine, The Ensign, to share with others really helped me reflect on an Attitude of Gratitude as President Eyring shared in his message. Just sent me to a reflection of just even these past 2.5 months and how much has happened in the life of your boy and really what that means to me.
First off y'all lets bring it back to what this blog is all about. "Let Life Play the Guitar Strings" is a phrase that as I look back has influenced me a lot and I kind of lost sight of that. How awesome is it that there is a plan for our life that Life moves on and "plays the guitar strings" and we get to live through it and "write our own lyrics" and make the most out of our life. Things are just placed in my life that I don't show enough gratitude for like the fact on how fast things have happened this past couple months.
About 2.5 months ago I left my holy land of Las Vegas. This was such a hard thing for me and remembering the true meaning of Let life play the guitar strings had to take over for me. I never would've thought that so much of my heart would go to a land that is so full or craziness, but it happened and for that I am so eternally thankful. The changes that I got to see in others and especially in myself as I wrote my own song during those 2 years and became something more than just Double D there were so many lessons I would've never learned but were so accessible for me at that time: 1. the fact that trials are blessings that we just don't realize, 2. the influence that you a "small person" in the world can really have as you just give your heart, and 3. especially the knowledge that you are placed in people's lives for a reason and for sure the fact that others are placed in your life for a reason. 1. Something a lot of people don't know and don't realize is how challenging a mission really is. We hear in the small world of the Church that the mission is the Best 2 years and I do feel like that but at the same time I feel like those were 2 of the most challenging years too. Missionaries on a daily basis get yelled at, get stuff thrown at them, get cursed out, get rejected, get discouraged, and of course each face our own trials but one thing that I developed in NLVM (Nevada Las Vegas Mission) is a "What a Blessing" attitude. When these trials happen instead of thinking "woah is me", thinking what a blessing that I get to learn from this trial and receive more blessings. It sucks going through trials but there is a true principle of a blessing behind each one because truly there is so much growth and learning that come from these trials and something amazing happens that the grass really is greener on the other side of the trial. 2. I never knew the impact that just one person can have. In my own personal life, one thing I don't commonly share is that I lack self-confidence a lot sometimes and all growing up that really hit me hard. I never thought I could make a difference, I was always the shortest, smallest, and everything but one thing I never knew was how big each of our hearts are. As a sophomore in High School I saw a glimpse of this as I got selected to be a Link Leader the following year to help the new incoming sophomore students adjust to high school. After that year I saw a bond I was able to create with some of those kids and this influence just grew. On my mission I had to re-learn this lesson when I first came out to the mission. I was brand new in a place I knew nothing about and knew no one how in the world could I ever make a difference? But I learned that as I just put myself out there I did and people remembered who I was, what a confidence boost that was for me to know I was really sent there to bless the lives of others. I don't know the full influence that this little Minnesota raised boy had on any of these Vegas people but I do know I gave myself and there was a difference made. 3. That ties me into the point that truly others are placed into our lives for a reason and vise versa. I am so grateful to all my companions I had and what I learned from each one, cause truly I was placed with them for a reason. I learned that moving around so much was not a curse that was put on us but truly a blessing cause you were brought there for someone whether it was just your companion or someone who had been praying and you could be an answer to their prayers. It says in the Scriptures, "The Lord hath suffered you to come unto this place for thus it was for the salvation of some soul". Whether that is our soul or another is up to us and the fact that we learn this one lesson that we were brought there with a purpose. Through these lessons I saw a little bit more of what it means to have this "attitude of gratitude".
I am so truly grateful for my mission and think about it everyday, but how blessed I am to be home again and the events that have passed within this time. First off it was so hard for me to leave but a sweet lady whom I consider a second mom of mine in Las Vegas taught me there is so much in store for you to go home and its just life moving on with the music and its our turn now to keep writing the lyrics, and how true that was. I never would've thought that my song would turn out the way it has thus far. I got home June 12th and how amazing it was to reunite with my best friends who truly are my family. I love them and being able to spend time with these people I looked up to my whole life was awesome. I never would've thought that after about a week and a half with them I would begin my drive back out to Utah, but I know and realize they know what's best for me. So thus it began just my mother and me. Then I arrived to Utah after a blown out tire and an eventful trip, no housing, no school, no job. I didn't know what to do. But I know I was brought there with purpose. I found housing and how amazing that it happened to be with a couple of good friends. Then began the search for a job. I put a good amount of time into the search and resumé and everything and for a while... no luck. I kept looking and looking and how true it is with blessings when it rains it pours. I then was offered a job and then 3 interviews on top of that. I took one of the interviews job and now work with BYU Independent Study. Then I had the opportunity to go back to Las Vegas and How amazing that was to reunite with so many of the people I love, to feel such a great love, and to just reflect on everything I learned. Then returning to BYU and to just see these amazing friends I've made and how they all really help me want to be a better person. Something I am truly grateful for is the simple fact that people do care and you can make some great friends if you're just willing to put in some effort. I wasn't at first I came out and felt awkward and sometimes still do but I realized I wasn't being fair to myself or anyone else. I have really tried to put myself out there and how grateful I am that we do receive it back. I have made such good friends and some of them from just a short period of time together here or on the mission. I am so grateful for my friends. And now I'm working and school is about to start and how blessed I feel. One thing I don't share a ton is a trial that I have, my health. I don't have the best health going through different problems I have but it's amazing how it's become a blessing in my life as it's helped me to grow up most definitely but especially to realize the power of God. Although I don't have good health I am able to live great, I always have energy I need despite it all, and it's taught me definitely who to depend on more in my life. I couldn't have ever faced this on my own. I beat myself up over it enough as is, but without my family and close friends and especially my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to help me through it all I can't imagine. A true lesson to me how a trial is a blessing to bring us closer to those we love.
All in all I love this life. There is just so much to be grateful for. I know I say it a lot and it seems a little cliché but how true it is that life is just like a song. Life will continue to play the guitar strings but not always the way we would ever imagine but what are we going to write to that. The one thing that we can always have power over is that of our attitude of gratitude. Sometimes it seems like the music plays the wrong note but sometimes thats what we need to hear. There is so much around us to be grateful for and as you start with that attitude others around see that light and just taking that simple step to have a positive, grateful attitude will go a lot further then you will ever imagine. Life is Good. One Love.
DD
First off y'all lets bring it back to what this blog is all about. "Let Life Play the Guitar Strings" is a phrase that as I look back has influenced me a lot and I kind of lost sight of that. How awesome is it that there is a plan for our life that Life moves on and "plays the guitar strings" and we get to live through it and "write our own lyrics" and make the most out of our life. Things are just placed in my life that I don't show enough gratitude for like the fact on how fast things have happened this past couple months.
About 2.5 months ago I left my holy land of Las Vegas. This was such a hard thing for me and remembering the true meaning of Let life play the guitar strings had to take over for me. I never would've thought that so much of my heart would go to a land that is so full or craziness, but it happened and for that I am so eternally thankful. The changes that I got to see in others and especially in myself as I wrote my own song during those 2 years and became something more than just Double D there were so many lessons I would've never learned but were so accessible for me at that time: 1. the fact that trials are blessings that we just don't realize, 2. the influence that you a "small person" in the world can really have as you just give your heart, and 3. especially the knowledge that you are placed in people's lives for a reason and for sure the fact that others are placed in your life for a reason. 1. Something a lot of people don't know and don't realize is how challenging a mission really is. We hear in the small world of the Church that the mission is the Best 2 years and I do feel like that but at the same time I feel like those were 2 of the most challenging years too. Missionaries on a daily basis get yelled at, get stuff thrown at them, get cursed out, get rejected, get discouraged, and of course each face our own trials but one thing that I developed in NLVM (Nevada Las Vegas Mission) is a "What a Blessing" attitude. When these trials happen instead of thinking "woah is me", thinking what a blessing that I get to learn from this trial and receive more blessings. It sucks going through trials but there is a true principle of a blessing behind each one because truly there is so much growth and learning that come from these trials and something amazing happens that the grass really is greener on the other side of the trial. 2. I never knew the impact that just one person can have. In my own personal life, one thing I don't commonly share is that I lack self-confidence a lot sometimes and all growing up that really hit me hard. I never thought I could make a difference, I was always the shortest, smallest, and everything but one thing I never knew was how big each of our hearts are. As a sophomore in High School I saw a glimpse of this as I got selected to be a Link Leader the following year to help the new incoming sophomore students adjust to high school. After that year I saw a bond I was able to create with some of those kids and this influence just grew. On my mission I had to re-learn this lesson when I first came out to the mission. I was brand new in a place I knew nothing about and knew no one how in the world could I ever make a difference? But I learned that as I just put myself out there I did and people remembered who I was, what a confidence boost that was for me to know I was really sent there to bless the lives of others. I don't know the full influence that this little Minnesota raised boy had on any of these Vegas people but I do know I gave myself and there was a difference made. 3. That ties me into the point that truly others are placed into our lives for a reason and vise versa. I am so grateful to all my companions I had and what I learned from each one, cause truly I was placed with them for a reason. I learned that moving around so much was not a curse that was put on us but truly a blessing cause you were brought there for someone whether it was just your companion or someone who had been praying and you could be an answer to their prayers. It says in the Scriptures, "The Lord hath suffered you to come unto this place for thus it was for the salvation of some soul". Whether that is our soul or another is up to us and the fact that we learn this one lesson that we were brought there with a purpose. Through these lessons I saw a little bit more of what it means to have this "attitude of gratitude".
I am so truly grateful for my mission and think about it everyday, but how blessed I am to be home again and the events that have passed within this time. First off it was so hard for me to leave but a sweet lady whom I consider a second mom of mine in Las Vegas taught me there is so much in store for you to go home and its just life moving on with the music and its our turn now to keep writing the lyrics, and how true that was. I never would've thought that my song would turn out the way it has thus far. I got home June 12th and how amazing it was to reunite with my best friends who truly are my family. I love them and being able to spend time with these people I looked up to my whole life was awesome. I never would've thought that after about a week and a half with them I would begin my drive back out to Utah, but I know and realize they know what's best for me. So thus it began just my mother and me. Then I arrived to Utah after a blown out tire and an eventful trip, no housing, no school, no job. I didn't know what to do. But I know I was brought there with purpose. I found housing and how amazing that it happened to be with a couple of good friends. Then began the search for a job. I put a good amount of time into the search and resumé and everything and for a while... no luck. I kept looking and looking and how true it is with blessings when it rains it pours. I then was offered a job and then 3 interviews on top of that. I took one of the interviews job and now work with BYU Independent Study. Then I had the opportunity to go back to Las Vegas and How amazing that was to reunite with so many of the people I love, to feel such a great love, and to just reflect on everything I learned. Then returning to BYU and to just see these amazing friends I've made and how they all really help me want to be a better person. Something I am truly grateful for is the simple fact that people do care and you can make some great friends if you're just willing to put in some effort. I wasn't at first I came out and felt awkward and sometimes still do but I realized I wasn't being fair to myself or anyone else. I have really tried to put myself out there and how grateful I am that we do receive it back. I have made such good friends and some of them from just a short period of time together here or on the mission. I am so grateful for my friends. And now I'm working and school is about to start and how blessed I feel. One thing I don't share a ton is a trial that I have, my health. I don't have the best health going through different problems I have but it's amazing how it's become a blessing in my life as it's helped me to grow up most definitely but especially to realize the power of God. Although I don't have good health I am able to live great, I always have energy I need despite it all, and it's taught me definitely who to depend on more in my life. I couldn't have ever faced this on my own. I beat myself up over it enough as is, but without my family and close friends and especially my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to help me through it all I can't imagine. A true lesson to me how a trial is a blessing to bring us closer to those we love.
All in all I love this life. There is just so much to be grateful for. I know I say it a lot and it seems a little cliché but how true it is that life is just like a song. Life will continue to play the guitar strings but not always the way we would ever imagine but what are we going to write to that. The one thing that we can always have power over is that of our attitude of gratitude. Sometimes it seems like the music plays the wrong note but sometimes thats what we need to hear. There is so much around us to be grateful for and as you start with that attitude others around see that light and just taking that simple step to have a positive, grateful attitude will go a lot further then you will ever imagine. Life is Good. One Love.
DD
Drew, you are such a champ! No one could have won that contest. You were destined to win. So glad we got hang out this week! You're awesome!
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