Christlike Compassion, Sacrifice, Hope

Here is the first installment of my monthly talks in blog form. As a little forewarning, the talk itself is a bit lengthy and has only been proofread a couple of times.  I only recently made the goal to start putting my talks online in my new blog. Meaning, I had to post what I'd already written 'as is' so I could meet my deadline of posting it on the first of this month.

The good news is that I've pointed out the highlights over the following few paragraphs so you can refer to some of the most important aspects of the talk again without the need of scanning through the entire talk.

Highlights:

Choosing to be more compassionate and willing to sacrifice in our own lives will enable us to find more hope and faith; thereby obtaining a more joyful outlook on this life.

Compassion starts with the desire to alleviate others’ suffering.  Perhaps our greatest downfall in being compassionate is asking why there is so much suffering in the world around us.  Again, we don’t know all the answers and, often, the answers are not what is necessary.  Instead of asking why the Lord allows so much suffering in the world, I submit that we should be asking how much of the suffering of others around us is due, in part, because we failed to listen to and heed the promptings of the spirit – perhaps at times the Lord has a way prepared to relieve suffering and it never happens because we fail reach out to people in need.

(Quote from a mother with a handicapped child) “And before you say that my daughter’s suffering happens so that we can learn from it, I hope you will pause and consider that that statement implies that I cannot learn these lessons in a more humane way. That somehow my hard heart is causing her suffering. Although I have learned many hard lessons from being her companion, I believe I could have learned those lessons in another way as well.  So please don’t ever, ever imply that a child with a handicap is here just so that the rest of us can learn from her. It’s subtly dehumanizing to suggest that a son or daughter of God exists solely to be acted upon rather than to act. No. This trial is first and foremost [my daughter’s]”

Hope is the motivating influence in our lives that enables us to take action towards our goals.  It is the appearance of a bridge that crosses over the gulf between our wallowing in sin and sorrows to a land filled with promise, joy and freedom.

Putting our complete trust in Christ is the only way to receive true and lasting hope; the only way this bridge to a brighter future starts to take shape in our lives.  We cannot truly be at peace and find hope if we are not willing to let go of our ‘favorite sins’.  In other words, we cannot flirt with sin. 

That being said, faith is all about our own personal responsibilities.  The amount of faith we have is directly proportional to the amount of work and effort we put in.  If we’ve been given a gift, we hope that we will like whatever is wrapped inside.  It is that hope which provides the motivation to open it up and make sure.  Faith in and of itself is the act of opening up the gift.  Not until we put in the work of opening said gift and using it is it able to bless our lives.

Put another way, hope is the disposition while faith is what we do with that disposition.

And here is a link to the story "God will save me."

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If you read something that stands out to you or you find particularly insightful, I encourage you to make a comment. Not for my benefit but for that of others. My purpose of this blog is to bear testimony of Christ and help everyone who reads these blogs to increase in their desire to live Christ's teachings. The more you share, the more I believe that can and will happen.  

Christlike Compassion, Sacrifice, Hope

In his first presidency message for April 2017, President Uchtdorf recounted a story about a soap maker who lacked faith in religion.  Said he:

[There is an old Jewish tale about a soap maker who did not believe in God. One day as he was walking with a rabbi, he said, “There is something I cannot understand. We have had religion for thousands of years. But everywhere you look there is evil, corruption, dishonesty, injustice, pain, hunger, and violence. It appears that religion has not improved the world at all. So I ask you, what good is it?”

The rabbi did not answer for a time but continued walking with the soap maker. Eventually they approached a playground where children, covered in dust, were playing in the dirt.

“There is something I don’t understand,” the rabbi said. “Look at those children. We have had soap for thousands of years, and yet those children are filthy. What good is soap?”

The soap maker replied, “But rabbi, it isn’t fair to blame soap for these dirty children. Soap has to be used before it can accomplish its purpose.”

The rabbi smiled and said, “Exactly.”]

President Uchtdorf’s story outlines two different outlooks on the world. The soap maker has no trust in religion, not because of a lack of desire to believe in God, but because of a misunderstanding how religion is applied and accomplishes its purpose.  The rabbi, on the other hand, understood religion’s purpose and instead of asking why the world was the way it was, the rabbi, through faith in God, clearly saw how religion made a difference. 

In his message, President Uchtdorf goes on to add that, “Religion without action is like soap that remains in the box. It may have wondrous potential, but in reality it has little power to make a difference until it fulfills its intended purpose. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of action.”

While the story is specifically about faith, with a descriptive analogy of soap, I think there is an underlying and powerful message of hope as well.  There is a connection to one having faith and one being filled with hope that Christ’s gospel brings.  The soap maker, because he lacked faith in religion had lost his hope in the world around him.  He was unable to see past all the bad things that were happening right in front of him, which kept him from seeing the potential that the world has and what amazing and beautiful things were already taking place.

Many of us in this world today may feel the same as the soap maker.  We may often question why God allows so many bad things to happen to people; why so many people in this world suffer so much.  While we will not learn all the answers or reasoning God has, the correct perspective on the matter lies within the wise rabbi’s outlook and subsequent response.  Suffering in the world has its purpose.  We need not blame an ‘uncaring God’ or ineffective religion, but do need to understand that hope leads to faith which leads to action and powerful changes for good.

Christ is the ultimate example of providing powerful changes for good in this world and He embodied the definitions of faith and hope.  Christ was chosen as the Savior of the world.  Our Heavenly Father saw in Him the divine potential required to save all of us from the mistakes and wrongdoing of our mortal lives.  Elder Spackman, an area 70 for the North Dakota area, recently commented in a Fargo Stake Conference regarding Christ’s hope in Heavenly Father’s plan.  The idea that Elder Spackman brought up was that Christ was filled with so much hope that people could repent even before He had officially completed His Atonement. 

Christ’s powerful example of hope allowed Him to pay the ultimate sacrifice while being compassionate throughout His preparations for that end.  We can follow Christ’s example and gain hope in Heavenly Father’s plan and our Savior Jesus Christ by following His example in reverse order.  Choosing to be more compassionate and willing to sacrifice in our own lives will enable us to find more hope and faith; thereby obtaining a more joyful outlook on this life as did the rabbi.

In terms of compassion, there are many different sides and facets to this broad topic.  It is safe to say that both the rabbi and the soap maker had compassion for others around them.  They both wanted to see a safe world where individuals could grow up in peace and see the positive effects of a loving Heavenly Father’s influence.  Neither one wanted to see others suffer from sin and pain of the world, and both knew the importance of being physically clean as well.  In the simplest of definitions, compassion is the desire to alleviate another’s suffering, and both the rabbi and the soap maker had that.

Some might argue that the rabbi had more compassion than the soap maker because the rabbi knew how religion could help those suffering in the world.  Others might argue that the soap maker was the one who truly exhibited compassion because it pained him so much to see suffering in the world.  Yet, there is a difference between feeling sorrow for others in the sight of suffering and being compassionate.  In other words, being a compassionate person requires action and can provide the meaningful difference for others who are suffering, whereas simply feeling a sense of sorrow can be misguided as compassion even if no efforts to care for someone else’s needs are made. 

The guide to the scriptures on LDS.org explains that, “In the scriptures, compassion means literally ‘to suffer with.’ It also means to show sympathy, pity, and mercy for another.” There are numerous examples in the scriptures of Christ doing just that; having compassion towards others.  In each example given, the Savior didn’t simply feel an emotion, but He did what it took to show what he felt, through compassion, by serving others in a way that helped alleviated their pain and suffering:

Luke 7:13 – And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

Mathew 15:32 – Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.

2 Kings 13:23 – And the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet.

Mark 6:34 – And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

Ether 1:35 – And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon Jared; therefore he did not confound the language of Jared; and Jared and his brother were not confounded.

Christ always knew what to do and how to reach people on an individual basis by reaching out in compassion.  In our efforts to gain more hope in God’s plan and Christ’s roll in it, it is helpful to discover how to start doing that ourselves.  Sometimes our efforts to be compassionate are inadvertently half-hearted or we simply fail to do as much as we can because we feel inadequate.

First and foremost, I believe that in order to be more compassionate people, we need to fear God and not man.  With maturity often comes a desire to put off childish things but we need to be careful to not put away needful, childlike attributes at the same time.  I love the quote from Camelot, “Violence is not strength and compassion is not weakness”.  Often times, we need to forget what the world teaches us and trust in what the Lord asks us to do.

Recently a good friend of mine shared some insightful thoughts on compassion with me. His take home message is that compassion requires us to show forth an increase in love and do something, not just say something or assume that the trials individuals face are direct consequences of things they do wrong.  He discussed the story of Job in the Old Testament; how Job was perfect and upright but was tried, lost all he had and suffered physically, yet never faltered.  My friend also mentioned how eventually Job gained more than he had lost, but not until after his friends had tried to convince him of his ‘wicked’ ways.  Here is a quote from his thoughts:

[I think we can learn a great lesson from how they (Job’s friends) treated Job.  Job’s three friends are first mentioned in Chapter 2:11-13 They come to seem him, were filled with empathy, stayed with him seven days and seven nights. This is what true friends do “we mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort (Mosiah 18:9) But then something went wrong. I think many of us are guilty of this. We always think that we have not done enough mourning or comforting unless we say something…  ‘I know that if you pray God will answer your prayers.’  Many of us have probably said this to a suffering friend. We always assume that those who are suffering are not praying hard enough. Do we really know?..

I can go on and on about things we say which do more harm than good.  I now realize that in the Church, to effectively serve others we must see them through a parent’s eyes, through Heavenly Father’s eyes. Only then can we begin to comprehend the true worth of a soul. Only then can we sense the love that Heavenly Father has for all of His children. Only then can we sense the Savior’s caring concern for them. We cannot completely fulfill our covenant obligation to mourn with those who mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort unless we see them through God’s eyes.]

My friend then included an excerpt from a note he received from a friend of his with a handicapped child.  The mother provides a helpful perspective in understanding suffering and the need for truly showing compassion: “And before you say that my daughter’s suffering happens so that we can learn from it, I hope you will pause and consider that that statement implies that I cannot learn these lessons in a more humane way. That somehow my hard heart is causing her suffering. Although I have learned many hard lessons from being her companion, I believe I could have learned those lessons in another way as well.  So please don’t ever, ever imply that a child with a handicap is here just so that the rest of us can learn from her. It’s subtly dehumanizing to suggest that a son or daughter of God exists solely to be acted upon rather than to act. No. This trial is first and foremost [my daughter’s]”

Like innocent children, we need to forgive and forget easily.  We need to show compassion without passing judgment and provide the support and strength our friends and neighbors need, not what we think will make us look good or knowledgeable in the eyes of the world.  We shouldn’t feel fear when it comes to compassion.  We are put in others’ paths because we have the strengths that will help alleviate the suffering of others we come across.  Fear comes from a lack of faith in what the Lord has asked us to do.  Don’t feel inadequate – remember that whom the Lord calls He qualifies and with desire alone we are called to the work (D&C 4).

Compassion starts with the desire to alleviate others’ suffering.  Perhaps our greatest downfall in being compassionate is asking why there is so much suffering in the world around us.  Again, we don’t know all the answers and, often, the answers are not what is necessary.  Instead of asking why the Lord allows so much suffering in the world, I submit that we should be asking how much of the suffering of others around us is due, in part, because we failed to listen to and heed the promptings of the spirit – perhaps at times the Lord has a way prepared to relieve suffering and it never happens because we fail reach out to people in need.

This is not to make anyone feel bad.  Just like the comment of the mother with a handicapped child, it is to put it into perspective.  Simply changing how we view things can make the choice to be more compassionate easier.  Knowing that compassion is not simply a matter of telling others why we think they are suffering or that they just need to hold on and everything will be okay, can empower us to follow Christ’s example more fully. 

This empowerment comes because we understand where our influence begins and ends.  We don’t have all the answers or understanding that Heavenly Father doesn’t see fit to give us, but we can make sacrifices that will give us a greater ability to become more Christ-like and thereby much more compassionate individuals.

Compassion and sacrifice are reciprocal attributes.  The more we work on the one, the greater desire we have to follow through with the other and vice versa.  But, just like with compassion, we tend to limit our ability to sacrifice because our understanding of what sacrifice truly is often turns to a misconstrued notion of something entirely different.  It is a common assumption in society today that whenever something is difficult it becomes a sacrifice by default.  Yet, if this narrow approach is taken, it is far too easy for personal growth to be taken out of the equation and the purpose for sacrifice becomes void.

By definition, sacrifice is “an act of offering to a deity something precious; destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else; something given up or lost” (merriam-webster online).  On the lds.org’s topics website, ‘sacrifice’ is described as follows: [To sacrifice is to give up something valuable or precious, often with the intent of accomplishing a greater purpose or goal. Sacrifice has always been a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a reminder of the great atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all who have lived or will live on earth. Before the ministry of Christ, animal sacrifices were offered for this purpose. After the Atonement of Christ, followers of Jesus Christ—by His direction—began to offer instead a “broken heart and contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20), a willingness to repent of sins and a desire to follow Jesus Christ and align one's life with His commandments.]

Keeping this in mind, it might be beneficial to ask ourselves, how often do we actually give things up, especially things that are precious to us?  Gordon B Hinckley addressed this question with the following: “Great are the promises of the Lord. The marvelous thing to me is that the Lord never asks us to do anything that He does not attach to it a blessing. It is not a sacrifice to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is never a sacrifice when you get back more than you give. It is an investment. And the living of the gospel of Jesus Christ becomes a greater investment than any of which I know because its dividends are eternal and everlasting”.

The messages between lds.org and President Hinckley almost seem contradictory.  Living the gospel is not a sacrifice (Hinckley) and yet sacrifice has always been a part of the gospel (lds.org).  Living the gospel implies that we are already living Heavenly Father’s commandments and doing our best to become more like Christ.  If we are not on this path, we are an unrepentant people. 

 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man (Mosiah 3:19). 

It seems to me that the only time we can truly give something up is when we are repenting and putting off the natural man.  If we aren’t careful, we can become addicted to any number of things or simply develop detrimental habits that are hard to kick.  Often, we may view these habits or addictions as ‘favorite’ sins or the sin that is the bane of our efforts to return to Heavenly Father.  I submit that one of the greatest sacrifices we can make in this life is giving up these unrighteous tendencies through repentance. 

I can put this concept into perspective quite easily.  Like president Hinckley said, anytime we put something in and receive a greater return from our efforts, it is not a sacrifice but is indeed an investement.  This is not referring to blessings in general but more of what we put in in the first place.  For example: raising children – Investment, serving a mission – investment, paying tithes and offerings – investment.

In all the above cases, nothing is left behind or lost.  Children remain taken care of, the joy of the gospel is felt, families are blessed spiritually and often financially, etc.   In fact, with each of the above investments we make, the specific items become more precious and valuable and bring greater joy.  On the contrary, it is when we allow sin and the things of this world to become precious to us, and we refuse to let them go, that we find a lack of lasting joy and become miserable like unto the father of all lies (Moses 4:4, 2 Nephi 2:27). 

Sacrifice surely comes into play when we decide to forsake these things that are so hard for the natural man to give up: Giving up what we naturally desire that is not in-line with God’s will – sacrifice. 

It’s wise to remember, though, that repentance is two-fold.  On the one hand, we must forsake our sins and right the wrongs that we’ve done.  On the other hand, we need to be sanctified through Christ’s Atoning sacrifice and become better versions of ourselves.  Sometimes the necessary sacrifices for us to make are not simply giving up bad habits, but giving up certain aspects of our lifestyles.  It is not good enough to justify our weaknesses and procrastinate overcoming them.  Sacrifice is necessary to turn our weaknesses into strengths as well (Ether 12:27).

It is in this mindset that the principle of hope truly comes into play.  It is easy to fear repentance; to think of it not as a purifying and needful step of progression but as a demeaning event that displays our sins for everyone to see.  Yet, when it really comes down to it, the fact that we have the opportunity to repent shows of Heavenly Father’s love for us and enables us to hope for a brighter future regardless of our pasts. 

Hope in Christ through the repentance process is never in vain.  In the world we ‘hope’ for things without the slightest assurance that they will happen.  We often cross our fingers or knock on wood realizing that what we want to happen is not really a possibility or what we don’t want to see happen most likely will.  This is the kind of worldly use of the word hope in which we don’t study for a test but still pray in vain that we’ll ace it. 

This line of thought, however, is not at all the hope that Christ’s gospel brings.  Instead, the hope and glad tidings of great joy therein is appropriately described by google as ‘cherish a desire with anticipation’, ‘trust’, ‘desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment’, or ‘expect with confidence’.  Hope is the motivating influence in our lives that enables us to take action towards our goals.  It is the appearance of a bridge that crosses over the gulf between our wallowing in sin and sorrows to a land filled with promise, joy and freedom.

Putting our complete trust in Christ is the only way to receive true and lasting hope; the only way this bridge to a brighter future starts to take shape in our lives.  We cannot truly be at peace and find hope if we are not willing to let go of our ‘favorite sins’.  In other words, we cannot flirt with sin. 

Two specific scriptures point this truth out well.

The first is actually found in three separate locations, namely: Luke 16:13, Matthew 6:24, and 3 Nephi 13:24 and reads as follows: No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.

The second is Ecclesiastes 3:1 – To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Heavenly Father has set rules for us to follow and we need to heed them precisely in order to find happiness and fulfillment.  The more we are patient and recognize that there is a season or a time and place for everything, the easier it is to trust in the commandments and follow them.  Flirting with sin and trying to live in the grey area between what is right and what we know to be wrong, is the same as telling Heavenly Father that we believe we are strong enough on our own, don’t require His help in our lives and prefer not to have hope as we endure our trials that will inevitably come. 

Flirting with sin can come in many different forms.  Flirtation as a general concept is not wrong in and of itself.  Two teenagers in high school getting to know each other as they begin to date is natural and perhaps necessary. Yet, for a married man or woman who have already made solemn vows to be faithful in marriage, flirting with anyone other than their spouse is making a mockery of those vows. 

Members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a covenant making people.  To flirt outside the covenant obligations made with any ordinance is, in like manner, making a mockery of those covenants. The best way to avoid mocking these covenants through flirtation or getting too close to sin is to hold firmly to the iron rod, otherwise known as the word of God.  Christ gave this example very powerfully during his mortal ministry. 

Mark 14:27 – And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.

Mark 7:6 – He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

In these two examples as well as many others, Christ referred to the scriptures and sought the will of His Father.  D&C 20:21-24 even teaches us that in this mindset of putting His Father’s will first, he simply gave no heed to his temptations: Wherefore, the Almighty God gave his Only Begotten Son, as it is written in those scriptures which have been given of him. He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them.  He was crucified, died, and rose again the third day; And ascended into heaven, to sit down on the right hand of the Father, to reign with almighty power according to the will of the Father;

The irony is that we often fall short of Christ’s example and give heed to our temptations.  We want to be happy and think that giving into our temptations will do the trick when, in reality, doing so forfeits our hope for future happiness.  Put another way, the quickest way to finding hope is by coming to the realization that we can never be satisfied by giving in to temptation.  If having cake is holding a sense of hope and eating cake is giving into temptation, then we truly cannot eat cake and still be satisfied with it. Once it’s gone, any sense of instant gratification that came as a result of partaking quickly leaves behind a lonely absence of hope and fulfillment.   

Once we understand that hope comes from trusting in Christ and avoiding flirtation with sin, it is easier to weed out some of the devil’s wiles.  Some of our temptations to flirt with sin or eat the devil’s cake come in the form of asking questions.  It is so dangerous because we may not know we are skirting on the edge before it’s too late. The Lord wants us to search the scriptures and turn to Him in prayer to find answers to our questions, but there is a difference between questioning the Lord’s methods and asking questions to gain understanding and further commitment to our obligations.

If we are constantly in a state of questioning why the Lord is doing what He is doing, especially if we feel it is hurting us or giving us unnecessary trials, all we are doing is justifying the choice to give up on hope in following the Lord’s commandments.  Asking for proof beforehand means that we allow fear to reside in our hearts.  This fear is a result of our desire to receive answers but it also bring with it a delay or remittance of blessings. We insist that the Lord prove Himself to us before we take any action, and yet the rules behind receiving blessings is that we have to prove ourselves to the Lord by first acting in faith (D&C 130:21).

On the other hand, if we seek the Lord’s will to truly understand the importance of what it is we are facing, hope is a natural result. In this case, we are no longer justifying our wrong actions but, instead, are placing our trust in the repentance process. This in turn removes any skepticism and empowers us to act in ways that bring us closer to Heavenly Father.

It’s the difference between saying ‘I will keep the commandments if’…, and saying ‘I will keep the commandments because’…  It is only when we ask questions in faith, without questioning the Lord’s methods that power to overcome our trails enters our lives and we find purpose in them.

And it is understanding this that truly sheds light on the connection between faith and hope.  The first definition for faith that google spits out is ‘complete trust or confidence in someone or something’.  Notice the similarities between the basic definitions of both hope and faith.

While faith is trust or confidence in someone, hope is to trust and expect with confidence. Looking at these two basic definitions side by side, one might ask: What is the difference between the two or are they one and the same?  Alma teaches us specifically: “And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true (Alma 32:21).”

Similar teachings are painted all over the scriptures.  Even the missionary handbook, Preach My Gospel, dedicates an entire chapter on developing Christ-like attributes and hope and faith are listed as two separate and distinct qualities that missionaries need to put effort into working on.  The similarities come from the fact that the two words are so closely interconnected.  In the end, the best explanation I can give is that hope is a trust in something that is outside our control – we hope or trust and expect that Christ can heal us through the Atonement but, in the end, we don’t have the power to do it ourselves. 

That being said, faith is all about our own personal responsibilities.  The amount of faith we have is directly proportional to the amount of work and effort we put in.  If we’ve been given a gift, we hope that we will like whatever is wrapped inside.  It is that hope which provides the motivation to open it up and make sure.  Faith in and of itself is the act of opening up the gift.  Not until we put in the work of opening said gift and using it is it able to bless our lives.

Put another way, hope is the disposition while faith is what we do with that disposition.  We need both and we can have neither without Christ. The rabbi in Uchtdorf’s story knew that and he used this knowledge to find happiness in life.  We, too, can follow the rabbi’s example and choose to use our hope and faith to see the beauty in the world and not focus on what is going wrong.

Yet, while this is a good goal, it is a lofty one. It is not easy to accomplish.  Sometimes we act in faith but feel like we are alone and others aren’t mourning with us in our trials.  First and foremost, remember, discouragement is always from the devil.  Heavenly Father is keenly aware of our efforts and will bless us in His own due time.  It is in the times that our acts of faith are put to the test that we must not forget faith is still the answer.  In fact, Virginia H. Pearce, the first Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, gave a talk entitled Faith Is the Answer, which teaches this principle.

Some of her main thoughts were as follows: We can have hope because of Christ and He has given us a constant companion through the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sooner or later, everything will be okay. 

Elaine S. Dalton, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, gave a talk entitled ‘Believe!’ where she too touched on this topic:

“The Lord has promised us that as we “search diligently, pray always, and be believing, … all things [will] work together for [our] good” (D&C 90:24; emphasis added). That doesn’t mean that everything will be perfect or that we will not have any trials, but it does mean that everything will be okay if we just “hang in there.”

In reference, again, to the need to show better compassion, sometimes the words ‘just hang in there’ don’t seem that motivating and uplifting.  However, it is my firm belief that at the times we find all we can do is hang on for the time being, we should not assume that means we can simply cower in a corner. Instead, we should be hanging specifically to the iron rod and the truths of the gospel we have already learned.  Perhaps sometimes we feel trapped by the metaphorical flood of trials and loneliness simply because we have lost sight of what the various rescuers that have come our way look like; take the following story for example:

[God Will Save Me

A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.

A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will send a divine miracle to save me.”

The neighbors came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”

As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”

The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!”

The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.

A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, "Grab my hand and I will pull you up!" But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”

Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.

When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”

And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?”]

We may find the story somewhat comical, but how often do we fail to recognize the subtler hints of Heavenly Father’s divine help in our personal lives? The Lord often reaches out to us through people who are in the right place at the right time.  The Lord is truly keeping tabs on each and every one of us and hears our prayers. 

The prophets understand this very well and because of this knowledge they constantly teach a message of glad tidings and great hope.  President Hinckley was a great example of this bright hope prophets have in Heavenly Father’s plan. 

From a talk entitled ‘My Grandfather, the Prophet’: “In fact, President Hinckley advises his grandchildren to be positive whenever they are worried about anything. ‘He always has a positive attitude,’ explains Jessica. “He tells us to try our hardest, do our best, pray, and everything will work out.”

From the mouth of President Henry B. Eyring shortly after the death of President Hinckley: In the last few days, I have remembered his voice. I heard that voice so many times when a difficult problem facing the Church was brought to him. He would listen carefully, perhaps asking a question or two, to be sure that he understood the magnitude of the difficulty facing us and that those who brought the problem to him knew he understood. Time after time, he would quietly say something like this, with a pleasant smile, “Oh, things will work out.”

The ability to have a positive outlook on life and know that things will work out for our good, whether this process seems a long time in the making or not, stems from having hope and faith in Christ.  Discouragement and self-doubt is what happens when one yields to the subtle wiles of the devil and loses faith.  Faith leads to hope for a brighter future because Christ already paid for all our sins, weakness, limitations, afflictions, sorrows, heartache etc. 

The way has already been paved and if we know where the paved road is, i.e. Chirst, then we know where to find sure footing on a straight path.  The guarantee of a life without suffering is only attained in the next life through living the gospel in this one.  A fullness of hope comes when we act in faith, realizing that this life is meant to have trials and suffering but that all will be made right in the end. 

The good news the gospel brings by no means implies that we have to suffer miserably throughout all our mortal lives.  The sacrifices we all make provide the ability to become compassionate individuals.  This can make a world of difference in alleviating the suffering that takes place in the lives of others around us and provides, in our personal lives, further hope, faith and satisfaction in living.