Hump Day

This post is for all of you that have ever heard the quote (I think it's from John Bytheway) "Don't count time, make time count!" and cringed a little bit because you realize how much you're counting time. This is for all of you that have ever had a hard time waking up on a Monday morning facing a whole new work week. This is for everyone that has ever wished that you could always feel as good as you do Friday afternoon when you get off work. This is for any of you that have ever watched the clock. But mostly, this post is for me.

Today is Hump day, meaning we're halfway through our internship in Romania. In some ways, I still feel like we just got here. At other times, I feel like we've been here forever and we're never going to get to leave. That's when I step back and remember "It'll all work out". And I remember this:

I served my mission in Nashville, TN. I worked hard and I was obedient, but sometimes I knew I wasn't working as hard or as effective as I could have. As I approached the end of my mission, there was no way I would allow myself to get lazy and not make every minute count. So, during my last week, I was asked to give a training at the final District Meeting I'd ever be required to attend as a full-time missionary. As I prayed and studied and prepared all the things I wanted to share with the 5 other elders in my district (all of whom had been out for under a year), I wanted to tell them about how important it is to finish strong. That's when I wrote a poem that I call "Now is the Time". It goes like this:

There's something inside that makes some of us say,
"Sure, I'll do my best. . . but on some other day.
Today I'm too tired, too hot, or too cold -
I'm just not in the mood to do as I'm told."
Then we look back and think "That wasn't smart.
I wish I could go right back to the start."
"Too bad! You're too late!" you soon realize,
"Now is the time you must open your eyes!
You've learned and you've grown and you've found the right way."
But that something inside still wants us to say,
"Can't we relax and have fun and just rest?"
"No! Now is the time! You must do your best!"

I'm would never consider myself a poet and I know I've shared this before, but I wanted to share it again now. Little did I know that a poem I wrote over 2 years ago in the mission field would be helping me stay motivated while working with orphans in a city called Iasi, Romania during the fall of 2008.