The value of work

     Howdy, y'all! so today I have a very important topic and that is the value of hard work.  I love the definition on google of the word work it says, "activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result." I  think that the biggest thing is when you work hard in any way you can expect an end result to come about. There are so many different kinds of work and frankly, most things in life require work to some degree. One thing that I have had to work super hard at is playing the violin. I started playing the violin when I was in middle school just in the jr high orchestra and then my freshman year of high school I decided I wanted to play a little more seriously so I started taking lessons. That took a ton of time and a ton of effort. I would spend countless hours practicing and attending lessons as well as group classes. There were a lot of times that I really didn't enjoy certain aspects of it but in the end, it was incredibly satisfying to see my hard work pay off and to actually see myself progressing and getting better.  Work is most of the time not easy but almost always it's worth it. 

    Now, what is the value of teaching your kids and learning to work from a young age? All growing up my dad would ask us kids to helo him with certain outside tasks. My least favorite task was cleaning up the rotten apples that had fallen off the tree. My brothers, sister, and I would go out and get to work we would spend hours just cleaning up totally squished and totally gross apples. At the moment I definitely never enjoyed it and honestly didn't really think the results were that worth it either I didn't mind having apples all over our yard. Looking back at it though I know to see the important lessons I learned. I learned that even when the work is hard and maybe a little gross it's possible and you can do anything you set your mind to. Another lesson I learned was when you put your heads together and work with others it helps build your relationship and also makes the job go faster. I especially enjoyed it when I got to be the one wheeling the wheelbarrow back to the cows instead of being one of the ones picking up the gross apples. Definitely some good bonding moments with my siblings though. Another thing I learned is that working hard at something makes you feel accomplished and more ready to take on another good task. It can seem like maybe not something that is necessary to teach young kids but that's when you're most impressionable and by doing so will make all the difference in how your kids grow up to work. I know seeing that working was important to my parents helped me to value it a lot more. 

    I think that work is an amazing opportunity to grow and become better as a person. If we simply look at it as more of an opportunity than an obligation it will get us a long way.  When we focus on how we can individually learn and grow from specific hard things we have to do it becomes so much more rewarding. I know that everything we do can be an opportunity and if we simply shift our mindset about work it can become a lot better of an experience. I think that as you work not only physically but emotionally you are becoming the person God intended you to be. The emotional side of work gets overlooked a lot but I believe that it is equally as important. being happy requires work, thinking positively, not overreacting, relationships it all takes work, and putting forth hard work will bring about great results.

     I love the concept of work and I know working hard has brought me so much joy and happiness. It sounds crazy but it gives you a sense of purpose and helps you to grow closer to Heavenly Father if you allow it to. I love what President Nelson says, "the Lord loves effort. When we are willing to put forth effort the Lord will bless us more than we could ever imagine.