"Joyfully" Endure to the End

One of my favorite mantras is "endure to the end". I chant it to myself constantly. It is the motto I live by.

I am adding something to that motto: Joyfully Endure to the End.

I read this in an talk by President Uchtdorf to the Priesthood session of the last General Conference. He was speaking to the "retiring" generation who might think they have done enough and can rest for a time. However, I found it very powerful.

I have spent the last few years "enduring" to the end. I have struggled through things, gotten through a lot of tough times, and just basically survived. I am done with that. I want to start JOYFULLY enduring to the end.

I want to be able to enjoy my time with my kids. I want to enjoy my life, not to think of it as something I have to do, but something I want to do. I want to stop thinking about how bad things are and look at how good they are.

I have been getting daily little emails called Daily Gems from the church website. Today's is from that talk by President Uchtdorf (which led me to read the whole thing,) and says:

"The Lord doesn't expect us to work harder than we are able. He doesn't (nor should we) compare our efforts to those of others. Our Heavenly Father asks only that we do the best we can—that we work according to our full capacity, however great or small that may be." Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Two Principles for Any Economy," Ensign, Nov. 2009, 56

I have not been working to my full capacity. I keep fooling myself saying I am. And maybe for the time, it was my full capacity. But I know the truth. I know I have so much more to offer. I don't have to lie in bed all weekend. I (not to mention my kids) don't deserve that. I deserve to be happy, and obviously what I am doing is not making me happy.

So, my new mantra is "Joyfully Endure to the End". I will strive to look at each day as a gift, instead of a drudgery. After all, "men are that they might have joy." Well, this woman is going to start having some joy!