Good For Something

A few months ago, I was looking up and I saw it coming again, then I realized I needed to wait. 

The view before me was new yet came every day. 

Bright colors seemed to be popping open from a sunrise about to blossom with the day. 

I am one who was known to stop as often as possible to watch it happen, like that morning. 

Orange stained the tops and bottoms of clouds as a gentle blue held the deep gray of one more cloud right in the middle of the sky. 

It seemed to come together right before my eyes as the brilliant rays then fully engulfed the blue during one more sunrise. 

At that moment, I realized that I also have two thoughts that come to mind, like the light posts in the side view in my vision. 

They have stayed with me since then to reflect on. 

The first is a quote I heard years ago. 

You have to be good for something.

“It’s not enough to be good, you have to be good for something” – Gordon B Hinkley

Here’s where we will begin during this month of love and the bright orange clouds that started my day. 

It was great to gaze into the beautiful heavens and feel the wonder that came with it. 

What was I going to do with that moment and pause that I was given? 

Enjoy it for myself only? Share the reason that I knew how to breathe and take in the good that I could see or hold it tightly to my own heart? 

When I saw the sunrise, the quote my mind became part of my daily reminder in the second way. 

I was given a way to pay attention to good things like a sunrise.

I was given a way to pay attention to good things like a sunrise, the incredible colors and being able to pause during times of my life when I thought it was impossible. 

In fact, one of the first times I remember seeing a sunrise in this manner was when I was on my way to work right after helping our son get onto his school bus. 

There were days when he wasn’t able to attend school due to unexpected illnesses so when he could climb the four steps and wave through a window to be with his friends for the day it was part of something good. 

Then my choice was to make it good for something.

Then my choice was to make it good for something. 

I had about 12 minutes to hop into my car, dash down the road and get to my job to start a meeting. 

On that particular day I happened to race the sunrise to the office. 

Can you imagine the colors right there before me? They were similar to what you see here. 

I sat at one or two traffic lights and realized these moments were meant to be seen and savored. 

Not rushed through or forgotten. 

Each day was a gift for me and our son as was each moment of looking up and seeing the colors around the clouds. 

I chose to be good for something along with doing a good thing.

I chose to be good for something along with doing a good thing for others that day and moving forward. 

It changed how I saw the people I worked with, the people I met in the schools and most importantly, how I sat with our son each day of his life. 

Anticipatory grief was something else I sat with ongoing illness looming like a storm around corners. 

Another thing I learned during this time was that there is a difference between being mindful and having a mind full of things. 

Who knew that learning about being good for something would be part of changing me.

Who knew that learning about being good for something would be part of changing who I was and how I looked at the daily moments in life. 

Turns out it is what I now know to be true. 

It also turns out that this is what each sunrise, each orange cloud and every bright moment I get to have with people around has brought me. 

There is one more thing I’ve come to know about being changed.

This change is the one I’ve loved. 

It is directly related to the boy I was able to help onto the bus those many years ago. 

He taught me how to be changed while looking up when he was a young child then as he became more that we could imagine, as grew taller and wiser and more medically involved 

Dallin was good for something by his very essence.

Dallin was good for something by his very essence, and I now strive to do more than being good. 

What are your thoughts or hopes? 

Let’s look for the bright options together.