How do we stop living in the future we’re trying to plan, and start living in the moment?
There’s nothing I love more than a warm, sunny day at the pool with a cold glass of lemonade in hand. I’m a California girl through and through, and I was always certain I would move back after finishing college in Utah—until I fell in love with a boy studying premed.
Photo by John Cardamone
Once I got engaged to my husband, I realized that eventually returning to California would likely be further down the road than I originally imagined. With eight years of medical school and residency ahead of us, our plans have had to wait. Although I’m excited about this new adventure, I often find myself feeling uneasy about the uncertainty ahead.
As I’ve worried about the future and wondered how we’ll make it back to California, the words of President Thomas S. Monson have brought peace and guidance to my life. In his October 2008 general conference address “Finding Joy in the Journey,” he stresses the importance of living in the “now” by saying, “there is no tomorrow to remember if we don’t do something today.”
Focusing on the present can be difficult, but President Monson explains that this can be a more joyful process when we prioritize serving others. He lists things we can do, including sending a note to a friend we’ve been missing, giving our children and parents hugs, always saying “I love you,” and expressing thankfulness. He then reminds us to “never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.”
In just a couple of months, I will be moving to a new town in a new state with only a few familiar faces. It will undoubtedly be an adjustment, but I know that I can still find peace in the journey as I find ways to look outside of myself and focus on loving and serving others.
Read President Thomas S. Monson’s full address to learn more about living in the moment: “Finding Joy in the Journey.”
Source: General Conference
—Ellie Haverlock, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY SVEN PIEK
Find more insights
Read Kenzie Holbrook’s Latter-day Saint Insights article “Do You Have Faith in God’s Plan Even if It’s Not Yours?” to learn about trusting in God’s plan.
Read or watch Professor Kenneth Galeai’s BYU-Hawaii devotional “Being Present, the Evidence Hoped For” to hear more about the importance of living in the moment.