Season of Solitude

When I thought I couldn't have any more down time, my boss informed me in my department meeting last week that I have five personal leave days I have to use by the end of the fiscal year (which ends in two weeks). Ha! *insert facepalm*

It was my bad because I didn't keep track of which benefits I can accrue and which I cannot. And don't get me wrong, this is nothing to complain about. But I just couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all. When I thought I couldn't possibly have any more time to myself, I get a FULL week of pure vacation! And it's all. by. myself. (No trips planned, no guests coming.) Haha.

This past Saturday I came to terms with it and I've decided to embrace it. Really embrace it! And I'm actually looking forward to it.

As I told Rach, when I'm by myself, there's two things I don't do much of:

1. Eat.
2. Spend.

Ha!

But truly, I've come to see this as an answer to fasting and prayers. I have specific temporal goals for this summer and this season of solitude will help me get closer to reaching them.

(It's also helping me take advantage of the simple sweets of life. e.g. Pulling out my sofa couch bed and sprawling in my living room or setting up my projector for popcorn and a movie from the comforts of my bed!)

I've recently been feeling very overwhelmed by the state of this world. I am seeing at rapid rates the promises of the prophets that we truly are living in the last days. Everything from overhearing locker room conversations between tweens regarding their choice of sexual orientation (as if they were picking what to eat for dinner) or reading Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt's The Coddling of the American Mind and seeing the tragic trends of the world (manifested on US university campuses)...

I had a realization this weekend though! As evil increases, I simply need to increase my faith and power to surpass the Adversary and his work.

*Cue Boy Like Girls feat. Taylor Swift's Two is Better Than One* 😊

Sister Sheri Dew's It Is Not Good for Man or Woman to Be Alone came to mind:

"Neither man nor woman is perfect or complete without the other. Thus, no marriage or family, no ward or stake is likely to reach its full potential until husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, men and women work together in unity of purpose, respecting and relying upon each other’s strengths. ...

"The Lord’s pattern for couples and in large measure men and women serving together in His kingdom was established by our first parents. Together Adam and Eve labored, mourned, were obedient, had children, taught their posterity the gospel, called upon the name of the Lord, “heard the voice of the Lord,” blessed the name of God, and dedicated themselves to God. Repeatedly the scriptures about Adam and Eve refer to the pronoun they. 

"This divine pattern for men and women that strengthens marriages and families also fortifies the Church. For the Church cannot achieve the full measure of its creation unless both faithful men who bear the priesthood and righteous women who rejoice in serving under the direction of the priesthood work together. ...

"Recent devastating events in the United States seem to indicate difficult days ahead. But they are days that will be filled with confidence and courage if the men and women of your generation unite in righteousness as never before. There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you will work together, equally yoked, under the guidance of the priesthood."

One of the most important things I've recently learned about myself is that while I may often see the big picture or end goal, it is through the small and simple steps now that I get there. I can see that I'm wrapping up all the growth and progress I could make on my own. The next installment is shortly due.

But I have these last few chapters to finish writing. And this season of solitude is the time I can do it.

I'm very excited!