The Wisdom of Harry Potter

Sometimes I read something and think, "Wow, that's really deep."

I've read all seven Harry Potter books. For those of you who haven't, consider this my spoiler alert to you.

Harry is a wizard destined for greatness. He is the one person in the entire universe who can defeat Voldemort. Somehow Voldemort taught himself how to be one of the best, and most evil, wizards in the world, second only to Dumbledore.

So, if Harry is supposed to face and defeat Voldemort in the end, how come he doesn't become just as great? I mean, isn't he 17 or 18 when he wins the final battle? He's not the cleverest or most talented wizard. He's not really the best-at-anything kind of wizard, except maybe his penchant for the Dark Arts. So, how does he defeat Voldemort? How does he survive seven years at Hogwarts with Voldy nipping at his heels the entire time?

Answer: He surrounds himself with people who are strong where he is weak. And those people are incredibly loyal.

There you have it. A deep and profound truth. Every time I go through a major change in my life: school, marriage, children, etc, it seems I'm *blessed* with the opportunity to reassess/rediscover/remake who I am. This can be discouraging when I'd rather be anyone but myself. I'd rather be like Sally who makes killer homemade bread, or Suzy with her perfectly quaffed hair.

In the middle of one of my past crises (I think it was post-Charly) I thought about this Harry Potter phenomenon and realized I didn't have to be good at everything. In fact, I wasn't supposed to be good at everything. Who has that kind of time? I venture to say also that it was never Heavenly Father's intention that we each be good at everything. That's why he gave us each other. That's why I've been blessed to live among so many talented people; to either learn from them, teach them, help them, or lean on them for help in return.

This concept has eliminated any (okay, most) guilt I feel when I take people up on their offers of help. Sometimes I need help, and a lot of it. When we moved here and I had Felix, I needed a LOT of help. And if you were one of those people who helped me, even as a complete stranger, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. In fact, I'm tearing up as I write this, I'm so grateful.

Let's let others help us. Let's be generous to those we normally wouldn't offer help to. Let's live how Heavenly Father intends us to live: happily, and together.