You’re Grounded!

I don’t know about you, but I occasionally participate in overreaching idioms…

I bite off more than I can chew. I burn the candle at both ends and also the midnight oil. I work against the clock. And even though I’m often all thumbs or find myself at wit’s end, I still go on working my fingers to the bone.

When I was a 19-year-old college student I was even worse. I was living in an almost constant state of hyper-activity. I attended school about 80 miles from my home and would occasionally go home to just CRASH.

After one such trip home, I found myself headed back to school still stressed. I had so much going on that I just wasn’t sure how I was going to do it all. I was over-scheduled, over-worked and especially I was over-tired. And so, I prayed.

I love to pray while I drive. It doesn’t take the place of a good kneeling prayer, but I love having a large amount of uninterrupted time to talk with my Heavenly Father. I love this quote by President Kimball:

“[Personal prayers] fall into at least two categories. There are the formal prayers where we kneel regularly. Here we talk to the Lord more intimately. We pray for some of the same things as in our family prayers, but more for our immediate and pressing needs. We express our innermost thoughts. We confess our weaknesses. We plead for help to overcome and for forgiveness of our transgressions, our evil thoughts. We bare our souls…

[And] there are the personal prayers which are less formal. We always have a prayer in our hearts that we may do our best on the football field, that we may appear well in the classroom, that we may remember the things we have learned when the test is on, that we may be impressive to our friends. We pray as we stand to speak, as we walk, as we drive. “

So, I prayed. I poured out my heart to Heavenly Father. I told him how I was feeling and what I was doing. I asked his advice and the answer came very clearly. A voice in my heart said distinctly, “You’re grounded.” It is interesting how the Spirit speaks in a language we best understand. The phrase was spoken in a soft, distinct, loving voice and with some humor. It actually made me laugh right out loud.

And then I pondered. I thought about what it would mean for me to be grounded. To stop participating in activities that took me away from the ones that mattered. To stay in my dorm room and work on the “big rocks.” And so – I grounded myself. When friends asked why I wouldn’t come to this or that, I would smile and say, “I’m sorry. I can’t. I’m grounded.”

As I said, I occasionally still get caught up in the frenzy of life – but I really try to stay grounded.

You can listen to Whit on her podcast, The Mormon Mom-Cast.