All Play and No Work Makes... Wait....

Today was so much fun, but way busy! I forgot what it was like to be so social you never got any alone time. Here was my schedule in a nutshell:

10am~ wake up

11am to 5pm~ at work

5-5:15pm~ walking home

5:15-6:50pm~ preparing for dinner

6:50-7:10pm~ eating dinner

7:10pm-7:30pm~ walking, getting clipboards to take roll

7:30-8:45pm~ institute

8:45-9pm~walking

9-9:30pm~gathering people and travelling to theater

9:30-11:20pm~ watching movie and travelling home

11:20pm-1:30am~ socializing.

Now, in the wee hours of the morning I find myself time to be alone, and what do I do? Write a blog, which is a form of communication to another, about how I haven't been with people all day. Teehee. Life is funny.

But besides all that, I wanted to share what I learned in institute to my 6 readers. At institute today we were talking about Elder Quentin L. Cook, and how one of the phrases that stuck with him all his life was "if you pick up one end of the stick, you have to pick up the other". This was interesting to me because he used this as a phrase to emphasize commitment, while I had always heard it used to describe consequences. But as I thought about it, they seem to be one in the same.

When you pick up one end of a stick, you don't necessarily have to pick up the other end too. You could angle it in such a way that one end is still touching the ground, but what then? You have this stick you're holding on to that you won't let off the ground completely because you don't want the other end, but you can never really do anything with the stick itself because of it. Plus you're stuck holding on to it, bent over and dragging it around and... it would be such a hassle. Once you get fed up with dragging the stick along the ground for so long, you have to decide: Do i drop the stick and leave it be or do I pick all of it up? How committed are you to having that one end of the stick?

I liked how Elder Cook had illustrated it. His son wanted to be a doctor for awhile, and told Elder Cook so too, but one day he changed his mind and decided he wanted to be a pilot instead. Elder Cook asked his son why. What did he say? 'Well Uncle Joe is a doctor, and he works a lot of Saturdays, and I just don't know that I could give up my Saturday morning cartoons!'

Economists call it opportunity cost. Is what you get worth what you lose? Is being a doctor worth not watching my Saturday morning cartoons? Is spending an hour with my friends worth an hour less of sleep? Is an hour with my friends worth an hour less of studying? Is being angry worth the constant discomfort? Is proving a point worth estranging a friend? Is standing for truth worth being ridiculed?

You can skirt around the question, dragging the stick along the ground for awhile, but eventually, you'll have to decide. Do I pick up the stick or do I let it drop? Do I become a doctor and miss cartoons or do I leave that path alone? Do I stay up until 2am writing a blog and be sleepy the next day or do I sleep and forget what I wanted to say? Am I willing to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ even if it means giving up dreams, stretching myself, and working toward a goal I may not see in this life? It really makes me question what I truly am committed to.

But I hope as I pickup sticks (pun intended), I will not only choose the best ones for me, but will also always be committed to picking up both ends.