How to get unstuck
Getting Unstuck
During this last week, my husband, Lyle and I lead a tow truck up the mountain to our very stuck truck. It was so stuck that after hours of work and broken equipment the only answer was to call a professional that had better equipment. (Let me assure you, my husband is almost as close to a professional as you can get when it comes to getting stuck and unstuck.)
After arriving the tow truck operator and Lyle got to work getting our truck out. The truck was up to the doors in mud. After a few minutes, the tow truck was stuck too. The tow truck operator thought that he could just ease himself up to the front bumper of the truck and pull us out. But instead he immediately sunk. An hour later, after much digging and pushing and pulling, the tow truck was ready to take on the task.
So, they set to work on pulling our truck out. They dug and pulled and dug and pulled. It almost looked hopeless until we started to see the tiniest bit of movement and then another tiny bit of movement. Finally the truck was sitting on the solid road.
This week Sister Funk, one of my teachers at BYU-Idaho sent us her thoughts on the following article Try this for a change: 4 Simple Steps to Self Improvement. I so appreciate her thoughts each week. They have been exactly what I have needed. And this week was no exception.
But Why Can’t I Have It Right Now?
I am guilty of wanting to get to the end or to the final goal right now. I am impatient with the process that I have to go through to get to the final outcome. For example, I am in school right now, and all I can see is the final goal of graduating. That is good to some extent but when I am distracted from what is going on right here and now it becomes a problem. In my mind if I take more classes, I will get done faster. But the problem with that kind of thinking is that then my family, my marriage, my health, my job, and my schooling are all affected. I don’t have enough time to devote to all of them and so something gets neglected. And then I find myself stuck. So stuck that I am getting others stuck with me.
How do I get unstuck?
In the article Try this for a change: 4 Simple Steps to Self Improvement, Sean Johnson suggests we need to ask for direction. This is the same thing that Laurel Christensen refered to in her book titled “The Faith Experiment”. It is a constant theme running through my thoughts and life lately. In Elder Larry R. Lawrence’s talk title “What Lack I Yet?” in October 2015 General Conference, he encourages us to go to humbly go to the Lord and ask him what is keeping us from progressing and then to wait for an answer. The trick here is to act upon the inspiration we get immediately and see what happens. Too many times in my life, I ask but then think I know better. What you say? You think you know more than God? I know I have a lot of work to do. But I keep on trying.
Never Give Up. Keep on Keeping On.
Sean Johnson’s article also referenced another Conference talk from April 2015 by David G. Renlund titled Latter Day Saints Keep on Trying. I loved this talk in every way possible. Please take some time to read it. He quotes President Monson as having taught, “One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final.” What a beautiful promise that is. Too often we give up after getting stuck once, twice, or too many times to be counted. We tell ourselves we are not good enough, that we can’t do it, and we are failures. And we stay stuck because it feels easier and we give up the freedom we could have if we took one little baby step at a time. One little movement towards freedom. One little hand reaching out to God for help.
Elder Renlund’s Invitation to Us
I love how Elder Renlund ends his talk:
“My invitation to all of us is to evaluate our lives, repent, and keep on trying. If we don’t try, we’re just latter-day sinners; if we don’t persevere, we’re latter-day quitters; and if we don’t allow others to try, we’re just latter-day hypocrites. As we try, persevere, and help others to do the same, we are true Latter-day Saints. As we change, we will find that God indeed cares a lot more about who we are and about who we are becoming than about who we once were.“
So today, I commit to enjoy the process of getting unstuck. To not be frustrated with my current circumstances, but to ask God “What Lack I Yet?”. So that I can see clearly what I need to get myself out of this current predicament. And then ask again “What Lack I Yet?” And then again. Until I am finally firmly on solid ground again. Where I can then look back and see how far I have come. And rejoice in the process of becoming someone that I never knew was possible and someone that I will never be again.
