The Golden Ticket

For this blog entry, I want to veer from gluten-free cooking.  I am feeling reflective today.  It is so very important for us to "stop and smell the roses" as we journey through this life.  Dieter Uchtdorf sums it up perfectly with the following thoughts about the golden ticket:

"In the beloved children’s story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the mysterious candy maker Willy Wonka hides a golden ticket in five of his candy bars and announces that whoever finds one of the tickets wins a tour of his factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate.

"Written on each golden ticket is this message: “Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this Golden Ticket … ! Tremendous things are in store for you! Many wonderful surprises await you! … Mystic and marvelous surprises … will … delight, … astonish, and perplex you.”³

"In this classic children’s story, people all over the world desperately yearn to find a golden ticket. Some feel that their entire future happiness depends on whether or not a golden ticket falls into their hands. In their anxiousness, people begin to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket.

"So many people today are waiting for their own golden ticket—the ticket that they believe holds the key to the happiness they have always dreamed about. For some, the golden ticket may be a perfect marriage; for others, a magazine-cover home or perhaps freedom from stress or worry.

"There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings—we hope and seek after things that are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.”⁴ The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold as we wait for some future event—our golden ticket—to appear...

"The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy." http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/forget-me-not?lang=eng&media=video

It is easy to plod along and forget that we have many things to be thankful for...and people who love us.  Often God works through other people to help us to know we are loved by Him.  Again, Dieter Uchtdorf: 

"At times we may even feel insignificant, invisible, alone, or forgotten. But always remember—you matter to Him!"  http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/you-matter-to-him?lang=eng