Telephone Poles

 

The other day Sister John and I were driving to Conrad. I was a little tired so I was just looking out the window at the horizon and thinking. Being a new missionary can be overwhelming at times, as is any new stage we go through. With so many new things to learn and understand, so many new people to know, and so many directions to have down pat, I was feeling very flustered. I kept thinking, "life will sure be nice once..." and I mentally listed a million things-when I have the lessons down, or when I can get from town to town without a GPS, or when I teach enough that I don't feel like I am going to pass out with nerves. As these thoughts chased each other I stared at the long gravel road I noticed the telephone poles standing erect far into the horizon. I noticed that the further away the telephone poles were, the closer together they seemed to be. I looked behind, and noted the same phenomenon. It was then something hit me, a lesson that I have always struggled with; the time to be content is NOW. I noticed that a lot of times, just as the telephone poles looked closer together in the horizon, I think the future looks a lot better, easier, or more exciting. But that is all it is-it only looks that way. As soon as we drive a few miles we get to those telephone poles and realize that they are exactly the same distance apart-that we have been bamboozled. We then look ahead and see more, drive to them earnestly, and find them to still be the same distance apart. At this point we might begin to look back at the telephone poles we have already passed, and see that now, suddenly, they look closer together, and we begin to wish to be back where we were. And I realize, looks are really deceiving. Instead of deciding to be happy "when", and speed my truck towards the next telephone pole, I need to enjoy the now, because really, every moment in life can and should be enjoyed, because really, every moment in life is exactly the "same distance apart", just like those telephone poles...