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Monday, March 21, 2011

What I learned in church

The importance of having an eternal perspective.  Here's an example:

There was once a wise man who had one acre of land, one horse, and one son.
One day his son was caring for the horse and left the gate open.
The horse escaped.
All of the wise man's friends and family came over to commiserate with him.
The wise man said: "Is what happened bad?  Or is it good?  I don't know."
His friends and family assured him that it was bad.
In a few days, the horse got thirsty and returned, bringing six wild horses with him.
The friends and family again returned, this time to celebrate the wise man's good fortune.
The wise man said: "Is what happened good?  Or is it bad?  I don't know."
The friends and family assured him that it was good.
The next day, his only son was working with one of the wild horses when the horse reared up
and broke the son's leg very badly.
Once again the wise man's friends and family came to let him know what a bad thing had happened.
"He is your only son," they said.  "What will you do now?"
Being very wise and not swayed by the opinions of those around him, the wise man once again gave the same response: 
"Is what happened bad? Or is it good?  I don't know."
The following week the army came through the area and conscripted all the able-bodied young men.
They went off to war and were all killed.
Because of his broken leg, the wise man's son was not conscripted and remained at home, safe.

And the story goes on.  The moral is: not all success is good and not all trials are bad.  I just don't have the perspective to be able to always tell the difference.

"Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good...."
                                                        Doctrine and Covenants 90:24

3 comments:

Pat said...

What a good lesson. We can all learn from that one. Perhaps the wisdom comes as we grow and learn while we are here.

sues2u2 said...

That was really good, Skip. I finally read that talk & you're right. I needed it. We had a talk in church yesterday about being prepared for conference. Maybe having a question that you've prayed about (such as recognizing the spirit during the talks). Lots to ponder.

love ya

Rebecca said...

I needed that today. :)