The BYU-Idaho devotional speaker on Nov. 17 was Kristen Glenn. She has been a BYU-Idaho employee since 2009 and is a faculty member in the English Department.
In the devotional, she shared a Facebook post titled, “2020: A lesson in expectations and reality.” The post shows a video of a young boy eating a scoop of chocolate powder. The clip shows the excited anticipation of the boy as he expects a delicious scoop of sweet chocolate. Anyone who has tried chocolate powder on its own knows the bitter taste that follows. Sister Glenn shared how the boy’s disappointment can relate to many.
“The boy’s excited and happy grin turns into a look of concern, then disbelief. He turns the container around, checking to see if it really says chocolate. He sits back, coughs a little, and coughs again releasing a few flurries of chocolate powder. He reaches for the container, then squeezes his whole face shut as if to close out the bitterness that is probably coating his throat,” Sister Glenn said. “Just like this little boy, we all have expectations that don’t always match with reality.”
Sister Glenn shared an example of how her expectations did not match with the reality she faced. In 2011, her family experienced loss, tragedy and unexpected sad events they’re still grappling with.
“My expectations had met up with the realities of life, and it was ugly. For the last ten years, I have been trying to make sense of 2011 and several events that happened since that time. Some would call this non match up of expectation and reality a life crisis, a faith crisis, or cognitive dissonance,” Sister Glenn said. “I call it an education for the soul. I have had to face my views of the world and decide what I really believe and who I want to become. It has been uncomfortable and extremely unpleasant in many ways, but worthwhile.”
Sister Glenn shared truths of grief, the atonement, gratitude and trusting in the Lord that she learned from these difficult experiences.
In an interview before the devotional, Sister Glenn shared why she chose her devotional topic.
“We have to have the bitter and the sweet, the good and the bad, and the happy and the sad, to become a well-rounded person and really understand ourselves,” Sister Glenn said.