In a Gentle Way You Can Shake The World

Have you ever gazed at the trillions of stars above your head or looked out at the endless horizon? Sometimes simple moments like this can make us feel so small in this big world.

One time I particularly felt this was when my family visited my grandparents on their LDS church mission in Nairobi, Kenya.

One particular moment I remember from the trip was on a drive we took around the city. We were on our way to visit the orphanage and the van stopped on the side of a hill.

We looked out our window to see miles and miles of slums where there was shacks and sheds for as far as the eye could see.

We sat in awe as we watched thousands of people before our eyes living in unimaginable circumstances. The sight was horrifying.

Seeing so many children without shoes and people with skeleton like bodies hurt my heart.

This wasn’t how I expected to feel.

I had been anticipating this trip for months, with the mentality of “I’m Katelyn and I will save the world,” thinking I could become the new Mother Teresa.

But once I arrived my emotions were quite different.

I didn’t feel inspired to help, I felt helpless.

There were countless in need yet I was just one person.

What could I possibly do that could make a difference?

I pondered this question and expressed my feelings to my family. My Grandma revealed she too, often times, felt like this on her mission. Yet, she reminded me of a story that she kept close to her heart while she served.

The story of the Starfish.

“One day an old man was walking along the beach after a storm. Thousands and thousands of starfish were washed ashore. Further along he saw young women, walking slowly and stopping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean. “Young lady, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” He asked. “Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in, they will die.”  She replied. “But young lady, do you not realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly save them all; in fact you can’t even save one-tenth of them if you tried. Even if you work all day, your efforts won’t make any difference at all.” The young woman listened politely, then bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the sea. “Yes, but I made a difference to that one.”

~Adapted from the original story by Loren Eiseley

After my grandma told me this story, I looked out the window again and saw these people as my own starfish. Maybe I wouldn’t be able help all those Kenyan people and as truly heart aching as that was for me to accept, maybe, just maybe my efforts would still be enough and would be worth it. After all, our Father in Heaven doesn’t ask us to do everything but he does ask us to do something. If we all did a little something, just like the young woman in this story, wouldn’t the world be a better place?

Everyone’s part may be small but it does make a difference and together it is a miraculous work.

1 Nephi 16:29 says

“Thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things.” 

I love this scripture because often times I feel we get discouraged by such trivial things and fail to see the great things we are capable of doing.

These words remind us if we all do our part and act in our own small sphere, the Lord can accomplish miracles through each one of us.

Whether our small sphere is serving a mission, taking a humanitarian trip, fulfilling your church calling or everyday roles…YOU have the ability to influence the world in which you live.

As Buckminister Fuller said:

“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. One person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person. ” 

Hear that? Be that one person. Just as many people in our lives are the “one person” for us, we can be that for others.

Look at our moms, dads, teachers, friends, role models, and even strangers whose actions and example has influenced each of us. These people are not of fortune of fame but yet the need for their individuality is apparent throughout our everyday lives.

Yet, what if they too disbelieved in their ability to make difference?

Often times we are the starfish that need to be saved and a friend’s loyalty, parent’s advice, teacher’s example, or a stranger’s compliment can make all the difference in the world.

Don’t we all have people in our life that “save” us?

Then why do we doubt our ability to save others?

Do not doubt yourself and do not feel how I felt at the beginning of my Kenyan trip, because no matter how devastating life’s problems seem to be, the biggest mistake we can make by becoming overwhelmed is to do nothing.

As Edward Everett Hale said:

“I am only one but I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

Because what you can do does make a difference

and that difference changes the world.

There are people you’ll come across in your life that desperately need you.

So go change the world one starfish at a time.

Much love always,

Xoxo  Katelyn

Never and Always

Because it's the new year I decided to write a post on an awful, inconvenient, unpredictable, intimidating word called…CHANGE.

Some changes are exciting like when the leaves change color in the fall or when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.

Most changes however, aren't as welcomed, simple or beautiful as those especially when they affect us directly. 

Change has not only been on my mind since the start of 2015 but has felt like the theme of my whole last year.

A year ago I made the decision to move across the country alone to Orlando, Florida as part of the Disney Internship Program.  That in itself was a life changing experience but it wasn’t until I got back that I realized how fast life passes.

Once I returned, everything was different. I was only gone six months but in the college world of Provo, Utah that can translate in to a lifetime of changes.

When I got back I had best friends engaged, married, left on missions, or moved away.  My world seemed to have done a back flip and turned inside out.  The worst part was I didn’t know what to think or do about it.

I missed so much of what used to be and I tried to be optimistic about the future but I felt like I was betraying my old life if I was content with starting a new chapter.

I remember one specific day all these feelings resulted with a phone call in tears to my mom.  She listened sympathetically and then said something that I haven’t forgotten.  “ Well honey, the one thing in life that doesn’t change…is change.”

I repeated that line in my head over and over again.

It was the most inconvenient truth I’ve ever heard.

It was something I didn’t particularly want to hear but once I did I realized something, life is about change and there is no way around it.

I guess I already knew this but it seemed impossible to grasp.  I had this mistaken belief that after each time a change occurred in my life, I was exempt from any other changes in the future.

Instead, right when I get comfortable, my world starts shaking and this happens over and OVER again. It's a frightening concept I have always struggled with.

Children grow up, families move, buildings get torn down, loved ones pass away; nothing ever has or ever will stay the same. Is there anything we can count on?

The scriptures remind us there is ONE thing that is infinite, something that is unlike the rest and that is our Father in Heaven. 

Malachi 3:6 says, “For I the Lord do not change.”
Finally, something we can rely on and turn to.

It might seem like a concept we already know, but I feel like we forget this too often, especially in times of change and uncertainty.
D&C 3:2 says "For God...neither doth he vary."
These versus mean that even if you are across the world, your friends change, or you loose your health and your life becomes unrecognizable, you can still pray to the SAME God who has always loved you and always will. 

Change will NEVER change but God will ALWAYS stay the same.

His love, presence, and eternal truths are endless, and he is also a constant that allows us to use change for our own good. 

However, if you are anything like me, you're blinded when it comes to seeing the bigger picture.

It reminds me of a visual analogy C.S Lewis shares:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace”

So what aspects of our lives is our Father in Heaven reconstructing?  Like I mentioned, I’ve had quite a bit of reconstructing in my life lately but it helps to remember God designed our lives and each of us to be ever changing.  Although our vision is limited to the exquisiteness of it all, Gods constructions turn our lives into palaces.

So maybe the changes we undertake aren’t as easy as watching a caterpillar transform into a butterfly but maybe they ARE just as beautiful.

Maybe my mom was right, nothing ever stays the same but there is  one exception. 

He is our Father in Heaven and he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I may not know what is ahead for you or for me but I do know

God will ALWAYS be there and he will ALWAYS love us.

That my friends, will never EVER change.

Xoxo

Kate

Save will Lose and Lose will Save

Some things may not always make sense.

Like why pizza comes in a square box, or why we learn cursive in school but never use it.

What about why a teenage boy leaves his life behind to go serve in a foreign country for two years or why a busy forty year old man with a career and family spends his Wednesday night supervising a trivial youth church event.

Does it make sense?

The other day I stumbled across one of my favorite scriptures

“ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” ~ Mathew 16:25

An almost identical verse in Mark says “But whosoever shall be willing to lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.”  Mark 8:37
Save will loose and loose will save. It’s a thought provoking concept isn’t it?

I’ve heard these scriptures before but this time around I started thinking. Certain people in my life came to mind as perfect people that exemplified these words.

The first person I thought of brought me back to a conversation I had my senior year of high school.

I was sitting in an economics class and had a group of football boys that sat by me. They all very well knew I was LDS and loved to ask questions. Surprisingly, I loved to answer. I don’t usually like the spotlight but I felt a great sense of responsibility. To some of my peers I was the only Mormon they knew and I always thought to myself “If I’m the only Mormon they know I’d better be a good one.”

To others, (the football guys) I wasn’t the ONLY Mormon they knew. There were a few special members that were older than me that left some pretty big shoes to fill. They created the respectable reputation of “The Mormons” in our town and I’m grateful for their example.

One of those people was former football star McKay Jacobson. He was the star wide receiver for our high school and then continued his career at BYU and then professionally for the Philadelphia Eagles. If you know anything about the town I come from you know football is our pride and joy. These boys all had D1 football scholarships and McKay was always an idol they looked up to.

Somehow the topic of missions came up and with all the questions that came along with it they asked, “Obviously McKay didn’t go did he?” I replied, “Yeah he went to Japan,” every jaw dropped. “WHAT???” They were shocked. “No no no! Not McKay! Even HE went?”  “Your telling us he left his whole FOOTBALL career for a mission?” One of the more boastful ones said, “But Katelyn…McKay was like me. ….really really good.” I just laughed and reassured them over and over again he most definitely did but they just couldn’t seem to wrap their heads around this concept.

At first I was a little perplexed myself why it was so hard for them to believe. I was raised the same way McKay was. And serving a mission (for boys) was just always presumed. Then it hit me, of course those boys were shocked. They felt so similar to McKay in the sense of football but once they realized he left it all for the Lord they weren’t so sure anymore. I mean, it is a crazy concept if you think about it.  Young men leave education, family, girlfriends, athletics, scholarships and pretty much EVERYTHING behind all for this thing called a “mission”. Senior missionaries and mission presidents do the same along with their career, house, grandkids you name it. You don’t get paid (in fact you usually have to save up) and you don’t even know where you’re going to end up. Africa, Russia, or Timbuktu. It may not make sense and seem a little crazy in the eyes of those who don’t belong to our church and in fact it often times seems crazy to us members too. But they willingly go because it’s the Lords’ will, and we have faith somehow, someway the blessings will out weigh the sacrifice.

This conversation really opened my eyes and somehow has always stuck with me. What might have seemed like an insane decision to those football friends of mine was a great example to me. And to this day I’m not so sure if McKay realizes the impact and example he was to so many members and non-members. His choice to serve was a perfect example to me of these words. My football friends may have thought he “lost “ more than he gained by not “saving” his football career first. But I know if you asked McKay he would say he “found” more purpose serving the Lord.

A closer up example I’ve had is that of my dad. As he recently got released as bishop I’ve been reflecting on all he gave of himself to the Lord. When he first got called I remember some of our other religious friends found it quite odd. Texan folks are used to priests and pastors who get paid. They couldn’t believe on top of all my dad has going that  one day someone asked him to do the big job and he simply said…..”yes.” The world may view him by his success as a businessman but my dad knows true success in this life comes in consecrating our lives, of our time and choices to Gods purposes. Just like every other bishop he had a family and career but still found a way to put his heart and soul into his calling. I know his service blessed the lives of countless people in the city of Southlake and most of all our family. In fact, he’d be the first to tell you he himself was the biggest recipient of all these blessing pouring down from above. Isn’t it funny how that works? It may not always add up on paper but if we lose part of our old life for the new life the Lord prepares for us, we are blessed further. The more we give of anything, the more we get back.

I ask myself, how could I have watched my dad day after day give of himself to this gospel if it weren’t true.

 How can anyone watch a 19 year old boy leave his life behind for two years to walk down streets, getting door after door slammed in his face and not think there might be a greater purpose behind it all.

These simple stories may seem insignificant to some, but having these examples in my life have truly strengthened my testimony. When I see people act out their faith this strongly, it is a true testament of the happiness it brings into lives.

As president Kimball said, “ The Savior gave of himself, his love, his service, his life….We should strive to give as he gave. To give of one self is a holy gift and it pleases the Lord.”

 I want to please the Lord. And if he asks anything of me I hope I can see it as a privilege and honor rather than a sacrifice.

So maybe after all, the things the Lord asks of us make more sense than what may seem. (More important than cursive, right?)

 Let us have faith in the promises he makes if we follow his will.

Let the faith of so many around us lift us up and if you don’t have your own testimony, lean on those who do.

May we remember that all we have comes from the Lord, and we are simply just giving some of it back.

Much love always,

xoxo

Kate

About:

Hey everyone!

Thanks for visiting Confetti Kindness!

 My name is Katelyn Johnson and I’m a twenty one-year-old Texan currently living in Provo Utah.

 Most important to me is my family, friends and faith. 

My blog name came from one of my favorite quotes “Throw kindness around like confetti.” 

This simple saying has always been one of my mottos as I strive to be kind to everyone I meet. There can never be enough compassion or love in the world and I hope to posses and provide more of it.

My purpose in this blog is for me to record my favorite scriptures, quotes, and inspirational, church-related thoughts through out the year. It’s a great experience for me personally but being able to share it with others, is just the icing on the cake. I’m not even close to perfect, but I do believe in the power of individual thoughts and testimonies no matter who you are. This is mine to you and I would love to hear yours.

Enjoy! 

xoxo

Kate