Parable of the Wristband

I'm not exactly sure how to start this post out. Let's just say I learned a lesson back in December, but I didn't realize it until last night when somehting else happened to make me thinkg about it. Back in December I sat outside of the Capitol Theater for tickets to see Wicked The Musical. For full details see that post. Basically tickets went on sale at the box office before they did online or over the phones, so the best bet was to sit outside all night in the cold and wait. After I had been sitting about an hour, along came some of the people who worked at the theater with wristbands. They were giving out 100 of them because they felt they could gaurantee these people that they would be able to buy tickets before they went on sale online or over the phones. I was watching them walk down the line, patiently waiting for my wristband, when all of a sudden, they ran out of wristbands 5 people away from me! They then proceeded to walk down the rest of the line explaining that there was no gaurantee we would be able to purchase tickets before they went on sale online and we should consider just leaving so we could get online, or we could stay and take our chances that we would get tickets.

I was so discouraged! I just wanted a wristband! I then proceeded to rant to Matt about how for once in my life I just want a wristband! I just want a guarantee that I will get what I want! I feel like I always have to work that much harder to get it. We had a decision to make, we could leave and take our chances with what would be left online, or we could take a chance and stay. A couple of people in front of us decided to leave, but they kind of weren't prepared and were probably getting cold anyway. We talked it out and decided that they were most likely over-estimating the amount of time it would take to process those 100 people, because they had to guarantee they would get tickets, and we were so close to the end of the wristbands, we decided to wait. We ended up with AMAZING tickets, and to top it off, we ended up going to Wicked the same night as President Monson, President Uchtdorf, and Elder Perry! It turned out better than we could have planned!

Well yesterday something that I had been planning and getting excited for ended up falling apart. When I found out that it wasn't going to happen the first thing I thought was, "I just want a wristband!" For some reason, that phrase has kind of stuck with me since sitting out for tickets. I was just short of knowing things would work out like I wanted again!

I was thinking about the wristbands and how once agian, I "didn't get a wristband" at least in a sense. Then I thought about it further, and how the last time I didn't get a wristband it still managed to work out ok, in fact better than I had ever planned! So this is the parable of the wristband. Trials or things that feel like roadblocks are like "not getting a wristband." If you don't get a wristband you have to decide if it is something you should give up on, or if there is still hope, and you just need to stick it out a little longer. If you think about it, things work out how they are supposed to, and eventually things work out at least as good as you had hoped for, if not better! You just maybe got there a little differently than you had originally planned! Also, another thing to think about is that in Romans 8:24-25 it says, "...but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. " So, I decided that Heavenly Father doesn't let us get the wristband on purpose. The wristband is a guarantee that you are getting what you want. If we have that physical guarantee, then we have no reason to have faith or hope because why do you hope for something you have? Since we know that faith, hope and charity are all necessary qualities, you need that faith and hope. You just have to stick it out a little longer with that faith and hope and sometimes patience too. Things will work out how they are supposed to, when they are supposed to, and possibly better than you ever imagined!