The Beauty of the Obstacle

I had an awakening moment this weekend. I got to go with my husband to a reunion with his old college roommates. We all went to BYU back about 20 years ago. Even though the campus is less than an hour from my house, I haven't made a point to go back and visit. I had some alone time walking around after a tour of campus and a short movie about how BYU came to be. During my alone time I felt some strong feelings surge through me. I realized that I had some negative feelings about my college experience, not because it was negative for me. It was actually very positive. I learned how to live on my own. I felt the strong sense of Spirit infused in my acedemic classes because of the nature of the school. I met my husband there. I accomplished something not so easy, a bachelor's degree. These were all very positive. But what I came to realize was that I had had some expectations leaving college, my husband and I. We had expectations that we would find it easy to make income and provide for our family. That has not been the case and I have subconsciously had some blame toward the school and really probably the culture that "promised" me an easy life if I followed the rules. Or so I thought. I guess I really hadn't wanted to go back to BYU to visit. I didn't really have very much loyalty to the school, and I've never taken any of my kids there to visit.
When this all came to my realization, I was amazed. In reality I am very grateful for the experience at BYU that I had. I am who I am, partly because of my experience there. I am blessed to have been able to have had those experiences. And what is really true is that college did educate and prepare me in many ways. The path that we have taken with financial difficulty has also been valuable. I am grateful for it too.
Later on, after our tour and everything, we went to the art museum there on campus. I found a particular painting inside that put it all into perspective for me. It was a beautiful view of the side of a mountain, a rock wall straight up and very wide across. The artist said his inspiration for painting this scene was a hiking trip he went on, at which he was following a trail and came upon a similar scene. This huge obstacle was in his way which halted his journey, yet at the same time it was such an amazingly beautiful scene. His message to me was that even my biggest and seemingly insurmountable obstacles in life are beautiful because of what they are teaching me.
My financial obstacles that have seemed so big and difficult to overcome have also brought me to my gifts and to my dreams, and those are the most beautiful things to me. And as I continue to climb and find my way through, I know that the lessons and the beauty of the journey will grow into my most valuable insights and accomplishments. I am grateful, for the obstacles and for BYU. I think I'll take my kids on an outing. ~ Julie