We Owe Them Something!

As with everything I write, I am never quite sure what to write as an introduction.  This week is no exception.  Honestly all of the weeks here seem to blend together without a whole lot to distinguish them.  It's probably a good thing this isn't really a blog about what I do with my life.  Anyone who is hoping for updates on that, I sincerely apologize.  I'm not that exciting to write about, so I don't write much about myself.

I got a call this morning about an hour and a half before Church.  It was the guy that I teach with.  He had come down with the flu and wasn't going to be able to teach, so I got to teach today.  And then the teacher of the 16-17 year olds was sick, so they came into my class also, meaning that I got to teach the 14-17 year olds.  It was a lot of fun, at least it was for me.

The lesson was on how learning is a part of God's plan for us.  I'm afraid that the opportunity to teach on a subject that I devoted several years of my life and my Master's Thesis to was too tempting of an opportunity for me to avoid giving a prolonged lecture to the kids.  When I was preparing the lesson, I was reminded of one of my absolute favorite talks by Elder Holland, "Who We Are and What God Expects Us To Do" (video also available here).  Elder Holland derived his message from Tevye's famous song "Tradition," in which he reminds us that "because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do."  Elder Holland then went on to relate that we too have a tradition, a tradition of faith, sacrifice, and learning.  He told of Saints holding schools in wagons or around campfires in a wickiup, sharing books around the class so that each might have an equal privilege.  He reminded the students of the long and expensive struggles to build a single school building, let alone a campus full of them.  Finally, Elder Holland stated, "We owe them something.  We who are the beneficiaries of their sacrifice and their faith--we owe them the best effort we can put forward in obtaining a truly edifying and liberating and spirit-soaring education."

I've thought a lot about that phrase, "We owe them something" and what it means for me.

I've thought about my Grandpa Dowdle, who would get up at four in the morning to hitch a ride from Springville into Provo where he worked as a janitor at BYU, and who would then go to classes and then go off to another job where he worked until late at night, again hitching a ride back to Springville where he would study and then get into be around one in the morning, to repeat the process again the next day.  I've thought about my Grandma Dowdle who helped me learn how to read "Dick and Jane" when I was a small boy, knowing that it was a skill I would need throughout my life.  I've thought about my Papa Haycock who never had the opportunity for a college education, but who was among the most profoundly learned men I have ever known, filling his house with books and a thirst for knowledge.  I've thought about my Nana Haycock who beamed with each accomplishment that her grandchildren reached.  I've thought about the many who came before them, each in their own way adding faith and learning to my heritage and struggling to make it possible for me to enjoy what I have today.  I've thought about my parents who have sacrificed comfort and means and probably more than a few dreams for each one of their children to achieve our own dreams.  And with all these thoughts, I can only conclude with Elder Holland, "I owe them something."

What do I owe?  At the very least I owe them my faith and continued diligence in the gospel cause.  I owe them my best studies, my best writing, my best work.  But more than that, I owe them a continued heritage of faith and righteousness and learning, passed onto succeeding generations with the same level of devotion with which it was passed on to me.

Tradition? Tradition!  It is in understanding and appreciating these traditions that each of us keeps our balance in this world and prepares a world of meaning for the rising generation.  It is in knowing and understanding these traditions that we truly come to see that we are a small part of something much grander, a family and a plan devised by God Himself, in a word, a "tradition."

Brett

Unfair Judgments and Labels

Maybe it is just me, but after Christmas and New Year's, I am done with the cold and I am ready for the spring.  Before Christmas and New Years, the snow and wintery weather remind me that it is time to be with family and to celebrate the holidays.  After those holidays, however, I want it to be warm again.  I feel this way now more than ever, perhaps because warm weather means a return home and a chance to be close to loved ones again.  Forgive my complaining, but February in Texas is supposed to be like late March in Utah, and this past week it has been bitter cold instead of warm, moving toward spring.  Oh well, things could be much worse.  :)

Anti-Catholic and Anti-Mormon Political Cartoon, Circa 1880

As I've been working on my dissertation, I've been struck by the language and judgments that we often make about others who are different than ourselves.  As I've been working on my dissertation, I've come across a number of letters and newspaper articles that made such claims about Mormons during the 1800s.

In 1848, as many of the Saints were starving at Winter Quarters, Colonel Thomas L. Kane a friendly non-Mormon took it upon himself to raise awareness of their plight in the East, hoping to secure funds to ease their suffering.  Kane held a meeting in New York City in early March for just such a purpose.  Reporting this meeting, the editor of the New York Herald wrote, "These Mormons have cut a great figure during the last few years; but their present destitute condition has sprung from their ignorance and fanaticism.  By the practice of common sense, and common decency, they might have continued to live in the Western United States [remember this is 1848] up to the day of judgment.  They were, however, led astray by vanity and fanaticism" ("The Mormon Meeting," New York Herald, 4 March 1848).  In Brigham Young's correspondence for 1850, I came across a letter from an anonymous citizen of California who wrote that he "did not think the civilized part of the world could produce such a mass of base, disreputable, ignorant, ill-looking, and licentious people" as the Saints.  In the political cartoon above, the cartoonist depicted Roman Catholicism and Mormonism as "foreign reptiles" that posed a grave threat to American liberty.

Consider the assumptions and meanness that these kind of statements required.  To have blamed the plight of the pioneers at Winter Quarters on themselves is hardly a fair assessment of the circumstances.    I'm a historian, and I fully acknowledge the fact that Latter-day Saints have not always been and are not always perfect.  Sometimes unwise people made bad situations worse by saying or doing things that ought not to have been said or done.  Sometimes we used labels and words that made judgments as unfair about non-Mormons as the ones they made about us.  But regardless of this, people were starving and dying at Winter Quarters.  Was that really the time to make such a statement?

For the man from California, who clearly had not enjoyed his short time traveling through Utah to California's gold fields, were those words really necessary?  Surely whatever may have been said or done did not merit the judgments he cast upon the body of the Saints.  And finally for the cartoonist who saw Catholics and Mormons as less than human, as reptiles, could he not see that these people were his brothers and sisters?

Perhaps we don't write such editorials or letters, or publish such cartoons.  But how often do we make statements about others that are utterly unfair and ungenerous toward them?  How often do we let our hatred or anger or political opinions or whatever else get in the way of our ability to see those who are different from us as our brothers and sisters?  I'm afraid that I am guilty of such thoughts far too often.  In my arrogance, I forget that other people may be going through great difficulties and may be having experiences that are beyond their control.  The things I blame them for may not be entirely their fault.  And even if I am right about the wrongness of their behavior or whatever, my being right never entitles me to make the kind of judgments that call into question their divine nature and their humanity.  Rather, I have a continued responsibility to love and serve them and to refrain from making unkind and unfair judgments about those who are different.

May we all strive to be a little kinder, a little more patient, a little more loving.  For surely, in our own struggles, we wish for others to grant us those same allowances and mercies.

Brett

Yearning for Greatness

Perhaps it is just the fact that I am now at the dissertation stage, but I just don't feel like I have much to write about right now.  It has been one of those weeks where in evaluating my progress, I just don't seem to feel like I have much to say that is new and worthwhile.  This has left me wondering what is the best way to move past our own mental blocks, the things inside that keep us from progressing and cause us to believe falsehoods about ourselves?  What is it that allowed Shakespeare to turn beautiful phrase after beautiful phrase?  What allowed Beethoven to consistently create beautiful and elevating music?  How is it that Michelangelo's sculptures and frescos each cause us to turn our hearts toward the heavens and contemplate the Divine?  Yes, each of these men was a prodigy in their own respective sphere and the world has created few such men.  Yet I believe that there is within each of us the capacity for genuine and consistent greatness.

Right now I'm not sure that I have the answers as to how we unlock the greatness within us.  Of of a few things, however, I am certain.  I am certain that we are the sons and daughters of a Perfect Being.  He authored the plan of life and salvation, and He details that plan to us in words of beauty and eloquence spoken through His Prophets.  His abilities as an artist created the grandeur of the mountains, the unrelenting beauty of the seas, and the serene vista of a brilliant sunset.  He composed the songs of the birds and the other animals of the forest, whose voices combine with the wind through the trees to create a veritable symphony of nature that even the most talented of musicians is unable to fully replicate.  And we are all His children.

I am certain that He has created us for greatness.  To each of His children, He extends the offer of salvation and the promise of exaltation and fullness to all the faithful.  There is not one of his children that has lived upon this earth or who will yet live upon it who is incapable of receiving "all that the Father hath" through the power of His Son's atonement and through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

I am certain that God believes in our abilities to succeed and rise to this greatness.  While He asks us to believe in Him, surely He believes in us.  No matter how many days we may feel as though we are simply not enough, He believes in us and calls out to us to come "unto a perfect man" and to rise "unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).

I am certain that "man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend" (Mosiah 4:9).  Honestly, there are a lot of days when I am baffled by the thought that God believes in me and believes in my abilities to become as He is.  But here we must trust that He knows more and understands us more deeply than we know and understand ourselves.  There are things we cannot see and principles which we do not yet comprehend that, if combined with the atonement of Christ through faith and repentance, can lift us to greatness and help us to achieve our eternal aims.  But in order to achieve such ends, we must learn to believe.

On days like today, I am grateful for these certainties and I am grateful for the hope of eternal greatness in and through the mercy of our perfect Savior and our Eternal Father.

Brett

Fatherly Care

Brigham Young, Circa 1850

It's hard to believe it has only been a week since I left Utah and returned to Texas.  Somehow, for me, time away from home always seems so much longer than it really is.  I just got out of my first meeting as a member of the Stake Youth Conference Committee, with a responsibility for the pioneer trek in March (March seems like it will be very cold to me personally).  It is a lot of work, but I think it will offer me some opportunities to shape the stories in a way that will help the kids to understand the Pioneers better, emphasizing their important achievements and faith, but also leaving a little room for humanity.  Maybe it is just me, but I enjoy seeing a little bit of their humanity from time to time because I can relate to that humanity better than I can relate to larger than life characters who were free of any flaws.

In thinking about the pioneer trail today, I have thought a lot about Brigham Young's 1848 journey from Winter Quarters to the Salt Lake Valley.  This is a journey that is often obscured by the 1847 vanguard journey to the Valley, but it is a journey which has much to recommend it to us.  Many people do not know that in September of 1847 after exploring the valley, planting crops, and establishing a small settlement in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham took many members of the vanguard company and rushed back to Winter Quarters, remarkably arriving back there around the first of November.  Why?  Because they had left their wives and families and the main body of the Saints at Winter Quarters.  The vanguard company was, in essence, a small exploring party to search out a new home for the Saints.  Brigham's 1848 company, on the other hand, was a large company of men, women, and children, families intent on moving to the newly established community.

In December of 1847, Brigham reestablished the Church's First Presidency, sensing the importance of the Church having a Prophet and President at its head rather than just being governed by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as had happened from 1844 to 1847.  So this 1848 journey was Brigham's first real action as the President of the Church.  Along the trail he consistently reminded the Saints of their need for greater order and obedience, including in things like hunting buffalo.  Some members of the Church disregarded his counsel, not seeing the importance of wisdom in practicing obedience and restraint in something temporal like hunting buffalo.

But even as Brigham pleaded for greater obedience and order among the pioneers, he also showed them an example of what kind of pioneers they were to be.  Later in his life, Benjamin Ashby recalled that Brigham was frequently "the last to leave the camp ground" and always manifested a kind of "fatherly care" upon the other members of the company, and particularly among those at the back of the companies who were struggling with poverty and sickness (Benjamin Ashby, Autobiography, Church History Library).  Brigham remained toward the rear of the company so that he could "pick up such [pioneers] as was left and could not go on for the want of help" (John D. Lee Diary, July 20, 1848).  When people in the companies had oxen or cattle die, it was Brigham Young who came to their aid, giving them one of his own animals to ensure that they would be able to continue to move forward.

This isn't a Brigham Young that we talk about often.  We hear of the gruff Brigham; the man who would and did say just about anything; the man who could chastise fellow saints from the pulpit with vigor and precision.  But we don't usually hear about the fatherly Brigham Young who watched over the saints with paternal care.  And yet, the more I have come to know him, this is Brigham Young for me.  Like the pioneers he led, he was far from perfect.  But so was Joseph Smith; so were Peter, James, and John; so were Moses and Elijah and the other prophets.  Still, like those other worthy Prophets, Brigham Young had the love of God in his heart and it led him to care for the Saints under his leadership with "fatherly care."

May we all learn to be among those who sacrifice our own comforts and peace to care for the needs of those given to our watch care.

Brett

Rescued

I'm back in Texas after a prolonged and enjoyable holiday season.  It was hard to come back after so much time at home with my loved ones, but it is good for me to get back to working on the dissertation.  I'm hoping to write between 2 and 3 chapters this semester, which would be a wonderful thing and would give me a significant start on my project.  I also have to admit that today's high temperature of 75 degrees is fairly nice for the middle of January.

The First Vision

Today in Sunday School I taught a lesson on what we can learn from the scriptures about our Father in Heaven--a topic that probably deserves far more emphasis than a single lesson and a week of study for said lesson.  As I was preparing the lesson, it occurred to me that I needed to spend some time teaching about the most clear, and, for me, moving instance of his appearance to fallen man in the scriptures:  namely, the First Vision.

Traditionally when we talk about what the First Vision teaches us about the Godhead, we emphasize the separate and distinct nature of each member of the Godhead, and the idea that the Father has a body of flesh and bones like the Son.  But as I was preparing this lesson a couple of other things stood out to me about the Father.

The familiar 1838 account of the First Vision reads this way:  "After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God.  I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak.  Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.  But exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction . . . just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.  It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound.  When the light rested upon me, I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air.  One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--This is My Beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  (JS-H 1:15-17)

As I read this account in preparation for my lesson, I was moved by the account of the Prophet's rescue in this moment of profound need.  Because of the Fall, rescue usually comes in the form of the Son, but in this instance it came in the form of the Father and the Son.  The 1835 account of the First Vision notes that after he had been delivered, the Prophet again "called on the Lord in mighty prayer" and "a pillar of fire appeared above my head, it presently rested down upon me and filled me with joy unspeakable, a personage appeared in the midst, of this pillar a flame which was spread all around, and yet nothing consumed, another personage soon appeard like unto the first, he said unto me thy sins are forgiven thee, he testified unto me that Jesus Christ is the son of God and I saw many angels in this vision" (Joseph Smith, journal, November 11, 1835, Joseph Smith Papers website).

Whether it was the Father or the Son who appeared first is unclear, but the presence and attendant glory of both of these members of the Godhead delivered the boy Prophet in this time of need.  As I considered this truth, that the Father's appearing had rescued this son, I became even more convinced that He is in reality our Father.  Like any good Father, He will rescue his children whenever we find ourselves in danger.  As we call on His name in faith, He will send help, He will send deliverance, He rescue us from the dangers of this world.

I am grateful for the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God.  He has been there for me in every moment when I have needed His help.  I hope that the young men and young women in my Sunday School class will know and believe this sacred truth.

Brett

A Bright Recollection

Holiday greetings from Utah!  This last Friday I flew back to Utah, leaving behind the ice and cold of Texas for the snow and cold of Utah.  I love being at home with family and friends and particularly being able to partake of the Christmas spirit.  It seems that it is hard for me to get into the Christmas Spirit away from those I love, but at home around those I love, it is so much easier to feel the spirit of the holiday.

Rafael, "The Disputation of the Sacrament"

This past week I had a thought as I was reading the scriptures that really stood out to me.  I was reading in Alma 11 as Amulek answered the probing questions offered by Zeezrom concerning the gospel.  Zeezrom had criticized Amulek for stating that the Savior could not save us in our sins, and in response Amulek proceeded to teach Zeezrom about the atonement and the meaning of the Savior's offering in our behalf.  Amulek then taught Zeezrom about the resurrection and the final judgment, telling him, "The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt" (Alma 11:43).

What surprised me about Amulek's words was the inclusive "we" with regards to the "bright recollection of all our guilt."  His words reminded me of Jacob's similar words to the Nephites in 2 Nephi 9, saying, that at the resurrection, "we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness."  Like Alma, Jacob used the inclusive "we" and "our".  He then went on to state that "the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness" (2 Ne 9:14).

Why didn't Amulek and Jacob say that it would only be the wicked who would have such a recollection?  Surely the righteous will be pure at the time of the final judgment, yet the words "we" and "our" include everyone, the righteous as well as the wicked.

I offer this as my non-authorized opinion.  I believe they said "we" because all of us when we are brought to stand before our Father and His Son again, will be overwhelmed by the understanding of just how true the requirement of perfection really is, and just how imperfect and unworthy we are on our own.  I believe that in that setting "every knee shall bow" because it will be absolutely certain that God is God and that He and His Son are far greater than even the best and most righteous among us.  I believe that we will see with perfect clarity that upon our own merits, we do not belong in His perfect kingdom.

But then will come a sacred and special moment prophesied of by the Lord, saying, "Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him--Saying:  Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life" (D&C 45:3-5).  In that holy moment, having first been pricked by the sense of their own unworthiness, the Atonement will take on a reality that it had never before enjoyed in the hearts and minds of the righteous.  They [hopefully the pronoun will be we] will understand as never before that they have been made clean by the offering of God's perfect Son and that they have been healed, sanctified, and saved by that same offering.  Then will they have a "perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness."

At times the Lord shows us our weakness and imperfection in order to remind us to rely upon His great mercy and power.  This is not meant to put us down or make us feel bad or elevate Himself.  Rather, it is an admission of the absolute necessity of our being wrought upon and changed by the power of His atonement.  There is simply no other way!  And in a coming day, we will understand that truth with a clarity and perfection that will remain with us for all the eternities to come.  The "bright recollection of all our guilt" will enable and be superseded by a perfect knowledge of the goodness, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ by which we are saved.

Brett

The Doctrine of Gratitude

This has been an interesting week.  I flew back to Texas on Monday, arriving back at the house I live in around 1 am Tuesday morning (yup, another long day of travel) in order to be at the class I TA on Tuesday at 12:30.  Everything went well at the beginning of this week and it was nice to have some time to research and study things that I enjoy and that are useful for my dissertation.  On Wednesday I started seeing reports of an impending ice storm which began to roll into Fort Worth Thursday afternoon.  Since then, I've been in the house with my roommates because the roads are paved with two inches of ice.  Everyone is just wishing and hoping for the ice to begin to melt so that people can leave their homes again (note:  ice is not like snow).

Liberty Jail

One of the effects of the ice storm was that Church was canceled today.  While there are many Sundays where the prospect of not needing to get up at 7:00 am for an 8:30 sacrament meeting is nice to consider, I was really looking forward to attending Church this particular Sunday.  In addition to being scheduled to give a lesson to the 14-15 year olds on preparing for the Second Coming, I was also scheduled to speak--something I haven't had the chance to do in a year and a half.  Bizarre as it may sound, I really enjoy speaking in Sacrament meeting, so missing out on this opportunity was rather disappointing for me.  But I thought I'd write about what I was going to speak on today:  namely, the doctrine of gratitude.

When I was assigned this topic, for some reason my mind started thinking in Spanish and I began seeing connections between a number of words that I hadn't ever associated with each other.  Four words in Spanish stood out:  gratitud (gratitude), gracias (thank you), gracia (grace), and gratis (gratis, or free, without price).  To me, these words had a profound message about the ultimate importance of the doctrine of gratitude, which I saw as a principle by which we remembered to offer thanks to God for the free gift of the grace of His Son.  While some get upset about the encroachment of Christmas upon Thanksgiving (and certainly the commercialism of Christmas ought to be trimmed back), perhaps we ought to see the connection of these two wonderful holidays more clearly.  Our ultimate gratitude ought to be reserved for the ultimate gift of Christ's divine redeeming and enabling love and grace.

As I pondered over the doctrine of gratitude, I immediately went back to August 7, 1831 and the revelation given to the Saints gathering in Independence, Missouri.  On that occasion, the Saints were told "Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things" (D&C 59:7), and then later in that section, "And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things and obey not his commandments" (D&C 59:21).  Just six days earlier, the Lord had spoken to His Saints about this new land and given this somewhat ominous instruction:  “Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.  For after much tribulation come the blessings.  Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.  Remember this, what I tell you before, that you may lay it to heart, and receive that which is to follow" (D&C 58:3-5).  The message was clear:  Missouri was not going to be an experience for the Saints.  The building up of Zion was going to try them to the core.  But yet, they were to give thanks in all things, including and perhaps especially in their trials.

Almost the entire history of the Saints in Missouri during the 1830s is tragic and troubling.  It is filled with expulsions, tarring and feathering, arrests, and unfortunate reprisals by some of the unwise Saints.  There are literally dozens of stories we could point to in order to illustrate how true the Lord's warning had been.  But none means more to me or affects me more deeply during the winter than the story of Liberty Jail.  

Joseph described the jail as a "hell surrounded with demons...where we are compelled to hear nothing but blasphemous oaths, and witness a scene of blasphemy, and drunkenness and hypocrisy, and debaucheries of every description" (History of the Church 3:290).  In a letter to Emma, Joseph spoke of it as a "lonesome, dark, dirty prison."  Then, using words known only to those in the midst of great hardship he wrote, "With emotions known only to God do I write this letter, the contemplations of the mind under these circumstances defy the pen, or tongue or Angels to describe or paint to the human [mind] who never experienced what we experience" (Joseph Smith to Emma Smith, April 4, 1839, Beinecke Library, Yale University).  A place so dark and lonely that not even angels could describe?  How does one express any form of gratitude for a place and an experience like that?  How does one find any form of redeeming value in such an experience?  

In agony, these emotions caused Joseph to cry out "O God, where art thou? and where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?  How long shall thy hand be stayed?" (D&C 121:1-2) But in spite of such heartfelt and agonizing questions, somehow Joseph did find redemption in this dark, cold, and lonesome jail.  The answer did not come immediately.  Indeed, in the letter from which sections 121-123 of the Doctrine and Covenants are taken, these questions appeared on page 3.  Not until page 8 did Joseph write, "When the heart is sufficiently contrite then the voice of inspiration steals along and whispers "My son peace be unto thy soul.  Thine adversity and thy afflictions shall be but a small moment and then if thou endure it well God shall exalt thee on high" (Joseph Smith to the Church, March 20, 1839; D&C 121:7-8).  Not until page 22 was he assured, "Know thou my son that all these things give thee experience and shall be for thy good.  The Son of Man hath descended below them all; art thou greater than he?" (Joseph Smith to the Church, March 20, 1839; D&C 122:7-8).  Notice that these answers came toward the end of March, which Joseph had been in Liberty Jail for nearly four full months.  And he would remain in the jail for yet another month before his escape/release to join the Saints in Illinois.  

But somewhere in the midst of those five horrible months of confinement, Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Lord, was tempered, taught, and sanctified.  Writing to a friend on March 15, 1839, Joseph described the change.  He wrote, "No tongue can tell what inexpressible joy it gives a man to see the face of one who has been a friend after having been enclosed in the walls of a prison....It seems to me that my heart will always been more tender after this than ever it was before....For my part I think I never could have felt as I now do if I had not suffered the wrongs that I have suffered.  All things shall work together for good to them that love God" (Joseph Smith to Presendia Huntington Buell, March 15, 1839).  In a lonely jail, Joseph had learned to treasure more deeply the loyalty of his friends.  He had learned that he needed to be more tender, more compassionate, and more loving than he had ever been before.  And above all, He had learned to trust in the blessings of God--blessings that he was still awaiting patiently.

Strange as it may seem, the liberty jails of our lives--and I hesitate to describe most of our trials as such, for I have never in all my life experienced anything that comes even close to Liberty--are exactly the places where we are taught and tutored and sanctified.  "With emotions known only to God?"  Yes, there are and will be times in our lives when only God can know the depths of our pain and our struggles.  But it is enough that He knows them!  There will be times when we, like Joseph, will fall to our knees and cry out in agony, "O God where art thou?...How long shall thy hand be stayed?"  But it is enough to know that sooner or later we too will hear the reassuring words that our adversity and our afflictions shall be but a small moment.  

I don't know who all reads this blog, but I am certain that someone among those who is reading this entry today is currently experiencing a trial the depths of which carries "emotions known only to God." Someone is likely struggling with their finances, wondering where the money to pay that next bill is coming from.  Someone is likely struggling with their health, wondering if they will ever feel healthy again.  Someone is likely feeling lonely and depressed this holiday season and wondering if a friend or loved one will ever be sent to fill the hole in their heart.  Someone is likely fighting doubts, praying that their faith will hold out and once again cause them to fully believe.  

Whatever your personal liberty jail may be, the Lord's message to each one of us is "Therefore, hold on thy way...fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever" (D&C 122:9).  Hard as it may be to conceive, there is a purpose in your trials for which you will one day be immensely grateful.  If for nothing else, these trials will drive you to your knees and ultimately to greater faith in the rescuing and redeeming Son of God, whose grace is ever sufficient.  We can and must learn to give thanks in all things, including our very own liberty jails.

Brett