Subtle Realities - Fruits of the Spirit

Recently, I visited a good friend in the hospital.  She is elderly and having numerous health problems.  As my companion and I came into the room, she was awake and sitting up and we began to talk.  She is the type of person who, in her earlier life, was outspoken and powerful, but at the same time has very tender feelings and has suffered much.  She is kind-hearted and thoughtful and she trusts God. 

While laying on her hospital bed, she was connected to a miriad of wires and tubes and the like--electronic pads and interveinous whatnot.  A screen above her and to her right showed her blood pressure, temperature, heart-rate, and a number of other things that I don't understand.  All I know is that when graph shows a consistent pattern of troughs and peaks, things are good.  I also know that a good resting heart-rate is somewhere around 70 beats per minute.  Hers read in the mid 90's. 

We took two seats a few feet from the foot of her bed.  She was very willing to talk.  She seemed exhausted but capable--pained but driven. 
She had been there for about a week. 

After talking for a few minutes, I opened up my scriptures and shared with her several of my favorite passages from the Book of Mormon in an attempt to bring her comfort.  I assured her that I know that her Savior knows the pain that she was dealing with, that He knows her sickness and He knows her desires, diligence, and dedication.  She nodded quietly in gratitude. 

I had glanced at the heart monitor several times since sitting down.  Her pulse had normalized and was reading between 75-80 bpm.  She had been seated normally before we got there.  Her level of physical exertion hadn't really changed.  But I could physically see the peace that came over her.  I felt it, but it struck me that I was able to see it. 

Paul taught that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." (Gal. 5:22-23)

Or, in others' words,

"[The Holy Spirit] quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections, and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use.  It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings and affections of our nature.  It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity.  It develops beauty of person, form and features.  It tends to health, vigor, animation and social feeling.  It develops and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man.  It strengthens, invigorates, and gives tone to the nerves.  In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being." 
-Parly P. Pratt

"After All We Can Do"

 Michaelangelo Buonaroti, hailed as one of the most masterful artists in history, enjoyed much fame during his life.  He was given the distinction of being the first artist to have his biography published during his lifetime.  He was referred to, in Florence and around Italy, as Il Divino, or "The Divine One."  Once he entered the forefront of the Renaissance art society, his fame spread, and throughout his life he received commission upon commission by the most respected patrons in Italy. 

 Although reported to be somewhat arrogant regarding his talents, his own words provide a deep insight.


"If people knew how hard I worked to gain my mastery, it would not be so wonderful."  

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michaelangelo

Hesiod  (c. 700 BC)

The early Greek poet and author, Hesiod, a contemporary of Homer, believed as well in diligence.

"Mediocrity is easy, it can be had in quantity.  The road is smooth, safe, and it lies close by.  But, in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat and hard work and long and steep is the road to it, and rough at first.  But, when you make it to the top then it is easy, even though it is hard."  

 Several months ago, I went to a meeting where I was privileged to hear a man named Elder Kevin W. Pearson speak to a group of missionaries.  He is a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a special witness of Jesus Christ.  He said something that struck me and which I want to apply.


"Hard work reveals capacity....The harder I work, the more my innate capacity is revealed to me." 


Another special witness of the Savior, David O. McKay, who passed away in 1970, had a similar energy by which he did great things and inspired others to rise higher. 

"You are the one who has to decide whether you'll do it or toss it aside; whether you'll strive for the goal that's afar, or just be content to stay where you are."

 This life is a time to work and to work hard.  God will not justify anyone who refuses to measure up to his own potential.  We mortals are weak but we can give what we have, and when we do so, God can do great things through us. 
God doesn't want us to be average.  He wants us to be heirs of Eternal Life.  He wants us to be outstanding.  To obtain that type of excellence requires, as Michaelangelo said, hard, concerted, focused, and prolonged labor.

Our potential of our Divine spark is limitless when we strike the flint of our own diligent effort to the steel of God's grace.  It will light a fuse that can only be cut by our own doubt. 

In others' words,

 

"Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your salvation with fear and trembling before him."    

-Mormon 9:27

Book of Mormon Online - Mormon Chapter 9                                                                  

The Problem of Pain

Have you ever wondered why life is so hard?  It's true--it is; but it's hard to swallow when you don't understand why.  So many people become pessimistic about pain and suffering because it is so ever-present in our lives.
On the other hand, some of the greatest men and women in history arrived where they did because they had come through their difficulties with this attitude, expressed by Orson F. Whitney.

“The spirit of the gospel is optimistic; it trusts in God and looks on the bright side of things. The opposite or pessimistic spirit drags men down and away from God, looks on the dark side, murmurs, complains, and is slow to yield obedience. We should honor the Savior’s declaration to be of good cheer."

Orson F. Whitney was born July 1, 1855.  He was, like myself, a missionary in Pennsylvania for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He went on to become a prominent poet and writer, a professor of English and Theology, a senator and, eventually, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

He taught much, during his life, about what C.S. Lewis called "The Problem of Pain," viz. the question of "Why does God allow so much pain and suffering in the world?"

In an article he titled "A Lesson from the Book of Job," he wrote the following:

“To whom do we look, in days of grief and disaster, for help and consolation? … They are men and women who have suffered, and out of their experience in suffering they bring forth the riches of their sympathy and condolences as a blessing to those now in need. Could they do this had they not suffered themselves?
“… Is not this God’s purpose in causing his children to suffer? He wants them to become more like himself. God has suffered far more than man ever did or ever will, and is therefore the great source of sympathy and consolation.”

Two major things characterize the life of Jesus Christ.  One is tribulation. (see Isaiah 53, Mosiah 14)  The other is the invitation, "Come, follow me."  He wants us to live the way He did.  He lived sinlessly, but not effortlessly.  He lived in perfect obedience, but not in perfect comfort.  He lived in hope, but not at rest.

How can we expect to follow Jesus Christ without being subject to sorrow, grief, pain, anguish, and, in short, opposition?  We cannot.  It is part of the great plan of our Father in Heaven. 

 Again, to draw on others' words:

"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted.  It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility.  All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God...and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father...in heaven."  

-Orson F. Whitney                

       

I know that sorrow is a big part of every life that reads this article.  I promise you that I know that it is meant to be so.  We learn and grow because of it.  We follow the example of the only Perfect human being.