Perspective: Do I feel sick because I should or because I have been told I should?

Do I feel sick because I really do feel bad or is it in my mind?  I always worry about this because I think that what someone tells me really affects me.  "You look tired"  all of a sudden I am tired.  "You look like you don't feel well"  and now I don't.  Today I went to the doctor and he told me my blood sugar is still high and blood pressure is high.  I know my blood pressure is high but if I don't think about it I don't worry about it.  The fact is my blood sugar is sky high and all of a sudden every little ache or pain is evidence of that to me... I don't really want to think about this... I just want to eat bon-bons and forget the rest of my responsibilities to be healthy.  Not going to work any more I guess.  I can't find where I put my blood pressure cuff - otherwise I would take it right now.  I don't think it will be low but perhaps low for my usual.  In the mean time I think the sugar has got to go... and you know how it is when something has to go - YOU WANT IT!

I guess this attitude deals with Perspective.  This Sunday I have to speak on Perspective from a Gospel standpoint.  I decided to write my talk here and transfer it...

Years ago we had a house in Carson City Nevada that was a fixer upper.  We tore up the floors, painted the walls, re-did the windows, and even added a room in the garage.  The yard was in a mess and so we re-sodded the lawn, built a deck, and gathered river rock.  I think to this day my kids don't see river rock without remembering all of the rock we literally gathered from a river bed and trucked home to put in the yard... over and over again.  Consequently they hate river rock and probably hate me more because of it!

We had completed most of our work on this house except for a section in the back yard.  I personally am compulsive when it comes to such things and have a real need to finish the job as soon as possible.  Well  I would look at this one undone section of the yard and it would get me upset.  It was a mess.  It didn't matter that if I looked at the other section of the yard, or at the front of the house, or at the inside of the house, all looked good to me.  I was dwelling on the negative side and it was driving me crazy.

One day, while looking out my kitchen window, I decided to focus on the good side and it made all the difference.  Rather than looking at the weeds, I chose to embrace the flowers!  It was then that I realized how much my life was affected by the things I allowed to affect it when all I really had to do was turn my head.  

As I talk about Perspective today, I want to talk about Eternal Perspective vs. worldly perspective.  Let's focus on the heavenly joys that can be ours vs. the worldly weeds that can cause us pain and upset us.  The key to this I believe is that Heavenly Father knows what we need to find out and that is what really is best for us, what challenges we need to face to help us grow and His eternal plans for us need to be lived so that we can find Eternal Joy...

To further explain:  We all face challenges in life but if we work to solve our problems with a perspective of what we stand to learn from the struggle, how the problem or temptation will affect us eternally, and commit ourselves to following the gospel plan and turning our head from worldly ways we will find joy.  Simply, we turn our heads from that which takes us in the wrong direction and will ultimately bring us pain to the direction that we know will bring us peace and happiness - the gospel plan.

The apostle Paul worte "all things work together for  good to them that love God."  He knew as we should know that Heavenly Father permits us to have experiences that will allow us to develop the traits and attributes we need to become more and more Christlike.  Our trials come in many forms but will allow us to become more like the Savior as we recognize the good that comes from each experience.  As we understand this doctrine we gain greater assurance of our Father's love and we develop a greater bond with Him.

We may never know in this life why we face certain trials, but we can be assured that as we trust in the Lord, as we focus on him in facing adversity, we can in fact  be confident we will learn from the experience.

When I was a young mother we were facing some financial difficulties.  We had sold a store to someone who decided half way through the payments for the shop that he was not going to pay any more and we could sue him if we wanted but that was it.  A variety of emotions flooded me and I remember praying that the Lord would take the many problems that came from this away.  I prayed and prayed but things were not coming the way that I felt they needed to.  I look back on that time today and can see many lessons that I learned. 

#1:  I see myself praying for the wrong thing and when I changed my perspective and prayed instead that the Lord would help me endure through this time, then I felt the weight of the problem lifted.  (Interestingly, such problems have happened a number of times to our family and each time I remember kneeling at my bed so forlorn.  As I visualize that I am reminded that I need to pray for r help and guidance rather than for the removal of the problem... a great lesson learned from changing my perspective.)

#2:  I needed to forgive in that instance... the Eternal lesson of forgiveness had to come to me through trusting in the Lord's plan - it could not have come if the problem had just disappeared.

#3:  I had to learn patience  and I needed to experience prayer and faith.  When we face challenges we seek greater help from God and he becomes our strength and by doing so we can gain greater faith.  As we feel his help in easing our burdens our testimonies and our gratitude ncrease.

#4:  I needed to experience first hand that Life is not always fair and I needed to learn not to murmur.  Often questions at such times are :Why me, What did I do to deserve this but if we turn our head to the flower patch we learn to ask:  "What am I to do"  "What am I to learn"  "What am I to change?"

#4.  I needed to develop trust in the Lord.  The Savior's life was never easy and yet his example is one of always remaining committed to his sacred mission.  The Savior understood that Heavenly Father knows the end from the beginning.  We can trust that as we have faith in him, he will guide us and teach us.

Many more things came as a result of that very hard trial and I know that it was an exercise in eternal perspective.  If I had faith, if I trusted in the Lord, if I lived with forgiveness, if I remained positive ... the things that I learned would far out weigh any worldly compensation.  

In review:  if we look for an Eternal Perspective and turn our heads to the view of eternal life, we will be able to get through our personal challenges and find greater faith in the Lord and in his plan for us.  

All things will grow together for our good as we experience life... and our Eternal perspective will be strengthened and will will be stronger so that we can face our next challenges.