Reaching Beyond Bounds

I think song #2, Then, would be grand for this post, so please do turn to it.

The other day I was talking with an acquaintance of mine and he said something that made my wheels turn, "The things you always want most will be out of your comfort zone."  As I thought about, it is very true.  If you want something, wouldn't you already have it?  And if you don't have that thing, why don't you?  What's holding you back?  Given, yes, money does come into play with some wants, but then again, why don't you have the money?  It's because you're not willing to step out of your comfort zone.

If you want that shinny finishers medal, you have to push past the pain; you have to commit to something you have planned to do.

To get into a relationship, friend or love interest, you have to stick your neck out and hope it's not going to end on the chopping block.

Want to lose a couple lbs?  You gotta change all sorts of lifestyle habits.

Would you like stop being a pessimist and rather look on the brighter end of things?  You have to remember there is always good, even in the horrible.

The list goes on, and on, and on.

To get what we want, we have to suffer in some manner.  But then again, we may not want something and still have to suffer the actions of it anyway.  This something may be unavoidable or if we look at it right, it will make us better, suffering and all.  The greatest being in the universe had to do it, so why must we think we are "entitled" to avoid such pain.  Christ, our Lord and Savior, our advocate, our brother, had to suffer the most tremendous pains, pains caused by us, so that we might live with our Father once more.  "At the last moment the Master could have turned back.  But He did not.  He passed beneath all things that He might save all things." (April 2011 Ensign) He reached beyond the bounds of comfort, by far, so He could achieve something that not only He wanted, or what Heavenly Father wanted, but for what all of us wanted as well.  We have no excuse.

To put it simply, in the words of the great cyclist Carlos Sastre, "If you know how to suffer, the race is easy."