President Peterson asked if I would give him a copy of my notes I prepared for the Elders Quorum lesson today since our time was cut short and I was not able to deliver everything I had prepared. I have also taken a little time to summarize my notes, including some topics that were already discussed, in order to connect everything in its entirety.
I started the lesson talking about how life is so unpredictable at times, and despite our greatest efforts we can never guarantee how our life will unfold itself. All of us have experienced, at one time or another, both uplifting and discouraging experiences. These experiences can be seen as peaks and troughs within our lives, and to illustrate this concept I shared a quotation from C.S Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters.
Humans are amphibians -- half spirit and half animal... As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. This means that while their spirit can be directed to an eternal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in
time means to change. Their nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation -- the repeated return to a level form which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks...
This quote reminds me of the ubiquitous saying, “The only thing in life that is constant is change.” Everything changes, but through the cycle of peaks and troughs we need to remember to always have a positive trend. To clarify this concept I would like to use something that Brother Alexander told me shortly after Church when he said, “It is important that when you take a step back you always counter with two steps forward.” If we try to live our lives while keeping this concept in mind, then we can count on progressing toward the ultimate goal of obtaining eternal life with our Heavenly Father.
The source of these peaks and troughs can be found in nearly everything and almost everywhere. The troughs could be as simple and innocent as a car accident where you are at fault or as serious as a death in the immediate family, while the peaks could be a promotion at work or a birth of a child. Sometimes we may have control over our circumstances, but on the flip side, we may not. Regardless of the control that we have over our circumstances, we need to remember it is how we react to change that is important. Elder Neal A. Maxell shared a keen insight regarding irony in life and how we react to it when he said,
"Irony is the hard crust on the bread of adversity. Irony can try both our faith and our patience. Irony can be a particularly bitter form of such chastening because it involves disturbing incongruity. It involves outcomes in violation of our expectations. We see the best laid plans laid waste.
"Amid life’s varied ironies, you and I may begin to wonder, Did not God notice this torturous turn of events? And if He noticed, why did He permit it? Am I not valued?
"Our planning itself often assumes that our destiny is largely in our own hands. Then come intruding events, first elbowing aside, then evicting what was anticipated and even earned. Hence, we can be offended by events as well as by people.
"At the end, meek and lowly Jesus partook of the most bitter cup without becoming the least bitter." (“Irony: The Crust on the Bread of Adversity,” May 1989).
Examples in the scriptures of this principle are numerous and range from Enoch to Joseph Smith; however, I would like to focus on examples of both Nephi and Laman. The simultaneous lives of Nephi and Laman are interesting to study because they both were raised similarly, but they nevertheless reacted differently to the same circumstances. The following table shows three examples from Nephi and Laman’s life that demonstrate different ways we
each can react to changes in our lives. While reading these passages, please note
their attitudes and how each reacted to the same situation.
Leaving Jerusalem:
- Nephi: 1 Nephi 2:16
- Laman: 1 Nephi 2:12-13
- Nephi: 1 Nephi 3:7
- Laman: 1 Nephi 3:5
- Nephi: 1 Nephi 17:7-9
- Laman: 1 Nephi 17:17
The Brother of Jared gives a wonderful example of this principle when he was asked by the Lord to prepare means to travel to the Promised Land. After finishing the construction of the barges, instructions of which came from the Lord, the Brother of Jared was asked to perform one more task. The task involved creating a way to provide light within the barges for the entire duration of the journey, but for this task the Lord did not give the Brother of
Jared any instructions. Therefore, the Brother of Jared was required to use his own initiative, creativity, and spiritual understanding to solve the problem at hand. The brother of Jared did not let the circumstance overcome him; rather, he conquered the circumstance. By the way, what was the Brother of Jared’s solution to the light conundrum? He fabricated sixteen (two for each barge) white and clear stones, and then asked the Lord to touch them with His finger
so that the stones might “shine forth in darkness.”
Was this the only possible solution? Probably not, but it is important to note that after the Brother of Jared made the stones he approached the Lord and asked for help because he knew that he could not do it all by himself. This example shows that if we begin to do our part then the Lord will eventually step in and help in whatever may be left over to accomplish. The following quotation from President Ezra Taft Benson reiterates this idea,
"I work as hard as I can, and then I try my best to be obedient so that the Lord knows I am mindful of Him. Then, I have the faith that He will make up the difference between what I am able to do, and what I am not able to do."
The Lord may not give to us the same tasks He gave to the Brother of Jared or Nephi because those were experiences that the Brother of Jared and Nephi needed for their own salvation. Meaning, the principles and concepts they learned as they struggled through those experience are necessary for their eventual salvation. The same can be said for everything we experience. Since the Lord is familiar with each of lives, then He is able to customize and tailor
everything we experience for our eternal benefit. Brigham Young could not have said better when he said,
"Every calamity that can come upon mortal beings will be suffered to come upon the few, to prepare them to enjoy the presence of the Lord. ... Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation." (Discourses of Brigham Young, pg. 345)
The trials and experiences of our life shape and mold us into something far greater than we could ever imagine. The Lord in His infinite grace and wisdom understands what each of us need to experience in this life in order to obtain the divine gift of eternal life. Sometimes we resist, but we all must come to the understanding that these experiences, both good and bad, are for our benefit (D&C 24:8).
I concluded the lesson with one of my favorite quotes that constantly reminds me to do my best and not always be worried with the outcome.
"In the battle of life it’s not the critic that counts. Not the one who points out how the strongman stumbles, or how the doer of great deeds might have done better. The credit actually belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by sweat, and dust, and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again. Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends his time in a worthy cause. Who if he wins knows the triumph of great achievement and who if he fails at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls that know neither victory nor defeat." (Theodore Roosevelt).
0 comments:
Post a Comment