A sudden gust of gravity

Wednesday evening I was so stressed and tired. I hadn't been in the best of moods the previous few days. After 4 1/2 hours of work and 5 1/2 hours of school, I was ready to call it a day. My head hurt, I was hungry and tired. Institute was starting in 30 minutes, and I was really torn as to whether or not I could handle going emotionally or physically.

My roommate encouraged me to go, and I realized that with how down I had been, going would probably do far more to raise my spirits than staying home moping would. And so I went!

The topic was on Time Management and Goal Setting. The teacher started by having a member of the stake (John) come up and juggle. He started with two balls, juggling them simply while explaining how a certain group of jugglers take to the street and teach random people the basics of juggling. As he talked he kept adding balls until he was juggling five. He made it look so natural! It was amazing!! At one point he dropped one of the balls. Without missing a beat he said, "Wow, there was a sudden gust of gravity!" He picked up the ball and kept going.

After his performance the class discussed the similarities between time management and juggling. For one, we all need to remember that we will drop a LOT of balls before we start catching them. John explained that he started in a room with a high ceiling just tossing up two balls as high as he could and catching them. He said he would face one direction until he ran into the wall, would turn around and proceed in the other direction until he collided again. It takes a lot of practice and patience to learn how to juggle the various tasks in our life, and yes, we WILL run into the wall on occasion. We must remember to turn around and keep going.

John has been juggling since he was a small boy, yet he still dropped a ball! Did he get frustrated and embarrassed? Did he give up and turn his back on juggling ever again? No, but rather he laughed and picked right back up where he was. We are not professional jugglers. So many things demand our time and attention. Sometimes we seem to have less and less time for the necessities of life. We feel inadequate and weak because we can't do everything we want to all the time. We drop the ball. That is no excuse to quit. Pick it back up again. If you really can't handle it, keep juggling with what you have and when the time is right to try again, you'll know.

I was talking to my sister about the principle of time management and how I loved that John said, "There was a sudden gust of gravity!" She pointed out something I hadn't thought of. To juggle you must fight gravity. You are going against a law that is pulling down what you are sending up. I guess now that I think of it, in order to juggle, gravity is necessary. By doing your part and letting gravity do its part a beautiful art is created.

The struggles we face in life aren't obstacles meant to pull us down, but gifts given to us to help us grow and reach our potential. Stumbling will happen. Stressful days will overwhelm us at times. Our plate will seem filled beyond that which we can handle. How can we do it all? It's not so much what we're doing that matters, but what we're becoming. Keep going.

One last thing that stuck out to me was the following concept:

Always have a plan for your life, but remember that it is Plan B. When the Lord presents plan A, be prepared to change your plans.

The Lord knows best. He will lead and guide us when we most need it. Other times He will let us choose our own paths. Don't give up on this road of life. Gravity will pull us down. We will drop the ball. We will be tired and discouraged. But we can do it. We all can. Never forget that.