I Hope They Call Him on Another Mission

"Basically, I am grateful to be home. I am really grateful to God for blessing me. I am grateful for a good family. I don't think it will matter which transition we are asked to endure, if we meet them with a grateful heart, we will ever see the positive and the negative will drift away with prayerful hearts."

I wrote that a few weeks after coming home from my mission in my first blog entry. I've been thinking about missions a lot lately--my own, the missions that people will be departing to, and, if you know anything about my current predicament, the mission from which a certain person will soon be returning.

I decided to get involved with a girl who has a missionary returning home soon. It sounds enough like a common Mormon occurrence. I feel kind of like Penelope's suitors in the house of Odysseus. Know the story? Odysseus goes on a long journey to the ends of the known world after the Trojan war, is held captive a few different times and after 10 long years returns home to find his house filled with mischievous men trying to court his wife. I might as well be a mischievous man! Oh and do you remember what happens to Penelope's suitors? After failing to string the bow of Odysseus, the man (Odysseus) himself walks up to the bow, strings it with his demi-god strength, and slays methodically each suitor that defiled his house. *Slays methodically*.

So, with this metaphor for my life in mind, we return to the story. I returned home from a mission about 19 months ago to a fresh and stinging 'Dear John' phone call. I, the Odysseus of two years ago, obviously couldn't string the bow and slay the suitor. I guess I just feel hypocritical if I change roles so starkly.

"Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of another person, hypocrisy begins." -Emerson

Whatever happens, an impacting transition is playing out slowly. I am reminded how hard and taxing emotion-filled relationships can be. But this whole situation has reminded me the power that comes in gratitude. Regardless of what we are asked to endure in life, be it rejection or hard decisions, if we meet it with a grateful heart, the negative will fade away and we will be left basking in the positive with prayerful hearts.