Perspective

I don't even know where to begin.  I guess I should just start by saying how much my perspective on things has changed over the last year.  I ran across a saying today by Albert Einstein that I absolutely love.  It was on a picture of a mountain and it said:  OPPORTUNITY...In the middle of every difficulty comes opportunity.  I sat there and stared at that picture and realized how true that saying was to my life.   I will definitely be putting this up in my house.  I have been told more than once that things look so picture perfect from looking at my blog.  I have to laugh because I have been guilty of that same thing as I have looked at some of my friends lives through their blogs.  It is much too easy to judge someone based on an outside perspective.  What we all fail to realize is that although things may seem to be picture perfect we all know that everyone has trials and challenges.  It's funny how things come full circle.  Over the last couple of months in our church in Japan there has been so much emphasis on not judging others.  At first I didn't think anything of it because this topic seems to come up so frequently in our church.  But then the thought occured to me that maybe the reason why it is talked about so frequently is because many of us are not getting it...myself included.  As I sat and really tried to understand what the message meant for me I was surprised to find that I finally understood this small piece of advice on a much deeper level.  For me it was more about finding how to truly love others through our differences.  Let's face it, we have all wanted to be like someone else at various times in our lives.  But, when we embrace who we are and love it and then turn to someone else and embrace them for who they are, we come together in love and admiration for each other in the way our Heavenly Father intended us to be.  Putting aside our strenghts, weaknesses, successes and trials we realize that we are really valued the same in our Father's eyes.  Could there be anything more peaceful and secure than knowing that we are all loved the same no matter how our lives look to others or where we are on the path?  I believe it is not about how we start but how we finish.  This life is about how we endure and react to things that happen to us.  It is often all too easy to complain about our woes and I am definitely at fault for this.  So how do we stop ourselves from complaining everytime something goes wrong for us and not for someone else?  We remember this quote I saw today:  In the middle of every difficulty comes opportunity.  I have never been through a trial where I didn't come out of it stronger, wiser, and better off.  Sometimes it has taken time to come to this recognition but eventually I have been able to come to terms with the fact that I have been given opportunity for growth and perfection in this life.  My life is far from perfect right now but I am learning to take what I can from this experience and put it in my opportunity vault.  Hopefully through being humbled once again I will be able to continue to be taught from the Spirit for it is only through humility that we can truly learn by the Spirit the things we need to know.  And just when we are feeling good about ourselves and feeling humble, we realize that we need to be more humble.  So with humility I declare how imperfect I am.  I am ok with that.  I know that I am loved and I know that I am never alone.  Life just wouldn't be the same without a little perspective to keep us going!