Yesterday while I was out walking with Kenji, I saw a perfect formation of geese flying overhead, reminding me again of the beauty of God's plan for us. When we are obedient to Him, staying within the parameters He has set, it is a thing of order and beauty. I love how everything true fits together. Learning new things is so exciting to me for that reason. I am jazzed to start a new online course. At the start of this week I was very out of sorts and stormy inside. It was like when I tell Gabrielle she looks "cloudy". I kept going over and over again about my college classes: whether or not it is worth it to continue in my emphasis, what other avenues there might be for me, etc. I allowed myself to get distracted again, looking at other majors at UNLV, NSC, WGU, etc. I even looked again at other emphases in the BYU program. Eventually, though, I realized that I'm just taking the bait and wasting time. I DO have time to work on my degree, and I'm not getting any younger. I may not get it done in 2 years, but I can get it done eventually. I mean, how cherry is it that I can do it all from home, and at so reasonable a cost? I'm just taking it for granted that the opportunity is there.
I ended up comparing it to my marathon training, for time and commitment. I wanted to qualify for and run Boston, so I made a plan, drew up a schedule, and stuck to it. It took me 2-plus years as well, and countless hours of running, so I can do this, too. I'm excited. I'm sorry i allow myself to get sidetracked, but grateful that the Lord is always waiting patiently to give me the answers I need when I am finally ready to receive them. One of my many goals is to listen for the voice of the Spirit more closely and heed its promptings more readily.
I'm grateful that my parents got their mission call yesterday, to the England Birmingham Mission!!! How great is that? Perfect for them, I think. My mom will come home with her accent doubly polished. The neatest thing, I think, is that they got their call on their wedding anniversary. What greater affirmation of the commitment they have had to each other for the past 42 years, all because they followed the promptings of the Spirit to be together; how many times they've followed the Savior and stayed together.
My recipe post today is for my dad, who passed his love of the combination of nuts and chocolate on to me (anyone notice how many of my recipes include chocolate?!? Yikes.)