Look to your foundation

. . . you best build your best life when you look to your foundation for every aspect of life.

It's time once again to return to Conference, and something about Gary E. Stevenson's address entitled "A Good Foundation against the Time to Come" drew me in.  Elder Stevenson used the foundation of the Salt Lake Temple and its renovation as an analogy for the spiritual foundation of our lives.  He then encouraged everyone to look to their own foundation and undergo any needed renovation work.

That's wise.  The spiritual is the foundation for all of life.  It provides the values we embrace in making decisions which chart the course of our lives.  Looking to the foundation of our spiritual selves in preparation for what may come is wise counsel.

But life comprises more than just the spiritual.  We also have social, intellectual, and physical aspects to our lives, each with its own foundation.  Could Elder Stevenson's counsel regarding our spiritual foundation apply just as much to the foundations for the other aspects of our lives?

If I had to choose one, certainly it would be the spiritual.  But I don't have to choose between them, nor should I.  And nor should you.  After all, you best build your best life when you look to your foundation for every aspect of life.

Dream big

Elder Stevenson recounted some of the 40-year history of the construction of the Salt Lake temple.  In particular, he quoted Brigham Young, who wanted that "temple built in a manner that it will endure through the millennium. This is not the only temple we shall build; there will be hundreds of them built and dedicated to the Lord."

Elder Stevenson then emphasized the grandeur of Brigham's vision.  He envisioned hundreds of temples while laying the foundation for the one before him.  He didn't turn away from dreaming big.

Do you dream on that grand scale?  Does your foundation for each area of life say you're preparing for big things?  Far too many live without such a vision.  They're zombies  walking through life dead to all the joy surrounding them every day and which they could capture if they chose to pursue their potential.

Big dreams strengthen the foundation for every aspect of your best life, so dream big.  Vision born of dreaming big inspires you to make your life everything it can be.  You get a glimpse of your best life that can motivate you to keep moving towards that best life.

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Focus big

Surely many fail to live their best life because they fail to dream big.  Just as surely, many others fail because they do nothing more than dream.  You can't reap where you don't sow.  To get a ticket to the show that's your best life, you must pay the price in full and in advance.

You pay that price largely in your work on and from your foundation.  And the pandemic, which many have cursed as an obstacle to the life they want today, presents an opportunity to build the life you can have tomorrow.

We need to see beyond the obstacles towards the opportunities.  Elder Stevenson rightly views the renovation of the Salt Lake Temple "more as a time of renewal rather than a time of closure."  While presenting many obstacles, the pandemic also provides us with many opportunities to improve our foundations in every aspect of life.

A proper foundation always precedes prosperity.  Private victories always precede public ones.  Dating is a great example.  Many singles fail publicly because they've failed privately; they don't have the proper spiritual, social, intellectual, and physical foundations to excel at dating.  Only when you do the work do you get results.

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Work big

That work is rarely easy.  Big dreams always require big work.  And working big is something entirely different than dreaming big.  Visions can inspire, but it's blood and sweat doing the actual grind in the mill house of life.  Results come only from action.

Often working big means working in faith.  Elder Stevenson quoted a woman who worked in faith despite debilitating cancer.  Focused on opportunities to inspire rather than obstacles to recovery, she wrote, "The future of this life may be unknown, but my faith is not. If I choose [not] to ... have faith then I choose to ... walk [only] in darkness. Because without faith, darkness is all that is left.”

Working big means patience.  Big results don't come overnight.  Big results come from the accumulation of little results patiently and diligently acquired every day.

If you experience constant failure rather than success, maybe you don't have the foundation for success.  Look to your foundation in every aspect of life.  When you strengthen your foundation, you clear the path to private victories.  When you achieve enough private victories, you'll begin to experience public ones.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

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You can listen to the monologue from today's episode of Joy In The Journey Radio here and continue the conversation by leaving a comment below.  Find more information about this episode, including how to listen to the entire episode, by going to the show page for this episode.