Choosing Not to Rodeo on Sunday

This is my response I wish I had when people ask me why I don't rodeo on Sunday. I probably gave a four syllable answer, along the lines of I'm a Mormon, but that isn't a fantastic answer.

This is in NO WAY intended to say that Mormons who rodeo on Sunday are bad, or that I am better than them, or anything along those lines. This is why I choose not to compete on Sundays in the season.

First of all, when I was in grade nine, my dad said we wouldn't go on Sundays. If I would've fought him in this, he probably would have let me go. He told me if I didn't go on Sundays, I would be blessed. My naïve grade nine mentality thought this meant I would do well in rodeo simply because I didn't compete on Sunday. This was not the case. I didn't qualify for provincials in grade nine, and I was sure it was because I had only gone to the rodeos held on Friday and Saturday, and I wasn't totally sure if I ever would qualify for provincials, but that was alright with me at that point.

In grade ten, I qualified for provincials in one event tied for tenth. (They take the top ten in each district.) I then qualified for the Canadian High School Finals, which is the top six in each province. This was a huge testimony builder to me, and I continued to work hard to improve in the sport I love.

I used Hanna's horse for the fall of grade eleven, then I started hauling my own mare in the spring. Needless to say, it took us a few rodeos to get on the same page, and I fell down continuously in the breakaway standings. I was still for sure going to qualify in goat tying, but I was hoping to qualify in both events. It didn't look like it was going to happen. In fact, my dad told me even if I won the last rodeo, I wouldn't have had enough points to make it in the top ten, and I had nothing to lose. I won the final rodeo, and ended up tied for tenth again headed to provincials. The final rodeo of the season was snowed out, and so I made it. (My dad was a little off in his calculations, thank goodness.)

Provincials came, and I had a goal to make it to Nationals. I thought if I was going to go, it would be in goats, since I was seeded higher in that event.

On the last day, I knew I had to catch my last calf in breakaway to have a chance to win the average and hopefully qualify for Nationals. I did that, and I just went to get ready for goat tying, which was next. The girl who won Alberta came over, super excited for me, and told me I qualified to go. I was shocked; I had no idea I would qualify after coming in to provincials in last place. Literally. Last.

Nationals was fun, I learned so much about competition and personal growth and the opportunities available in this fantastic sport. I did alright in the second run, and felt confident going into Canadians.

I don't know why, but I was so excited for Canadians. I couldn't sleep the night before, I was shaking with excitement when we pulled in. I had been there before, and was ready for the competition.

I was one of three girls to catch two calves, I was third high call for the final round. I caught my calf, and waited to see how the other two girls would do. They both missed, and I was shaking again. I didn't stop shaking for a solid twenty four hours after that run. Multiple people asked me how it felt to be the Canadian High School Finals Breakaway Champion. My response was it felt good, it felt like everything I had been doing for years finally paid off.

The fact that I qualified for provincials was a testament to me that I was blessed for not competing on Sundays. Then I qualified for Nationals, and I could not deny the Source of my success.

Yes, it does put me at a disadvantage to only compete and roughly half of the rodeos in the regular season.

Is it worth it to me? Absolutely. Would I change it? No. Why is this my answer? It all comes down to one truth.

Rodeo is what I do, it's not who I am. I am a daughter of God, and I love Him with my entire being. I would do anything for Him. I wouldn't choose to rodeo on Sunday now, because for me, that means I would change my relationship with Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, and there is nothing, nothing, that would be worth that for me.

There are tons of quotes from General Authorities about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. I think it must be pretty important, it's listed in the commandments along with "Do not kill," and things like that. I'll share a couple of my favorite quotes.

The first one comes from Quenton L. Cook. He said, "Keeping the Sabbath Day is a refuge from the storms of this life." A refuge! How cool of a promise is that?!

Henry B. Eyering said, "When you do your part, the Lord adds His power to your efforts." I know this is true with my entire being.

I love rodeo, I love the rush, I live for the next run. But the high from competing is nothing compared to the love I feel from my Heavenly Father.

I know that my Redeemer lives, what comfort this sweet sentence gives!

Because I have been given many opportunities in life, as well as in this sport, I feel I should give, too. The Sabbath Day is something I give to my Savior, and that is why I choose not to rodeo on Sunday.

Things Are No Longer Things

What if one day you woke up and things were no longer a thing?

Let's take a moment and define things. For the sake of this post, please assume that they are things such as cars, houses, clothes, computers, phones, etc. I'm not necessarily suggesting that they will evaporate overnight, but rather that our priorities suddenly become placed on other things because of a sudden accident, illness, or passing of a loved one. But who knows? Maybe things really will just evaporate:)

If this happened, there would probably be a few groups of people. Let's discuss them, shall we?

Group #1: This group is utterly distraught. All their hard work suddenly goes "down the drain, with nothing to show for it." Things were their life, possessions and collections drove them to work. They spent long hours working to be able to purchase more things. They often have very nice homes with lots of admirable things inside, but very little meaning is associated to all of their stuff. These people are all about looks and outside appearances; they invented "cool." Things are no longer a thing, and they are lost and empty without their vast amounts of stuff. Their relationships with people probably weren't stellar since possessions were a priority in their life, and people came in second.

Group #2: This group isn't distraught, but they aren't thrilled either. They like their stuff, it is mostly sentimental things someone gave them for Christmas from Walmart, but it was very thoughtful. They appreciate stuff and like to keep it around. If you want to get their heart, all you have to do is buy them a present. They don't focus all their energy on things, they have a solid relationship with the people they associate with, but they don't necessarily go out of their way to make the world a better place for everyone, because things are pretty fabulous.

Group #3: This group doesn't care that things are no longer a thing. They have everything they need in life without things. Their relationships with family and friends are strong, they are trustworthy (not that the other groups necessarily aren't) and they have compassion. They love their life without things, they have memories of grand adventures and good times to fill those spaces where things can creep into your desires. They go out of their way to serve others and give what they can, when they can. The world is at their fingertips because they don't dedicate all their time, energy, and resources to obtaining more and better things. Their lives are filled with meaning; their intents are always good. They constantly strive to make the world a better place.

Now, these are the three main groups according to me, but there are definitely subgroups and varying levels within each group.

Let's say tomorrow you wake up and all of your things weren't available. How would you react? I'm going to suggest that you do a self evaluation by placing yourself in a group, and see if you like where you end up. If you do, great! If not, it might be time to change your mindset...because who knows, tomorrow you could wake up and things are no longer a thing.