Perspective

I often lose sight of what's most important, and most often during the crush of finals and end-of-semester-stress. By losing sight of what's most important, I don't mean that I stray from what I know is right and vital, I mean that I make mountains out of molehills. I lose the proper perspective. Yes, I know just how important it is for me to maintain my GPA, so that I can maintain my scholarship, so that I can finish school and an honors thesis, so that I can get into Harvard for grad school, so that I'll have the best possible preparation and skill set for a successful career as a linguist. And when I put it that way, finals do seem pretty dang important. But that will never, ever approach the vital, saving importance of my testimony of Christ.

I know that no matter what might seem wrong in my life, at least I will be right if I am living in accordance with my testimony. On a secular level, if my actions are in harmony with my ideals, I can be at peace with myself. But on a more real level, if I am living the way that the Lord has directed, the way that he has promised will bring us blessings, nothing can truly be that bad, or that big. I always know who I can put my trust in, and because of that, I am given the help I need, not to make my life easy, but rather, to make it what it needs to be.

Life won't be easy. We are never promised that it will. But we can know that if we are living so that we qualify for blessings, then our lives are going according to the Lord's plan, even if we don't understand what that plan is. And for me, for now, knowing that I am in His hands is enough, even if I can't see exactly where I'm going. When I remember that, truly, the only part of life that matters is living the precepts of Christ's gospel and changing my heart to become more like Him, my anxiety over school and grades turns to gratitude for the opportunities I've been given and for this place that has been prepared for the righteous educations of hundreds of thousands of youth. My trust in Him is the rock that I have built my life around, and Christ is such a mighty, powerful foundation that nothing can shake me if I've securely built my life on Him.

Nothing. Not even finals.