Still not getting it.

Last week my sister relayed a story to me. Late Monday night she had the thought to go buy some milk, eggs and bread because she was out. But it was late and she didn't want to go, so she told herself she would do it in the morning. When she went to bed(at 1am) it was only raining. When she woke up in the morning it was completely white outside, she had no power, and all of the kids were home for a snow day. She realized then that she should have heeded the promptings of the spirit the night before. We had a good chat about this. We talked about how sometimes it is easier to heed those promptings when it is helping some one else or when it is one those BIG things in life. At the end of our conversation I said that I would learn from her mistakes.

ONE week later, I am sitting at my sewing machine sewing name bars on hockey jerseys. I had already done two, PERFECTLY. In fact I had thought to myself(which I often do) "you are AMAZING!". As I sat sewing on the third one I had the thought to stop and check that it was straight. I argued and told myself that I already had, twice in fact and had pinned it securely in place, besides I had already done two perfectly. So I kept on sewing. Half way through, I thought that I should check it. Again I told myself that it was fine and finished the name bar. When I held it up to look at...imagine my surprise(OK not really) when I saw that the name bar was crooked...and not just a little bit. If I would have heeded the promptings of the spirit and simply taken the time to triple check I would have saved time and the anguish of having to unpick the entire name bar(I HATE unpicking!). I immediately thought of my sister and how I did NOT learn from her mistake. As I finished the rest of the name bars I couldn't help but think of how often I have done the same kind of thing. How many times have I let my pride, (for surely that is what it was, I KNEW that it was straight) stop me from heeding the simple promptings of the spirit? Yes, in the grand scheme of things sewing a name bar on straight doesn't mean anything...but it would have made life just a little easier. Just imagine how easy life could be if we always heeded the promptings of the spirit in the little things that don't mean much in the grand scheme of things. I can think of dozens and dozens of times where I have had this similar argument with "myself", I think that the majority of the time I don't realize that it is the spirit prompting me. I once heard it said in an Relief Society meeting, that all good things are of God, so when you have a good thought you should follow through on it because only good can come of it.I try to always remember this, but it is apparent that I haven't yet mastered this idea.