Pat's Ponderings

This past month has been a difficult one for me. I have found my self caught up in the "thick of thin things" and stuck in the "middle of this mortal muddle" as Neal A Maxwell would say. The cares of the world have managed to press out things of a spiritual nature. Last week at stake conference, I found myself pondering on some of the choices I had made and wondering if I had chosen good things instead of the best things. I told myself that if I could just make it through this week, I would redicate myself to doing better. Recently I read an article about dealing with adversity in life. What do you say to someone who has lost their job, their home, or even their spouse. The author of this article said that the magic words were to "Begin again." No matter what mistakes we make, it is never too late to begin again. And I guess that is the beauty of having a new year, the opportunity to begin again. I heard a talk at women's conference that compared this to the sacrament prayer, if the person saying the prayer makes a mistake, they just begin again. No one demeans them or berates them publicly. Really we all understand and are rooting for the person to succeed. We need to treat life the same way. I tend to pour too much energy into feeling bad about the mistake, instead of putting that energy into just beginning again.