See title for my general well being. I started today at 7. Well, at midnight to 2 and then at 7. I’m working so hard right now it’s….hard A lot of this has to do with a compulsion to make my business work, something which largely feels extremely important right now. As I look into the future, I see myself coming home from a mission in a world that won’t be particularly friendly, especially to one just barely getting started in life (somewhat – I hear that life doesn’t start for many until after they get home from their mission). College, dating, business, church, life. It’s a lot to keep man busy. Did I tell you? The Stake Presidency has exhorted every member of every elders quorum presidency in every ward to go on at least one date every week. Wow. It’s a good thing there are enough sisters in the ward for a date every week for the next two years. Not that I’ll be here for two years. I mean, starting this week I have roughly 14 weeks to go. Yikes, that’s not many weeks. Since the beginning of school, I’m roughly 1/3 of the way there. That’s a psych out for you. I’m really tired now. *yawn*

Let me impart some wisdom here. In a world of shifting values, unconstancy, confusion (oft times instigated by opposing forces with an interest in gaining control), uncertainty, fear, and doubt, it becomes increasingly imperative for us to turn to our Heavenly Father for guidance. Not just him, however. We also need to use our experiences and our minds to fully flesh out rational decisions. Don’t forget that God fashioned us with brains that we may choose for ourselves how to serve. As long as we are making choices and as long as the net change in our lives is one towards good, I believe we’ll make it just fine. And give no thought for the speculative future, he’ll probably throw a curve ball in there anyway. Not for fun, though, for he weeps with us and I believe that what we experience is about the bare minimum of what we will need to make it. He’s not going to overexpose or abuse us for the sake of some twisted divine humor. Rather, he loves us and wants us to grow, so we have our plates overfilled and our minds worn thin. Fortunately, this is only temporary.

I was talking to Nate about this the other day. I was specifically discussing how I am prone to bursting into uncontrollable laughter in the face of immense pressure. The reason being? 9/10 times, it’s very petty stuff that I’m going through. At least, from an eternal perspective. This little blip of an existence is so finite, so short, and a single moment nearly invisible to the eternal, that when we do face challenges (”Oh shoot, I missed that question on a quiz” “Oh man, she totally shut me down when I asked her on a date” “I have so much homework to do!”) they are often insignificant when divided into eternity. Don’t forget that.

Oh, one last note before I lose consciousness. Saturday was a lot of fun. Shalese from the ward has invited me to go swing dancing with a group of fellow wardies twice before that I can remember, but both times there was a prior engagement keeping me from going with. I felt pretty bad about shutting her down like that twice over the same activity, so I blocked out Saturday night to go dance. Although I need to brush up on my country swing a lot, it was great fun and I’m trying to figure out if I should make it a regular part of my routine (more for the sake of learning to dance than anything – country swing is very fun and crazy fast). It will certainly make that exhortation from the stake easier

I’m down for the night.