Mightier than the sword

     Striking the paper, pen in hand, the smooth, blue ink runs its trails along the white medium.  Strokes.  Curves.  Dashes.  Scribbles.  They all work in harmony under the hand of the artist to form images of great visual worth.  People.  Objects.  Landscapes.  Amazing feats of imagery are conveyed just by the dexterity of a knowledgeable hand.

     However, not all illustrations turn out so great.

     Lately, I've been doodling a lot.  Let me just go ahead and tell you that I'm in no way talented at drawing, but I just do it as it helps me shift my focus away from the stresses of the world.

     While I was drawing, I would get noticeably frustrated when a line fell out of place here or when I shaded an area I wasn't supposed to.  Usually, I would just throw the paper away in disgust or dissatisfaction, but something in my mind told me to keep on going. 

     "You're going to waste a perfectly good piece of paper on something you half-heartedly attempted to draw."

     Drawing further, I really didn't realize that that one small, little line didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.  The face turned out to be a face.  The grass turned out to be grass.  The sun turned out to be the sun.  The pictures turned out alright-- not as Claude Monet as I'd liked it to be, but that's no matter.

      As a rather awkward and misunderstood child in elementary school, I would make a huge fuss doing a ton of things that the teachers would yell at me for.  I would just do a ton of things that others would deem weird.  I would just annoy the living daylights out of my teachers and my peers.  Sure, the awkwardness would get to the teachers and the kids, but I didn't really care at the time.  Now, middle school came up and it was the exact same thing but with a larger crowd.  Here, as a missionary, no one really cares or knows about the things I've done back home; it's almost tabula rasa, in a sense.  I'm beginning to shape myself to be who I really am-- the faults and lingering awkwardness will still exist, but it doesn't matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.

     As we discover who exactly we are, we can know that our imperfections and follies mean absolutely nothing-- it's not worth abandoning your principles for.  We were sent here with a divine destiny.  For this truth, I am sure of.  We were never made perfect beings to grow and develop in perfection, or else Thomas Moore's funny little concept wouldn't be so exciting!

     When you think you've made a stroke of error, whether it be anything minor from posting a typo-ridden status on Facebook to even bigger ones like bopping your little brother in the head, it's not the end.  Let the days pass and you'll see that it'll eventually be experience in your repertoire for growth.  From the mistakes that you've had, you can look back and learn from it. 

     "Oh, right.  I shouldn't do that because it ended like that."

     I really enjoy reading Jeffrey R Holland's, another leader of my church, sermon when he says these words as he describes himself in a long journey from the West to the East Coast for school:

“Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead—a lot of it—30 years of it now, and still counting. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.”

     Let me just add my witness that even though there may be challenges ahead, BIG ones for some, let it go its course-- it'll get better.  Give it some time.  Give it some more effort.  It will work out.  Ask for strength from on high and it will be given to you.  The experience from these things will only aim to make you a more refined being.