Ending the Struggle

This morning, I awakened with a daily struggle I have carried for several weeks—the struggle of loving a family member who appears not to align with many of my fundamental beliefs. I needed to find a path to meet the day with inner willingness, not outward struggle. I found the below quote helpful: 

"Do not struggle with the errors of others, wrestle only with your true intentions and you will be rewarded with the opportunity to succeed in conquering your destiny." — Anonymous 

Referring further to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, I was reminded: 

"We have ceased fighting anything or anyone—even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame." — Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book), Chapter 6 

"Resentment is the ‘number one’ offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else." — Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book), p. 64 

"When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation—some fact of my life—unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment." — Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book), p. 417 (often referred to as the Acceptance passage) 

 

Instead of wrestling with the errors of others, the focus should be on internal acceptance and change. 

• "Do not waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good." — Ralph Waldo Emerson 

• "He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior." — Confucius 

• "Man is not the enemy here, but the fellow victim." — John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath 

• "I will not allow my life's light to be determined by the darkness around me." — Sojourner Truth 

Turning to scripture, my foundation in strength, I then found the following: 

• "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." — Philippians 3:13-14 

• "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." — Doctrine & Covenants 64:10 

• "The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired." — President Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something 

 

 Instead of struggling with others’ wrongs, we find purpose and success in service and personal growth. 

This journey of self-reflection has taught me that I cannot control the beliefs and actions of others, but I can control my response. By choosing inner peace, acceptance, and faith, I take a step forward in conquering my own destiny. 

Good Morning