"The Cost Of Winning...Coming in First Across the Wrong Finish Line"

I bought Brandon THIS BOOK for Christmas because it is written by one of our favorite authors, Dean Hughes. He wrote the Children of the Promise and Hearts of the Children series...and I think he's a member of the Quorum of the Seventy now??? (*added later* actually, I think it is Gerald Lund, author of The Work and The Glory who's a member of the Seventy, not Dean Hughes.)...anyhow...I bought this book solely because we love Dean Hughes. I think it is his first non-fiction book...and we LOVE it. It's hard to explain what it is about...but I have been wanting to post about it for a while and I thought that I'd share a few parts with you so that you can get a feel for it and see why I am HIGHLY recommending it!

On page 130 he quotes Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.

"I think one of the reasons [we become envious] is that every day we see allurements of one kind or another that tell us what we have is not enough. Someone or something is forever telling us we need to be more handsome, or more wealthy, more applauded or more admired than we see ourselves as being. We are told we haven't collected enough possessions or gone to enough fun places. W are bombarded with the message that on the world's scale of things we have been weighed in the balance and found wanting."

Have we not ALL felt this way???

...he goes on to say: "Brothers and sisters, I testify that no one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that he loves each of us -insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. He doesn't measure our talents or looks; He doesn't measure our profession or our possessions. He cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other."

I know I have felt jealous of someones talents or abilities and then cheered inwardly when I have seen them fail. (don't tell me I am the only one)I don't want to be that way... I try to not be that way...but it seems to come naturally...part of that "natural man"...And who of us hasn't seen someone...maybe even a good friend do something GREAT...even if it was just baking a great loaf of bread and we look at our hard crusty loaves...or if you're like me...you look at your store bought bread and think, "I totally stink as a mom. If I were a good mom...I would bake bread like that." And we just KNOW that our friend thinks she's better than us because she bakes her kids whole wheat (that she grew and ground herself) bread.

I think I am getting ahead of myself...here's the last part of that quote, "The world tells us what matters, and all too often we listen, and in doing so we fail to hear the Lord, through the Spirit, offering us a better perspective. We need to tell ourselves over and over, say it in our prayers, teach it in our lessons, discuss it in our family home evenings -the Lord loves us, doesn't favor any one of His children over another, and isn't conducting a contest. We're the ones who invented competition with one another, and if we're thinking right, we'll get out of the game."

I don't know if that really gives you an idea of what this book is about...but for me...what I am trying to do (and of course in a couple weeks I'll forget and have to remind myself) but I don't want to have any bad feelings towards anyone and I want to do whatever it takes to make that happen...tell myself good things about me and about others and make it a habit to look for the good in myself and everyone else with out comparing or feeling like I am either better or worse off than they are. This is a HUGE challenge for me. I am not a patient person, I am judgmental at times and sadly, I love a good gossip session!

Here's another quote that kind of helps to sum things up a little. "Thinking of life as a contest makes each day feel like a grind, a fight, a series of disappointments. Thinking of life as an opportunity to serve is a release from all that."

Okay...so I know that none of what I have just says does THIS BOOK justice...so you're just going to have to read it for yourselves! It's an easy read...I promise!