The parable of the shoelace

If you were to pull up a "Map of Ashley's tests and trials", you would find an obvious pattern of repeat lessons. Every time I think I learned a lesson or pass a test, I find one very similar in front of my path again and again.

I keep thinking I mastered the way I "tied my shoes" and then I find the shoelace coming undone again and again. After seeing the same pattern over and over, wondering what I was doing wrong and why the same trials and tests kept being placed right in front of me, thinking I had already overcome this and learned what I needed to from it, the spirit taught me a lesson:

If your shoelace comes undone, 

not to worry. 

It gives you the opportunity 

to tie it tighter the next time.

My shoelace kept coming undone, meaning I kept finding myself in the same spot I had walked before, with undone shoelaces (facing my weaknesses). I was mad I was faced with the same weaknesses because they are ones I thought I had already overcome. I thought I had done every needful thing to help me overcome inadequacies and be who the Savior expected me to be, yet I kept finding that my shoelace had become unraveled again and again.

I believe Heavenly Father wanted me to see that I didn't tie the shoelace as carefully or as tight as I could have. I believe He wanted me to see room for growth so I could be made perfect even as He. I wish I knew why some lessons come back into our life over and over. While I don't have all the answers, I do know that each time we "tie our shoelaces", we are becoming better and better at it. Shoelaces usually come undone because they were tied either in an unbalanced or uneven manner. Sometimes we can tie one string really, really tight, but if we don't have balance, will it ever stay?

Practice makes perfect and every test, whether we feel we need it or not, is an opportunity to learn and grow and tie the shoelace tighter the next time. It's not about if the shoelace came undone, it's about what you are going to do to tie it tighter and more efficiently once it does. It's allowing the Savior to be apart of your shoe tying experience, after all, he is the only one that has once walked in your shoes.

There is always room for improvement, there is always room for growth! Don't think that just because you've tied your shoelaces tight that it's permanent. They are bound to become loose over time. It's not about the shoelace becoming untied, it's about noticing it has become undone and tying the shoelace before actually tripping over the laces which is always avoidable as you allow Christ become a bigger part of your life, a balanced part of your life forever.