Missionary March Madness

Just over a year ago, my college basketball team were just finishing our regular season before we headed to our conference tournament in the great Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. Our coach asked each of the players to share with the team their favorite motivational quote to finish to season strong. It was at a time where honestly, I was lacking that drive that my normal self usually carries. It was near the end of the season and I was tired. Everyday I would wake up, go to school, then straight to practice, then if I was lucky and didn't have a night class...home to do homework and off to bed. Same thing day in and day out! So who was I to pump up the team when I would rather skip practice and go home to sleep??? I luckily came across this quote and it fit right in to exactly how I was feeling...

"People don't play sports because it's fun. Ask any athlete, most of them hate it, but they couldn't imagine their life without it. It's part of them, the love/hate relationship. It's what they live for. They live for the practices, parties, cheers, long bus rides, invitationals, countless pairs of different types of shoes, water, Gatorade and coaches you hate but appreciate. They live for the way it feels when they beat the other team, and knowing those two extra sprints they ran in practice were worth it. They live for the way they become a family with their team, they live for the countless songs they sing in their head while training all those hours. They live for the competition, they live for the friends, the practices, the memories, the pain. It's who they are. It's who we are."

Sometimes life isn't fun. We may not feel like waking up in the morning to go to church. Reading the scriptures and praying every night. We go through trials of every kind. Sometimes we wonder why we even try. Then we realize everything good that comes out of life. The miracles that sometimes we completely look over and don't realize. Waking up to see your family, hanging out with friends, actually getting an education that most of the world doesn't. For me...Playing college basketball?? Like seriously, who gets the opportunity to do that? And I'm over here complaining about not getting enough time to myself? I signed up for that! And we all signed up to come to earth. We knew the trials we were going to be given and we still wanted to come to earth to get a body and learn and grow. We live for the way it feels to come out on top. I know that we can receive the true happiness life can offer as we first put God first. Our record may not be a perfect, UCONN record of 40-0 but we can do OUR personal best and Heavenly Father will be proud of that.

So when life gets hard, please please remember...IT WILL BE WORTH IT. Those 2 extra sprints that you hate so much in the moment, are little by little going to shape you into who your Heavenly Father wants you to be. Look at the bright side of trials...the long bus rides, the friends you make along the way. Yes, this life can get hard sometimes but one of the biggest purposes of life is to have joy! I have received so much joy from putting God first-I have seen a change in my life and therefore I know it can change others lives as well :)