Must Go THROUGH!

I remember hearing a song when I was growing up about something being too high that you can't go over it, too low that you can't go under it, too wide that you can't go around it, so you have to go right through!  I don't think I understood the song at the time, but I have been thinking about this concept A LOT lately.

It seems like every other article, blog, scripture, and talk I've read lately says something about the importance and necessity of going THROUGH something.  Each of these experiences is for our learning and progress and ultimate happiness, but they are often the very things that we pray away and just want to be over!

Someone pointed out this blog post.  I love this child's question and the discussion that follows and what it got me thinking about - Why didn't the angel just take him out?

While preparing a Sunday School lesson about agency I was searching through some of Elder Bednar's talks about acting and not being acted upon.  I came upon a few great thoughts:

Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease (April 2014)

The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality (April 2012)
"Nephi is an example of one who knew, understood, and relied upon the enabling power of the Savior. Recall that the sons of Lehi had returned to Jerusalem to enlist Ishmael and his household in their cause. Laman and others in the party traveling with Nephi from Jerusalem back to the wilderness rebelled, and Nephi exhorted his brethren to have faith in the Lord. It was at this point in their journey that Nephi’s brothers bound him with cords and planned his destruction. Please note Nephi’s prayer: “O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bandswith which I am bound” (1 Nephi 7:17; emphasis added).

Do you know what I likely would have prayed for if I had been tied up by my brothers? “Please get me out of this mess NOW!” 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.

I do not think the bands with which Nephi was bound just magically fell from his hands and wrists. Rather, I suspect he was blessed with both persistence and personal strength beyond his natural capacity, that he then “in the strength of the Lord” (Mosiah 9:17) worked and twisted and tugged on the cords, and ultimately and literally was enabled to break the bands.

The implication of this episode for each of us is straightforward. As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed. We will become agents who act rather than objects that are acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:14)."

Then Elder Bednar discusses Mosiah 24:14-15 and Alma's experience when his people are being persecuted by Amulon.

"What was changed in this episode? It was not the burden that changed; the challenges and difficulties of persecution were not immediately removed from the people. But Alma and his followers were strengthened, and their increased capacity and strength made the burdens they bore lighter. These good people were empowered through the Atonement to act as agents and impact their circumstances. And “in the strength of the Lord” Alma and his people were then directed to safety in the land of Zarahemla."

In the Strength of the Lord (October 2001)

These thoughts remind me that life is all about what we're becoming.  If life were easy and happy all the time we wouldn't grow.  This ties right into the another Sunday School lesson (The Fall of Adam and Eve and the need for opposition).  I also love this quote President Faust shared in October 2004:  "Dr. Arthur Wentworth Hewitt suggested some reasons why the good suffer as well as the wicked: “First: I don’t know. Second: We may not be as innocent as we think. Third: … I believe it is because He loves us so much more than He loves our happiness. How so? Well, if on a basis of strict personal return here and now, all the good were always happy and all the bad suffered disaster (instead of often quite the reverse), this would be the most subtle damnation of character imaginable.”"

Relatedly, Brigham Young taught, "Instead of searching after what the Lord is going to do for us, let us inquire what we can do for ourselves." 

And Elder L. Tom Perry said, "I have sometimes wondered what would have happened if Nephi has asked the Lord for tools instead of a place to find ore to make the tools. I doubt the Lord would have honored Nephi's request. You see, the Lord knew that Nephi could make tools, and it is seldom that the Lord will do something for us that we can do for ourselves."

So, life is kind of all about "going through."  That's where we'll grow and learn what we can and need to become and that is why we're here - to become something more.  Neat!