Communication is Key

This past week has been a load of drama, mostly revolving around me and my insecurities.  And stupidities. I was sure that a certain friend "hated" me, mainly meaning that something was seriously amiss. None of my other friends believed me, and told me otherwise. Usually I can let this sort of thing go, but I value that friendship very much and I could not move on until I knew what was wrong. Of course, the normal and smartest thing to do would be confront them and demand an explanation. I'm sure you can guess I did just the opposite. I didn't even try to bring it up. I slowly sunk into a self-pity depression, letting this person ignore me for what seemed like forever.

This silent war was getting to a point where even my friends sounded doubtful when they tried to fight my accusations. I really can't recall another time when I was sure that someone was angry with me, and I had no idea why! I had just about reached the point where I felt I would explode if they continued to ignore me. I missed talking to them. I missed them even acknowledging my existence. I missed them. I got home from school, and sat there, thinking of what to do. I finally settled on a prayer, with a pleading request that they would at least text me. I went downstairs, flopped on my bed, and lay there, pondering. *cue dramatic music*

I typed up a text message, but it didn't feel right. I shut my phone and set it aside. Not a minute later, my phone buzzed. Could it be? YES! It was a glorious text message from this person who'd been ignoring me! The message immediately sent my heart hammering. They wanted me to call them. I was seriously expecting a scolding for telling everyone that I thought they hated me and blah blah blah. Hesitantly, I dialed their number and literally held my breath. They picked up and started explaining... Turns out, they WERE ignoring me! It had all been a miscommunication problem, and I admit some of it was my fault.. But we made up and I haven't felt more at ease in what feels like a long time (turns out it was only like, three days).

The morale of this story is, if we had just talked about our rift we could've solved this problem a long time ago, but instead this dragged on way longer than it should've. Communication is key!

This also relates to Heavenly Father. How in the world are we supposed to get through this life, happily, if we don't tell Him what's going on? Christ suffered for our sins! Give your burdens to Him, and enjoy the most wonderful feeling in the world- peace.

Light Parade, Friends, and Service

The Christmas season just rocks. There's so much happiness, and peace, and nostalgia, and let's be honest, what other time of year can you wave to complete strangers with a real smile on your face? Just imagine, like, "Happy summer!" And the stranger smiles equally as merry as you wave in mutual happiness. No. It's just Christmas!

I got to take part in the Light Parade last night, and I had the best time ever! There's something about friends that just warms my heart. Especially when they're willing to be idiots along side me or just laugh at my jokes (even though sometimes they're just legitimately stupid). I love making people laugh. It is one of the most rewarding feelings for me.
Anyways, we sang Christmas hymns and some people gave us this look that just said, "Yes". I'm so happy that the true meaning of Christmas still reigns, even though it's not the "popular vote".

I'm just gonna take a paragraph and shout out to my awesome, hilarious, "better-than-yours" friends. My group of friends is a testimony to me that God does plan everything perfectly. I cannot imagine having a better group of people to spend my time with. We all strive to do what's right, none of us are afraid to do something that might look "stupid", and we all respect each other. I love my friends!! They are HUGE examples to me, and they probably don't even know it.

After the Light Parade, I had the opportunity to babysit. Earlier, I was really reluctant. I definitely wasn't in the mood to babysit right after that until midnight. Especially since my friends wanted to hang out. Amidst my selfish reasoning, a thought popped into my head, "Be the answer to someone else's prayer." I pondered on that thought, and finally decided to do it.
I'm so grateful that I was prompted to do that! Turns out, none of my friends could've hung out anyway, but aside from that, I'm certain I babysat one of the cutest children on Earth. For real, she is soo adorable. The mom told me she had been so stressed she was "going to kill someone" if she didn't get some release. I put the little girl to bed, and then had 3 hours to kill before she came home from her midnight hike.
After looking around, I decided that I would try to lessen her stress a little more (hopefully). If you know me, this is pretty miraculous. I rolled up my sleeves and did the dishes. The miracle in this is: I HATE doing dishes! Yet somehow I did it with a smile in my heart. I felt so peaceful and accomplished after I finished that. I hoped that it would help, if only a teeny bit. After that I did some minor cleaning (i.e. wiping the counter, picking up toys). By that time it was roughly 11 pm, so I stuck in my headphones and waited. I suppose I dozed because I woke up with the mom prodding my shoulder. I checked the clock: 12:20 am. She smiled and thanked me and I ran out the door before she could even think to pay me.
She hadn't needed to, anyways. My reward was service.
Mosiah 2:17 "...When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God."