the twenty-fourth

As I sit here on my back porch, on my hammock under the firework lit sky, I tend to think, re-think, and over think life and all of it's mysteries. Today, July 24th, we celebrate our ancestry. We celebrate the pioneers: the trials, the tears, the hardships. We celebrate because they found Zion.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about trials. My trials, my friends trials, that random person standing two feet away from me's trials. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would not have been able to face the trials that the pioneers faced. We have been told as Latter-Day Saints that the trials we face today are much more difficult than the ones the pioneers had to face. I have only gone to trek once, and let me tell you, once was enough. One day was enough. One hour was enough.  I can't even comprehend months and months or trekking across the country. Some people are grateful for their trials while others are not. I realized that I am grateful for other peoples trials. I am grateful for the pioneers trials because they gave me this wonderful state I live in and am proud to call my home.

Not one person will go through this life without a trial. The most perfect being, our Savior, had many trials and yet he dealt with them and set the best example for us. My trials will never be the same as somebody else's trials, and their trials will never be the same as mine. But no matter what trial we face, we know that we can always turn to the Lord for help because he has felt every pain and sorrow. He bore more than we can ever imagine. When my trials seem almost more than I can bear, I think of my friends trials and can't even imagine being in their shoes. 

Our trials are designed for us. They are designed to make us either better or bitter.

Please dismiss the crude humor.