the alchemist.

The Alchemist, authored by Paulo Ceolho, was one of the first books on my "24th Year of Life" book list. However, it has been one of my last to complete (I will need to add more asap).  It was an amazing read. There were strong similarities between it and Le Petit Prince (also a personal favorite)- mainly in the style of teaching a life lesson through such a simple story.

One of my favorite excerpts goes as follows:

"The future belongs to God and it is only he that reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances. How do I guess the future? Based on the omens of the present. The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve upon the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, it itself, brings with it an eternity."

Simple advice, grand reward.

The whole book was so optimistic. Perhaps this is common, but I found it to be rather spiritually enlightening.  It made me think of the quote from Elder Neal A. Anderson,

"You and I have a spiritual destiny, and it does not allow us to ride passively in the back of the plane traveling through mortality. The Lord promised Abraham that in his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed. He was speaking of the spiritual blessings brought through us, whom he referred to as 'children of the covenant'. Alma described some as called and prepared from the foundation of the world to the foreknowledge of God."

The boy found his true treasure and he learned everything that he needed to along the way. He learned to listen and to be taught. He learned to take risks, follow his heart and work hard.  Bringing this back full circle, it is so nice to know that the Lord does have an extraordinary, eternal purpose for each one of us.  He knows that we are all capable of reaching that destiny and He will continue to whisper the promptings and place the right people in our lives to help us get there. Whether it be some prestigious calling here on earth or something small and unspoken, there will be lessons to be learned and people to love. There are adventures to be had, lives to touch and blessings beyond measure in store.  Isn't life wonderful!!!!

As The Alchemist was highly recommended to me by many and proved its worth, I pass on the recommendation to you. Definitely worth your time.

I will post Memorial Day Weekend stuff later... we took a bagillion pictures, I need to organize!