"The rock upon which ye are built"

     You know those times when you plan on being productive ... but when the moment comes there is literally not an ounce of motivation in you? That was me, on a plane to Florida, yesterday. Since we were taking the weekend off to visit grandparents in Florida - we planned on getting a lot of studying done on the plane! Good plan, right? And part of that studying was doing some reading in the scriptures... so perfect time, right? Perhaps it was... but sometimes there is something about approaching the actual moment of action (in this case when it was scripture study) where push meets shove and suddenly the things you at one point really wanted/intended to do feel not that tempting anymore -- maybe even inconvenient. I openly admit, this was not the first time (and probably not the last time) that I hit one of these walls and caved -- deciding rather that sleeping was a better alternative.

    Well, I obviously can't leave the story there... but do you get where I'm coming from? Those moments when your knowledge of what is right and your motivations... just don't quite coincide?? From something as simple as brushing your teeth to keeping the commandments, I think we face those tests daily. And instead of suggesting to you that you grit your teeth and push through it, or preach to you about self-control -- I'll tell you what helped me in this case.

    As I was falling asleep, my friend next to me pulled out his Book of Mormon and started reading. Only moments ago, I had no desire to do my homework and finish my scripture study -- but something about not feeling compelled to made me actually want to read it! I stayed in my "falling asleep" position, but instead of sleeping, I read over his shoulder. The page he was on was a really good story that I remembered and wanted to read more about. Then, even after he was finished reading, about to put the book away, I asked if I could borrow it -- reading long into the flight, honestly having one of the best studies of my life.

    We are guaranteed to have times in life when doing what is right (big or small) will be inconvenient. Surround yourself with good people and situations -- friends and family that will probably steer you in the right direction even when you aren't really feeling it yourself.  But beyond that, remember the real reason behind what you're doing -- and you'll probably realize that you do actually want to do it.  For me, this was remembering the awesome stories and lessons in the scriptures that I seriously wanted to learn -- suddenly reading was not a chore but a reward. If we stay focused on the true purpose of life, building our foundation on Christ, we are promised that we will not be overcome -- not even by exhaustion: "when all [the] hail and mighty storms shall beat upon you" (when it starts to get really hard to do something you know you should be doing) remember "the rock upon which ye are built... whereon if men build they cannot fall."