friends, chastening, and good tips from someone who's not me

It's a good thing there are people in this world who are nicer than I am. Otherwise we'd all just sit around on our couches all day, doing our own homework by ourselves, and worrying about how much we have to do tomorrow, and we'd probably never even know another human being.

My friend Emma brought me a present earlier this evening. An ice cream scoop! And not because she expected anything in return, not because someone told her I needed one...Just because...she's nice. She saw the other day that I broke a spoon trying to scoop ice cream, and decided to help! I need to be more like her.

Another friend, Trevor, came over to keep me company tonight while we both did homework. It really helps make studying easier (and by easier, I mean less boring and less likely that you'll kill yourself or go insane) when there's another human being around. Trevor's really good at being happy and can make even political science seem enjoyable. It's good to be fun.

I went to the BYU campus devotional this morning, and it was brilliant. Jeff Wilks gave a beautiful speech/talk/thingy. Do you find it hard sometimes to be positive in a negative world? Well, remember these things:

1. Righteousness does not mean perfection
2. If life is hard...keep trying anyway
3. Keep your focus on Heavenly Father
4. Heavenly Father's approval matters most
5. Find and remember the joy in your life

Between that (Jeff Wilks' devotional speech) and looking at the examples of the wonderful people in my life, I learned a lot today and was a little bit called to repentance. I can be negative sometimes. Like when I do poorly on my music history midterms. Or when I have to stay up all night studying for a test or finishing a project. And then people do nice things for me, like cook me dinner or give a genuine compliment or wash my dirty dishes...and I realize that I can be happy while doing hard things! I mean, if I have to take a political science midterm tomorrow anyway, I may as well enjoy it, and maybe learn something in the process. Right? And better yet, I should probably take time off from studying to help someone else. Or maybe wait 'til I ace my test then go find someone to serve. 

I think I'm just finally realizing that my life might always be crazy. So I need to love other people and enjoy others' company in the midst of the craziness, instead of waiting for it all to be over.