However Long and Hard

I checked out this book from our church library on Sunday and finished it today. Each chapter was a different talk he had given while he was the president of BYU. I think. At any rate, it made the book a really quick read. I love Elder Holland. I know we're not supposed to have a favorite church leader or whatever but Elder Holland is definitely one of my faves. I love him. He mentioned in this book that he has spent most of his professional and academic life surrounded by young people and has tender feelings for young married and single adults. I guess I still consider myself a young adult. As a family we are at a very pivotal and volatile time--Adam is almost done with school, we're struggling financially, and we find ourselves at a huge crossroads. I found this passage from Elder Holland very comforting:

And so I ask us to be patient in things of the spirit. Perhaps your life has been different from mine, but I doubt it. I have had to struggle to know my standing before God. As a teenager I found it hard to pray and harder to fast. My mission was not easy. I struggled as a student only to find that I had to struggle afterwards, too. In my church and professional assignments, I have wept and ached for guidance. It seems that no worthy accomplishment has ever come easily for me, and maybe it won't for you-- but I'm living long enough to be grateful for that.

It made me think about a conversation Adam and I had several weeks ago where he was venting his frustration that things seem to come easily for a lot of people (re: employment). But things are never as easy or simple as they may appear, even for an apostle.