Monday, December 14, 2009

Judgement of Life's Success

I was speaking to someone today as we were taking our kids for a walk. She brought up the marriage of her parents, how controlling her father was towards her mother, and how unhappy her mom had been for years. We then got talking about how her dad became less active in his church, and it had to do with a tragic incident that happened to his younger daughters by someone else who was a "good person."

This got me thinking about life and how to be happy. Seems like every married couple goes through hard times. Seems like everyone faces traumatic experiences, all different, but still traumatic to that individual.

The way I see it, the Lord does not judge us based on what happens to us...but for some reason, we tend to look at others and judge them based on their money circumstances, family tragedies, disease etc...and judge whether or not they are good people based on what they have, how much they have, and the circumstances that happen to them.

The Lord, however, judges us based on how we respond/react to the challenges that we are faces with. Lets be honest, we will all face hardships, it's a part of life.

So how do you respond when life's challenges hit you? Because you can't control how someone else will react, not even your spouse. The Lord will judge us based on how we react. When a hardship comes do I get angry and bitter, or do I humbly pray for strength from my Father in Heaven?? Do I blame others and look for a way to vent, or do I turn to them Lord for understanding and for the atonement to heal my wounds??

The measure of our success won't necessarily be how much be have at the end of this life, or if I'm married or divorced, or if I got a college degree...however, I believe we will be judged based on what the Lord expects of us individually. For some, he may expect them to marry, have 6 kids, and to graduate from college. Others, he may expect them to serve mission, never marry in this life, and have a low paying job.

That's why we can't judge others...because what they are accomplishing in life is immeasurable to what you're accomplishing: it's like comparing apples and oranges, mountains and oceans--you just don't because they are different elements.

Well, so are we, as humans. We are all individuals, and are all loved individually by our Father in Heaven. We all came to earth with different sets of talents and personalities, so we are only judged against ourselves and what we were meant to become. The only way to know if we are reaching our potential is by doing the Lord's will in our lives, and stop comparing ourselves to others--it's just illogical.

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