Keep Your Eyes Open for Twix!

Yesterday as I was getting ready for church, I was listening to Randal A. Wright’s Education Week class entitled You Have a Mission to Perform on Earth. (You can listen to it online, but there’s no written transcript available.) He mentioned one thing that had me thinking all day and then even when I was in bed trying to sleep. He said that in the Book of Mormon Laman was so bitter that he had to give up his lifestyle and inheritance in Jerusalem when the family fled into the wilderness as the Lord instructed them to. They eventually crossed the sea and landed in the promised land. Still Laman couldn’t stop thinking of the land and gold that he could have had. Brother Wright mentioned how he was bitter about this loss, but didn’t see that he now had “all of North and South America”.

So I’ve been thinking about how some people we know (and maybe sometimes us) really do dwell on their losses and do not even notice the blessings from our Heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to be happy. I was thinking of how to explain that to my children and thought of food (of course I would). If I had a bag of Swedish fish in my hands that I was about to eat, but suddenly it fell to the floor, I might be so disappointed about it that I’d be looking down at the floor for a long time. And maybe I’d even miss the package of Twix bars that someone left me on the counter right next to me because I wouldn’t look up. (Yeah, I could just pick up the Swedish fish and dust them off, but ewww!)

I also thought of the common saying, “When a door closes, a window opens.” Okay, that window doesn’t always open right after the door closes. And sometimes it appears that all the windows in the room are locked. But if we are too occupied looking at the door (the future we really wanted and thought was right for us), we might miss that open window (the future that really is best for us and Heavenly Father knows it).

Sometimes that window isn’t right next to the door. Sometimes that window is actually up high and I have to climb steep steps in order to get there. Why? Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be happy, but we can’t be really happy or progress without work and change. For example, that door that closes is a really great job that seems like it is perfect for me. I can stay sour about not getting it (or having it, but losing it) and just stay fixed on it or I can look around knowing that there is something out there for me. And when I look around I do see a window (another job) only it is up high. Instead of just walking right over to it and reaching out the window, I have to climb up those steps. I might have to learn new skills, take a few classes, maybe even move to a new city. Does that mean that it isn’t a blessing? Absolutely not. I might not have stretched and grown in this new way if it hadn’t have been for that closed door and that high window.

Of course, that window could be anything, a guy you think would have been the perfect husband but got away, a degree you didn't get to earn because it was too expensive, a beautiful house with a perfect garden that isn't yours...

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and who wants me to progress even though it isn’t always comfortable or fun. I know that even when that window is up high, He will be with me every step of the way, giving me strength, knowledge and guidance. Whatever that door is that closes, I don’t want to be like Laman, blind to his blessings and opportunities. We have so many examples of people in the scriptures and in real life of people who have moved on from difficult experiences and climbed up to those windows however high. I’m so grateful for those examples and the determination and happiness.