| I had to write a talk for one of my classes, and I thought I'd share it here. The requirements were to use a scripture from the reading, a video, and part of a talk from our reading. We're studying the first half of the Book of Mormon. I decided to write about affliction. Here goes...
Imagine that you are a
beautiful Japanese vase. You’re
beautiful. You’re priceless. Then someone knocks you over, and you
break. Now what?
Now, talking about you
as a person, and not as a vase, what happens when you feel broken? You’ve had adversity after adversity. You feel like you’ve been pushed to your
limits, and now you are broken. What
do you do?
Often times in my
life, as I go through trials- some little ones, some giant ones, I wonder how
I can possibly move forward and how I’m not going to feel broken
anymore. I went through a period of
about 15 months where I was at my lowest.
I was broken, I wasn’t myself, and I couldn’t find any hope- well
occasionally I’d find hope, but it was never long lasting. I prayed harder than I ever had, and I studied
my scriptures and general conference talks, and I continued to attend the
temple weekly- except for a couple at the beginning of the 15 months. I was doing all of the actions of doing
what I was supposed to be doing. My
heart didn’t participate much in any of this, because it was broken and was
clinging to the only thing it felt, hurt.
In 1 Nephi 7:17, it
reads: “O Lord, according to my faith
which is in thee, will thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea,
even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am
bound.” Nephi didn’t pray to have
Laman & Lemuel grow up, take the bands off, and decide to be good
people. He prayed that Nephi would be
able to be strengthened to “burst these bands”. Elder David A. Bednar said, “It is
especially interesting to me that Nephi did not pray to have his
circumstances changed. Rather, he
prayed for the strength to change his circumstances. And I believe he prayed in this manner
precisely because he knew, understood, and had experienced the enabling power
of the Atonement.” (“The Atonement and
the Journey through Mortality”, Ensign, Apr. 2012)
I remember the instant
my heart started to change. I had been
sitting in a sacrament meeting, listening to a high councilor speaking, and
he was talking about his grandbaby that had been born with a lot of health
issues. He was going to be in the NICU
for months, and may never be able to walk or talk. He talked about a nurse, who was a
self-proclaimed atheist, say that she knew that baby boy was watched over- in
fact, by three women- who she knew were there, although, she hadn’t seen
them. I sat there saying to myself,
“The atheist gets to feel the spirit, why can’t I?” Then there was this moment, where I
realized I had been pushing the spirit away, and that He had always been
there, I just wasn’t willing to let him in.
As I’ve read the Book
of Mormon, Nephi’s strength and knowledge of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is
such an example to me. When I was
younger, I always knew that Laman & Lemuel were making the wrong
decisions, and wondered how in the world they could go off the path so
quickly after seeing angels, etc. They
had been blessed to be able to see those things, and they chose to go off the
path. Now, as an adult, I’ve noticed
moments in my life where I, too, have seen great things, and then let the
world get in the way, and block me from the spirit. I’ve failed to see that I have chosen to
let the world get in the way. I’ve
since repented and recognized areas to improve in my life. Now, when I make similar mistakes, I hope
that I’ll be better at repenting quickly, and moving forward.
Paul V. Johnson, in
his talk “More than Conquerors through Him that Loved us” talked about trials
that come. He mentioned a young boy
that was diagnosed with bone cancer, and had asked, “Will I be the same after
this is over?” We’re not going to be
the same after the trial, but we’re not meant to be the same. Trials are often designed specifically for
us, as individuals. Elder Johnson
said, “Many times a particular challenge helps prepare us for something
vitally important.” (“More than
Conquerors through Him that Loved Us”, General Conference, April 2011.)
Photo credit: Lifegate.com
So, let’s return to
the broken vase. If I knocked over a
vase, I’d probably throw it away.
However, in Japan, they repair them.
It’s called Kintsugi. They glue
it back together, with gold. All of the cracks show, but they’re filled with
gold, and it takes something that was beautiful before, and makes it
stunning! Just like the broken vase improves,
as it is repaired. Our lives are like
that. Through the Atonement of Jesus
Christ our cracks are filled, and we become something more than we could’ve
imagined for ourselves. I know my
Savior lives, and I’m so grateful for Him.
He is my brother and my friend, and I hope to always live in a way to
be able to be an instrument in His hand, and I say this in His name, Jesus
Christ, amen.
 |
Comments
Post a Comment