Life Sketch Question #4 - Write a valuable learning experience as a child. Share one as an adult.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was willing to "face the consequences" when the police came to bust us for breaking bottles on the elementary school playground. Well, there was an important childhood experience from the 2nd grade that has stuck with me and was probably why I have been willing to face consequences all my life. I was on the playground, playing tag with some good friends. One of our friends was catching up and I decided that I could slow him down by throwing a pebble over my shoulder. Yeah, a stupid idea. It wasn't going to slow him down, was it. Well, it worked too well. The pebble hit him just above his eye and cut him. He was bleeding like crazy! He was one of my best friends, they had to know that it wasn't on purpose, right! Well, the teacher was VERY mad and told me that I had to face the "consequences"! I didn't even know what that word meant, but it seemed scary! So, I followed her to meet this scary "consequence" person. It turned out to be the Principal, who kindly told me the meaning of the word after I announced proudly that she was the Principal, not "The consequences"! I learned what it meant that day though and it has stuck with me ever since. Even though it was accident and I didn't mean for it to happen, it was still my fault and it was up to me to pay for whatever consequences were necessary. In this case, I only had to talk to the principal for a while, but it scared me enough that I learned the lesson. I think there are many in society that don't understand this simple lesson.

As an adult, I have had many lessons, but the best was when I decided to return home early from my mission. There were multiple reasons why I knew that I should return, but the one that really confirmed to me that I should go home was that I needed to actually live the gospel in my live before I could teach it. So, that's what I did for 9 months. I went home, got a job, went to school, and lived the Gospel. I learned more about myself and my Savior in those 9 months than I did in any other time period of my life (even more than when I actually returned to the mission field). I learned of my potential as a child of God. I learned about what family really is. I learned that repentance and the Atonement are real and can have eternal blessings. This was the hardest, but most important decision and lesson in my life!