Do you ever hit those points in your life where the rushing current seems to stop flowing and turns stagnant? For me thats when I start to panic! I want to pull out an ore and make life's water continue to swirl around me. Through experiencing this I have come to learn that it is those stagnant times that we must face with efforts to prepare ourselves for the future currents ahead of us. We must not panic and sink to the bottom, but instead exert our energies toward building those muscles necessary to endure the future cascading streams and rivers.
I recently stumbled across some simple quotes from Elder Eduardo Gavarret (May 2008 Ensign) that really struck me pertaining to times of preparation vs. times of action:
“Sometimes events that don’t seem significant come together like a puzzle to prepare you.”
“Looking back, I can see the hand of the Lord in my life, moving me from one place to the next and from one calling to the other in order to serve Him better,”
"When Christ is the center of our lives, everything else falls into its place. All is in His control.”
Sometimes if our vision is adjusted, we realize the water never really stopped flowing but the direction of the current may have shifted or slowed. I know that our merciful God will always give us a calm before the storm in order for us to tighten our vessel that it might endure the winds that He sends forth to try us and to prove us. After all, that's why we're here! I hope we will not get discouraged when we aren't as utilized as we wish or things aren't progressing as quickly as our heart desires but that we will seek, in that time of calm, to fortify ourselves, our abilities and our determination that we might increase our enduring buoyancy.
