So, I'm sick. And I want to chalk up the slow-motion effect to that a little. I have been thinking of my little ninja, Sister Wilcock, a lot this morning and I just got hit with the sickness last night and have been really dealing with it this morning and I realized that it didn't have to be something that bogged me down but could be something that I enjoy... As weird as that sounds.
The slow motion effect of sickness is kind of nice.:) So as I have been on this slow motion kick today, I was able to make it over to the Friday devotionals at the Institute building. President Holland-JR, and his wife, spoke today. President Holland is HILARIOUS. It totally caught me off guard. He started out by telling us the story of his first kiss and it was way funny! He told us afterwards that even when that stuff happens we can redeem ourselves, and then as he looked back and pointed at his wife, he says -this is obvious for me with Sister Holland marrying me. Cute. :)
But the main thing I wanted to share was what they spoke on. Sister Holland talked about making resolutions and how that can get overwhelming sometimes and we might actually look at all we have to do as a negative thing and things that we can't do. She then went through all of these incredibly successful, and famous people and how each of them had faced failure, after failure, after failure....after failure, until they finally started seeing some light. And I'm sure that's not where the difficulties stopped, but that light encouraged them to keep trying and push forward until they got to where they are now. She talked about how failures make us successful. Without them we wouldn't get pushed to where we need to go. To conclude her talk, she read a parable about a cracked pot. It went something like this: A servant would carry two pots on a pole across his shoulders out to get water every day and then walk back to the master's home to distribute the water where needed. One of the pots was perfect and would carry a full pot of water from the well back to the home without spilling any of it. It was proud at how perfect it was able to perform its task. The other pot was older and had a crack. Every day it was only able to deliver half the load because along the way from the well to the house it would drip water.
One day the old pot apologized to the servant. The servant asked why it was apologizing. The pot told him he was ashamed that he could only carry half the load and that the servant was doing all that work for only half its value. The servant felt bad for the pot so he told him to notice all of the beautiful, wild flowers along the trail on the way back to the house that day. The pot did so and it made it feel better to see all of those beautiful flowers along the side being touched by the sun. When they reached the house the pot still apologized again to the servant for his crack. The servant then told the pot, " Did you notice all of those beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path? Did you notice how they were only on your side of the path? I planted seeds there because I knew of your fault and I knew that if I planted the seeds you would water them. I pick those flowers and put them in the master's house on his table and because of you he is able to enjoy those beautiful flowers. Without your crack this would not be possible."
Keep this parable in mind as I go on to share what President Holland then spoke about. He shared three stories briefly from church history. One was of Moses and the children of Israel. When the children of Israel were out in the wilderness they started to complain of thirst and asked Moses what they were to do..or basically for him to do something. Moses asked God and he told him to touch a rock twice with his staff, in God’s name, and He would bring forth water for them. Moses turned to the children of Israel and said, in frustration to them, "Do we(as in him and Aaron) have to fetch for water for you?!" And smote the rock. Which brought forth water and the children of Israel's thirst was quenched.
Pres Holland says that we usually read this as a miracle, and it was, but what happened because of this was the horrible consequence that the children of Israel did not get to enter the promised land. This was because Moses produced the water in his own way and not as the Lord had told him. He got frustrated and didn't say in the Lord's name that the water was coming nor did he just touch the rock, he whacked it.
Pres Holland shares two more stories, one of Peter and how he denied Christ three times before the cock crew: a prophesy that the Lord told Peter would happen. And it happened because Peter feared men more than God.
The final story was of Joseph Smith, Martin Harris and the loss of the 116 pages. The Lord had answered Joseph twice already and told him not to give the pages to Martin, but finally the third time Joseph had asked the Lord, he finally said, “I have already told you no, but do what you want” (basically). So Martin took the pages, weeks later came back and told Joseph they were gone, and in regards to the horrific news, Joseph yells out in agony and prayer to God: My soul is lost!
Pres Holland pointed out that each of these men are some of the most incredible, righteous men in the history of the Gospel, the world even. And each of them committed huge mistakes. They all continued on to live pretty incredible lives and have tons of miracles and blessings happen to them. Pres Holland then turned to all of us and said, if you have made some huge mistakes of your own in your own lives you can count yourselves among some of the most faithful.
He pointed out two lessons he wanted us to take away from his talk today. The first was that God uses broken things. Just like the parable of the cracked pot, and a list of things he quoted that comes from a special song entitled, “God Loves Broken Things”. A few are: broken clouds bring rain, broken soil grows grain, broken bread feeds man for one more day. Pres Holland said that mistakes do not disqualify us. We need not look down upon our mistakes and allow them to hold us back, but we need to embrace them. His second point, and moral of his talk, was to FALL IN TO THE HANDS OF GOD, not the hands of man. He pleaded that we trust God and put our lives in His hands and not fear what man thinks, but what God thinks. He quoted a poet that said, “It is much easier to fall in to the hands of God than to fall out of them.”
I looked at all of the blessings that I have and the interesting path my life has taken up to this point, and as I sat for a moment after the closing prayer was given I felt this incredibly humbling feeling come over me. I got to slow down that moment of time, mainly thanks to my beautiful head cold I’ve got goin on, and I enjoyed the tender mercy of being able to give thanks to my Heavenly Father for the life that He has given me. I got to recognize for a moment that everything He has placed in my path, and has taken away, all has such a divine purpose and I wouldn’t be where I am, who I am, and with the people I have in my life right now without His all knowing guidance and direction.
The humility hit kept going as I walked down the hall to the office where I work. There was a girl on crutches making her way down the hall. She didn’t have a cast on or brace, but two legs that almost dangled limp from her waste: she was using her upper body strength to swing them with each “step” where she would let her feet touch the ground for a moment and then continue on in this fashion down the hall. Every day. At this same moment of seeing her, I simultaneously caught a glimpse of myself walking in the windows along side the hallway. I reflected back to almost a year and a half ago when I was in a wheelchair after having surgery on my knee and that just a few months before that I had been all but confined to my bed in Chile because of my back. As I watched myself walking in the window, without any limp, and consciously making myself aware of all of my muscles working as well as taking note of the constant pain I didn’t feel and haven’t felt in months, my heart was softened and once again my selfish, self-centered thinking was washed away as I began to thank my Heavenly Father for the ability to walk that He so graciously had granted me once again.
This got me thinking about all of the many stupid things I’ve done in my life and huge mistakes I have made, and that with each them along with the heart break and deep agony that comes, I have also grown more than I probably could have in any other way. I’ve also come to learn more about the Savior’s infinite love for us and His infinite atonement. I’ve seen the power and peace the atonement can bring, and I continue to lean on that as I push forward in my journey here on earth. I’m so grateful for days like today where the Lord allows us to open our eyes and see the eternal perspective for just a moment and He gives us that little nudge of encouragement that we so desperately need.
If the Lord has answered your prayers and He has given you some divine direction, Go with it. Trust Him. Wherever He is taking you...it’s where you want to go. I can promise that. It might not be the easiest or quickest road, but prove your faith in Him and hang in there.
I’m doing it right along with you. “I know in whom I have trusted.”
Love you all. Choa! Besitos
Con carino, Jess
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