Talk #17 - Elder D Todd Christofferson, Sunday Afternoon Session
This is a really great talk that we can all relate to ... as mothers we often 'chasten' our children when we mold and shape them and don't give them everything they desire.
We as daughters of God are also often 'chastened' as we are molded and shaped by our Father in Heaven. He knows us .. he knows what is best for us .. he loves us ... therefore he prunes and shapes us. He blesses and withholds ...
This is a great talk!!! Enjoy!
I would love to hear your thoughts on this awesome talk!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy listening to it so much - I love the loving way that Elder Christofferson speaks about the love that our savior has for us. I love the truth that is - that struggles, disappointments, challenges, unrealized dreams are not oversights or neglects from our loving Heavenly Father - but RATHER the opposite - He truly is the loving gardener over us - He is in control - He knows what is best - and He is the one caring for us, pruning us back, refining us, encouraging us and believing in us to grow through these life events. The story by Hugh Brown in this talk is so applicable!
I absolutely love the line after we say to God 'How could you do this to me?' that he let's us know ‘I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.’ which the humble - us - is able to respond - ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.’
I truly am grateful for knowledge of God and His ways, I am grateful for shared experiences throughout the scriptures and in these conference talks, and friend/personal experiences that teach me the truth that God is in charge - that He does love me and love each one of us. That He wants what is truly best for us to grow, stretch, learn, and come back to His presence as richer, stronger, wiser, and full of GRATITUDE for lifes experiences and with a greater knowledge that could only could come through being loved enough to be cut down.
When I see His hand in my life - when the disappointments come and I am cut down - it is easier to say to my God, thank you for loving me enough to cut me down!
I am eager to keep growing in the way that He wants me to grow - as I know for a truth that His ways are truly the ways to everlasting happiness, peace, and true love!
This is a beautiful talk!
This is a great talk! It makes me think of things in a very different way then I have before. I too, like Cecia, am grateful for a Father in Heaven who will cut us down when we need it, in order to let us grow and become even better than we might have thought ourselves possible. What a great analogy of the gardener this was, and how true it is in each of our lives.
ReplyDeleteAs I was first reading this I was thinking to myself how sometimes I think the women in the church are trying TOO hard to be perfect, or at least to APPEAR to be perfect - have the perfect bodies, have the perfect family, the perfect house, the perfect everything. In some ways it seems like a constant battle of keeping up with the Jones' (or rather the other women in RS). It can be a very daunting, and actually a very unattainable task when we get into this mold and try to be as good, or as "perfect" as someone else we know. We just can't do that. I love when Dallin H. Oaks says "The Final Judgement is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts - what we have DONE. it is an acknowledgment of the final effects of our acts and THOUGHTS - what we have BECOME!!! I thought this was profound in that no matter how perfect we might have made our lives, or appear to have made them, if our thoughts aren't in the right place and we haven't BECOME something then it doesn't really matter how much we have done. We have to have used all of our talents and goodness to become something more. I like the idea of this in relation to the gardener once again, and how when we are cut down and have to start to grow over, and hit those trials and temptations that make us stop and think about our life and then get the chance to restart to grow and bud and climb a different way it allows us to change our hearts or the path we were once on and take a new road, start afresh and then be able to grow and produce great fruit and be even better than before. I like the statement in the talk saying, "for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth!" I am going to try to keep this in mind when I am feeling burdened and wondering "why me" in situations or "why this trial"? It seems if I have the attitude of the Lord loves me so that is why this is happening it will be easier to look at the situation and then figure out what I am supposed to learn or how I am to grow from it. I think with this in mind my attitude might change and my heart will be softened as I am more humble when the trials do come. (or at least I hope so).
It is often easy in looking back at past experiences that were hard or that seemed unfair or were not what we had originally wanted and seeing how much better they made us, and seeing the Lord's plan in them and being grateful that it happened. It is much more difficult, however, to feel grateful in the midst of the trial and have that attitude as we are feeling pruned and plucked in the moment. After reading this talk I have a desire to try harder to allow the gardener to cut me down and pluck my life apart and search for direction and growth in the midst of the pruning, rather than having to look back years later after the fruit is blossoming. I hope to be able to welcome his loving hand and his cutting me down and be more eager to grow up in a different way.
I like the quote that goes along with this and says "If we sincerely desire and strive to measure up to the high expectations of our Heavenly Father, He will ensure that we receive all the help we need whether it be comforting, strengthening, or chastening. If we are open to it, needed correction will come in many forms and from many sources. It may come in the course of our prayers as God speaks to our mind and heart through the Holy Ghost. It may come int he form of prayers that are answered no or differently than we had expected. Chastening may come as we study the scriptures and are reminded of deficiencies, disobedience, or simply matters neglected. Correction can come through others, especially those who are God-inspired to promote our happiness..."
ReplyDeleteI love that is also talks about how correction can also come from one's spouse - hopefully gently. I think this is important and can really strengthen a marriage, if done in the right way. It also talks about how parents can and must correct their children, and when we don't it is out of selfishness. I found that very interesting and yet so profound. If we go back to the gardener analogy it makes sense. If the parent is the gardener and they fail to prune and clean out the weeds and keep the garden free of what might hurt it - it will quickly become overgrown with the weeds and lose its beauty and the work then becomes a HUGE chore and will require much more work than if it is constantly cared for. Children, if not taught young, will develop bad habits and learn things or develop addictions or problems that then, when the parent finally decides to intervene will be much harder to overcome then if the parents teach when the children are young and instill that faith and desire to do what is right early on, getting rid of the bad and explaining WHY along the way. Children need that interaction and the constant plucking and pruning as much as we as adults do. I like that it says it is selfish not to intervene on our part. I like that becuase it then makes me realize that the gardener (our Heavenly Father) doesn't have an easy job. It isn't easy being the gardener, and having to pluck and prune and cut down the bad things so that the good can grow up out of it. In fact, sometimes it is hard work, and takes extra time or energy sometimes, more work on others, etc etc. This makes me more grateful for my own Heavenly Father who is always there doing this for me, and more inspired to be the type of gardener he is with my kids and do the same for them, taking and cutting down branches that are bad, but in a gentle and kind way so as not to cut any of the good parts away and allow those to blossom.
I just love this analogy and today it has helped inspire in me the desire to be a better person, both as the gardener to my kids and hubby and as the "tree" who needs a LOT of pruning all the time from my loving Heavenly Father. I know he loves us and only wants what is best for us and that is why he allows us to grow and have these moments of being cut down, and when we think of it in this way it makes it seem so much easier to endure these trials. Thank you Cecia for sharing this talk and for pushing me to post something.
Have a great day!