Let me tell you some things I've learned recently...
1) American shoes do not like Europe.
My poor shoes were not made for being my primary mode of transportation. I'm proud of them, they've held up really well considering the circumstances, but their kryptonite is rain. Last weekend I wore my black flats on my border run. I was trying to pack light and was planning on going to church so I chose them for their versatility. Both comfy and dressy casual. Little did I know it was going to be raining all weekend. As soon as they got wet they lost it, they're all sorts of distorted and discolored now. I chose them to go back to Kiev this last weekend as well, for the same reasons. And what happened? You guessed it. Rain. Torrential downpours all weekend long. Come to think of it...maybe my shoes are cursed with an evil voodoo rain curse. I should invest in some galoshes. Maybe then it'll stop raining. I'm starting to know how Noah felt...
2) Sometimes scenes from movies happen in real life.
One thing I've realized as I've grown up is that what they show in movies and what happens in real life aren't always the same. But sometimes they are. This morning I had to get up at the crack of dawn (okay not really because the crack of dawn here is 3:30 a.m.) to head back out to Kanev for work. I had my big backpacking backpack, my purse (filled with bricks of course), and my laptop (carefully wrapped in plastic bags so as to not get wet). So my hands were already full and then add an umbrella. Getting the picture? The rain is pouring down, the wind is blowing with a vengeance, and the combination is lethal. I'm sloshing through the rivers that seem to be everywhere. Trying to balance everything plus hold my umbrella. I'm still getting soaked (even my hair that was directly under the umbrella) The wind is blowing so hard I have to lean into it in order to even move. And my umbrella flips inside out. I correct it. 5 seconds later, it flips again. This was my morning. Soaked to the bone with a 3 hour bus ride in my future.
I was upset. As I was wallowing in misery, I said a little prayer. "please let the winds and rain stop so that I can get to where I need to go." This was not a good start to my week! I realized that I don't want to start my week off with a bad attitude. My prayer changed. "please help me to not have a bad attitude even though it feels like the universe is out to get me." As soon as I said that, I realized what I must look like, just like a dreary scene from a movie. The one where you think to yourself..."that's a bit extreme...it's never that bad in real life". But it really was that bad. It was then that instead of being grumpy, and grumbling under my breath, I laughed. So I'm glad that Heavenly Father let me walk in the rain. He could've stopped it if he really wanted to. He could've made it easier. But I wouldn't have learned to laugh at myself and my misfortune. Or how its my choice what my attitude is going to be and how I react to situations in life. I don't have to settle because "that's just who I am", I can change, I can be better. And I am, every time I learn a lesson and then change my habits accordingly.
Lesson: You can choose to do things cheerfully, even when you hate sludging through the pouring rain.
"Therefore, dearly beloved..., let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." Doctrine and Covenants 123:17
