Vegetables

Today during Sacrament meeting a cute mom in my ward got up to bear her testimony about God's love for us.  She began by speaking about how hard it is to teach her little girl to eat her vegetables and not just the chicken nuggets.  She told us that it would be so easy to give up the fight on the vegetables completely.  But then this mom told us about how she looks forward into her little girl's future to how much happier and healthier she will be if she can endure the broccoli now.  So while this daughter can only see as far as finishing dinner to go play with toys, her mother can see much further.

This mother related her experiences to how Heavenly Father must feel when we go through trials.  It must be so hard to see us suffer, but He sees further into our lives and understands what will help us.

I loved her testimony.  It reminded me of similar thoughts I've had.  As little children, we didn't understand why we needed vegetables or why we couldn't touch the hot stove or run out into the street.  But we knew that our parents loved us, and we trusted that they would take care of us.  With that faith and knowledge of their love, we faithfully obeyed.

Ignore that my pictures are very obviously off of google images.

So it is with our Heavenly Father.  We may not always know why we need to do something; it doesn't make any sense to us.  But if we remember His love and have faith He will take care of us, we're able to step forward.

And as time goes on, and as we grow up a little, it begins to make more sense.  We may even learn to love what we have been asked to do.

When I was younger, the three hours of church were the longest hours of the week.  The only fun part was Primary because we sung and played games.  But the rest of the three hours were painful.  Especially Sacrament meeting.

From left to right:  Kyra, Kaylie, Jennie, neighbor

Just kidding.  It's google again.

Same thing with scripture study.  I never paid attention during family scripture study (sorry Mom!) and only did it by myself because I was supposed to, but not because I really wanted to.

But.  As I faithfully performed and attended these obligations, something wonderful happened.  Over time, my tiny perspective began to open.   I began to love more and more things about church. (Yes.  The treats in YW always helped.)  In fact, one day in high school I realized that that I actually looked forward to Sundays.  In addition, with diligence and practice, scripture study became more meaningful and I learned to enjoy it.  And as I learned about the significance of the Sacrament and why I needed it, it became a sweet moment each week.

It would have been nice if I could have paid better attention during family scriptures as a kid or started searching for a testimony earlier.

But I wasn't ready.   It took me time to reach a fuller understanding of these things' significance.

This is my attempt at a "perspective" picture (it's our family hiking...sometime...somewhere in Southern Utah.)  Notice the little bits of light coming in from the top symbolizing increased perspective and light.  I know, it's genius ;)

And so it is now.  There are certain things we're asked to do that I still really struggle with.  For example, I still don't quite understand the complete significance of the temple.  And that's so, so hard for me.  It's hard not to understand anything and then to get lost between all the hallways and rooms (I look like I'm new every single time.)  But I try to attend anyway.   Because I have faith that just as it is with vegetables, I'll grow up and someday understand the whys behind the whats.