A Light Bulb Moment

I know you're probably tired of hearing about all of my self-discovery moments...but I had another one today. I was sitting in church, trying really hard to concentrate...a bit of dry council Sunday....you know. Anyway, I was sitting there (trying to ignore the brute sitting next to me trying to have a thumb war with me) and I heard a story of a man. God came to the man and told him to push on this big boulder. So the man began pushing and God left to see to other things. After many days of pushing the boulder, the man called on God and asked why the boulder hadn't moved. The man had done all God had asked and still the boulder had not moved. God looked at the man and told him that all he had been asked to do was push the boulder...not move it. God asked the man to look at the changes that had occurred in the mans life since the pushing had begun. It was true the man noticed how much stronger and more focused he had become. God just chuckled and told the man if he had wanted the boulder moved...he'd have just moved it himself.
I began to apply that to my own life. Most specifically, the most recent boulder I've been asked to push. More than once in the last 2 years I have found myself asking why. Why didn't Jim find a job closer to home? Why did my Mom get sick? Why did she have to die? Why do I have to make new friends? Why do my kids have to attend a Branch that has few kids their age? Why why why? My boulder just feels bigger and ever stagnant. Duh....was I asked to move it? No. I have been asked to push. So I then looked at my life from that point of view. My kids are learning to be missionaries. Kevin has had opportunities to hold callings that he wouldn't have had in a large ward...thus preparing him for his mission. In my own life, I can see the personal growth as well as the spiritual growth. I have stepped outside my own comfort zone and made new friends that have uplifted and strengthened me and thus helped me push on my boulder. In looking at the growth...I guess the pushing has done some good after all.
So to all of you that have been asked to push on a boulder and are getting discouraged by your lack of forward progress....look around.....maybe you're just supposed to push it. Maybe you're making more progress than you realize. Keep the faith....keep on pushing.