Hidden Blessings

As I gave my lesson this afternoon, the conversation around the classroom seemed to focus on the unexpected blessings that President Uchtdorf received from having worked so hard as a laundry delivery boy. When he was hauling a heavy cart around on his bike, he didn't know that the fresh air and exercise he was getting was helping him stave off a lung disease, or that he would need to have strong lungs to pass the medical exams he'd need to take to become a pilot. He later remarked that if he had known that the work he was doing would bring great blessings into his life, it would have made the work a lot easier.

As a class, we figured that probably most of the work we do has blessings hidden in it, largely because God blesses people for doing good and He helps them use their experiences to improve their lives. Much of the work we have to do seems like drudgery, but with either a focus on the blessings we know will come from that work, or at least faith in the fact that unknown blessings will come into our lives as a result of the work we do, we can motivate ourselves to push forward in doing work that we otherwise might not be motivated enough to do. As we look for hidden blessings, or at least have faith that such blessings will come, we can increase our motivation to do what's right.