Recalculating

We had a lady come to our Relief Society meeting the other night from the 12 step addiction recovery program of the church.  Our Bishop had told me that all of the steps are basically just using Christ's atonement in our lives every day so we thought the principles and ideas could be put to use for all people in all kinds of situations they are trying to improve on.  Besides substance or pornography addictions, there are patience, weight loss, financial prudence, anger management, negative self talk, etc.

The one thing that has stuck with me the most is her story about using a GPS in Italy.  Because of the GPS, she was able to find her way to lots of different places and see lots of things that she wouldn't have been able to find on her own.  Whenever she didn't follow the directions of the GPS exactly, it would say "Recalculating" and then come up with new directions from where she was right then so she could still get to the place she wanted to get to even though she hadn't followed the original directions.  

Sister Belnap said Heavenly Father is like a GPS.  When we let go of the Iron rod or make a wrong turn in our life, He doesn't yell "You're an IDIOT!" or "You're never going to get there, now!" or "You're on your own now, stupid!".  (That last one is probably something I would say...."Hasta la vida, baby!" and then delete their prayer line or something.)   Heavenly Father doesn't yell at us.  He just recalculates and tries to help us from where we are now.  It obviously takes a lot longer to take all these detours in life.  Sometimes you can make a U-turn right then.  Sometimes you end up having to go through scary neighborhoods or lots of windy roads in order to get back to the right road again.  No matter how long it takes though, Heavenly Father is still willing to guide you back to the right path.

Sister Belnap said sometimes you might have to recommit yourself over and over in the same day.  But, if you keep trying and keep trying to get better, He will keep recalculating and still guide you safely back.

Sigh.

I love that visual.

And so, I am letting Heavenly Father RECALCULATE for me and I'm back to trying to read and study my scriptures daily.  I have thrown scripture reading in a few times since the last time I posted (mostly the 10 second rule) but mostly I haven't read at all.  For sure, not at all in the past week.  I must have even pulled over for a milkshake or something and got lost in the city clamor of where I was because there was several days in a row when I didn't even think about scripture reading.  If it entered my mind before bed, it wasn't even hard to brush that errant thought aside.  "Yes, Yes, I'll put that on my To-Do list for tomorrow."

D&C 3:10  But remember, God is merciful; therefore repent of that which thou has done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen and art again called to do the work.

I've gotten in the car again and am heading back toward the road of Spiritual Giantness.  I think I just heard a voice say  "Recalculating".