94 shares.
I'm not referring to stock.
Facebook shares. You know - when someone reads your Facebook post and they like it enough to share it on their Facebook page with their friends.
I recently posted this:
I'm not referring to stock.
Facebook shares. You know - when someone reads your Facebook post and they like it enough to share it on their Facebook page with their friends.
I recently posted this:
...and my post got 94 shares.
That is a record for me. (Not that I keep track - I don't. More accurately, it caught my attention because I was surprised by how many people seemed to connect with this message.)
What is it about this quote?
I happened to post it on a day when I was feeling a discouraged. I posted it because I personally needed the reminder that
...I am not a quitter, giver-upper, walk-awayer person (even when things are hard)
...I am willing to face challenges
...the climb, the effort, is worth it and I will eventually reach the top
...every step matters - and with each step I'm closer to my goal
...my efforts yesterday made a difference - so I will try again today
...great accomplishments often require great sacrifice
...this is about who I am becoming
In his General Conference address, "The Challenge to Become," Elder Dallin H. Oaks teaches us that "most of us experience some measure of what the scriptures call the 'furnace of affliction.' Our needed conversions are often achieved more readily by suffering and adversity than by comfort and tranquility."
Like the man climbing the stairs in the picture. Every muscle engaged. Hard work and perhaps even fatigue manifest in a soaked shirt. There's no way to tell how many more stairs he has to climb or how close he is to the top - because we can't see the top.
Elder Oaks assures, "Through the justice and mercy of a loving Father in Heaven, the refinement and sanctification possible through such experiences can help us achieve what God desires us to become."
Father Lehi promised Jacob that God would "consecrate [his] afflictions for [his] gain." (2 Nephi 2:2)
The prophet Joseph was promised that "thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high." (D&C 121:7-8)
Like the man climbing the stairs in the picture. Every muscle engaged. Hard work and perhaps even fatigue manifest in a soaked shirt. There's no way to tell how many more stairs he has to climb or how close he is to the top - because we can't see the top.
Elder Oaks assures, "Through the justice and mercy of a loving Father in Heaven, the refinement and sanctification possible through such experiences can help us achieve what God desires us to become."
Father Lehi promised Jacob that God would "consecrate [his] afflictions for [his] gain." (2 Nephi 2:2)
The prophet Joseph was promised that "thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high." (D&C 121:7-8)
The climb is important. Finishing is important. Reaching the top is important.
But it isn't as much about reaching the top as it is about
who will have become by the time you reach the top.
Keep climbing.
You are closer than you were yesterday.
You are closer than you were yesterday.