It's a New Day

Many years ago I gave a talk at a Stake Relief Society Conference and the next day a woman called me to chew me out. “It’s so easy for you to stand up there and talk about all these good things,” she said, “because your life has all been so good. You had good parents and have a good husband. But my life has been a disaster.” She then proceeded to tell me how bad her parents were and how she had been divorced and forced to care for four young children alone. She went on and on and frequently made snide remarks to reinforce her point that my life was perfect and hers was a mess so it was easy for me to live the gospel while it was difficult for her.

At the time, I remember thinking how strange it was that she thought my life so good. All she knew about me came from the hour we shared together the night before while I was speaking and I hadn’t said anything about my home life past or present. She didn’t have a clue what my parents were like or my present situation. For all she knew I’d been raised in an orphanage by cold and cruel caretakers! Her idea of what my life was like was pure fiction that she was inventing.

I got the impression she had created this perfect life for me and juxtaposed her life beside mine as an excuse for her own failings. While it is true that I have good parents who are active in the Church, there were problems—many problems that she knew nothing about.

But even stranger than her assumptions of what my life was like was the fact that she thought she had to call me and tell me all she did. What motivated her to find my phone number, pick up the phone, and vent all her negative feelings—especially her excuses about why she couldn’t possibly be good—to a stranger she had heard speak the night before? I’ve often wondered if the Spirit didn’t prick her conscience that night to do something or to be better, but instead of doing what the Spirit told her to do and repenting, she spent the night trying to justify herself—to find excuses for the way she was. And her past was her excuse. I felt so sorry for her. The same amount of energy could have been used to pull her out of the Pit and into the realm of Truth.

What she didn’t realize is that despite our pasts, every day is a new day and we all have the freedom to choose to make this day a good day despite our past. As we wake each morning, we have a choice to make as to how we will spend the coming day. Will we enjoy and appreciate the opportunity and beauty of the day or will we agonize over the many tasks we have to do or worse, will we wallow in self-pity because of what was done wrong to us yesterday? When we remember that we are free to choose how we think, we choose to stay out of the Pit of Illusion and to spend our time and energy enjoying the Truth by loving whatever is.

Picture: by nikilynn http://www.flickr.com/photos/niki-lynn/