Humbling, and I didn't mean this post to be a pity party.

This semester, I have been trying to get healthy again and get back to my freshman weight. I've done really well so far, and lost 15 pounds since Christmas. Only 15 more to go! It's amazing that I would let myself gain that much weight, but now that I'm losing weight, I can understand how it happened--I've tried really hard for the last few years to be happy with the way I look and to not be too self-critical. (That strategy worked until I couldn't fit into any of my clothes anymore.) Since getting on this healthy-eating kick, I've noticed that I've been really hard on myself; and it seems like more days than not, I struggle to feel pretty. 

Sadly, this harsh self-criticism has a tendency to creep into every aspect of my life. As I was walking home from school today, I was trying to think of things that I am good at, and by the time I got home, I hadn't thought of any. I was feeling pretty down. Then I remembered a talk by D. Todd Christofferson that I heard this weekend in General Conference. In the talk, he related a story about a gardener. The gardener had an overgrown currant bush, so he pruned it. After he pruned it, he imagined that the currant bush was mad at him and was asking him, "Why did you cut me down?" His response to the currant bush's question was, "I'm the gardener and I know what I want you to be." This statement was so applicable to me at that moment when I felt so inadequate. I felt that Heavenly Father was telling me the same thing: "I will show you what I want you to be. Be patient and have faith."

So that's what I will try my best to do; I will be patient and have faith, and the Lord's plan for me will be revealed to me one step at a time. I know that as I continue to try my best and stay close to the Lord, I will have confidence in knowing that He loves me and cares about me enough to cut me down a little bit sometimes so that I can be what He wants me to be. I'm so grateful for all the inspired messages that I was privileged to hear this weekend. It was truly an uplifting Conference.