I've had this thought in the back left corner of my head for a few days now... And the CES broadcast last night brought it to the top center where I actually look occasionally...
Well, it started when I was thinking about why Heavenly Father gives us such hard challenges. I mean, he knows us better then we know ourselves, so why does he give us a test that he knows we'll fail? It just didn't make sense...
And I had a thought (I suspect an inspired thought, but dunno). It's to show us our true nature. I equate it to a mineral, or a gemstone 'cause that sounds more poetic.
Each gemstone has it's own chemical properties. An emerald will melt at one temperature, a diamond will melt at another. One gem is magnetic but will crack under pressure. Another doesn't attract anything is rather ugly, but thrives under pressure and is very dependable.
It's the same with people. We have our own little chemical properties, when we crack, how magnetic we are, etc. And our trials help us realize and develop them. As I said, Heavenly Father knows us. He already knows that we'll crack when circumstance "A" happens, but that we'll grow from going through circumstance "qXzz". But we don't. We have no idea how strong we are.
Heavenly Father could've easily skipped this whole Earthly existence and just shuffled us into our respective spots. But that would have been unfair because he was judging us without proving us.
This world is a test. (original idea, I know...)
We go through these times to show our metal. The hard times differentiate the copper from the gold. If we break at temperature A, we're copper. If we don't break until temperature B, we're gold. (a poor example, because I think copper has the higher melting point, but you get the idea)
And as much as we don't wanna, it's good for us to go through the hard times.
I saw a commercial the other day for "Color Me Gemz" The basic idea is that you get these little clear plastic gems and you color them with these special markers. It claims they "Look like real gemstones" and that you can "Create your own sparkling gems and awesome accessories!" But they really don't... Way don't...
If we didn't go through life's difficulties, we'd all be a Color Me Gem. We'd look like a precious gemstone from the outside, but we wouldn't have the stuff, the properties and characteristics of a real gemstone.
So be a gem! Not a gemz.
2 comments:
I like this idea. Quite a lot. (Especially since in the D&C, there's a verse where it actually talks about us being the Father's jewels.)
And here's the completely mind-blowing thing: we think we will fail the test or the trial--but Heavenly Father never throws any challenge in our path that He knows we can't conquer.
So in that sense, Heavenly Father doesn't give us any test we can't pass (yeah, yeah, I just mixed my metaphors, but so what) . . . because the ultimate purpose of the test isn't our failure.
The ultimate purpose of the test is our salvation and eternal life.
^.^ Glad you like.
And yeah... I know there's a scripture mastery somewhere that says "We are not tempted above what we are able." (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/1_cor/10/13#13 Ha! Found it!) I've always liked the idea, but it never really struck me like it did with the "gem" idea.
"The ultimate purpose ... is our salvation" Very true... Very true... We were put on this Earth to pass and live with Heavenly Father. ^.^ Nicely said Confuzzled.
Post a Comment