Life's Hard. Deal with it.
I never said it would be easy...
So begins a phrase that my friends and I often quoted to each other when we were teenagers anxiously striving to make our personal lives as emotionally challenging as possible so that we could claim the yearbook title "most likely to be long suffering." The saying ends, "I only said it would be worth it."
Now if only I could remember where it is in the scriptures.
For anyone who didn't get that inside (sort of) joke, those words are not found in the scriptures, although the spirit of them is. Christ actually does say life will be easy, especially righteous life. However, He also says it will be hard, especially righteous life. I once had a professor who said that "All truth is found in paradox," and I agreed with him because it is - and isn't.
Where would we be without that comforting invitation of the Savior's, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30 emphasis added)?
The Book of Mormon also chimes in with its familiar "men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). And we have the perpetual injunctions to lift up our heads and rejoice, as well as other scriptures denoting the lightened burdens of the righteous. We can easily argue that joy and rejoicing are not the same as ease, but that doesn't explain away Christ's words.
Contrastingly, we have more words of Christ implying the difficulty of living righteously. We are told that we must forsake houses, lands, family, and everything that ties us to this world if it keeps us from Christ. We are also given the scenarios of the wise and foolish men building houses. I like the account of this in Luke 6:46-49.
Unlike the song, in which (it is easy to interpret this way) the "rains [come] down and the floods [come] up" and the foolish man loses his beachfront property while the wise man enjoys the view from his firm mountain getaway, in the Luke version both men are severely pounded while neither is labeled "wise" or "foolish." Instead they are simply men who both heard the word of the Lord, but one obeyed and one did not.
I like this account so well because of the way it describes the building. The obedient man didn't just build on solid ground, he "digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock." Having been a fence installer at one point during my life, I know firsthand how difficult it is to "dig deep" into rocky soil. I also know the protection that a large rock gives a structure against shifting and settling as the weather changes. If our fence posts were sitting on large, deep rocks, then (provided we could dig through the rocks above) we knew they would not easily be moved.
On the other hand, some parts of the state have such sandy ground that we utterly refused to warranty installations there. We would guarantee the materials, but we knew that the first time it rained the ground would soak up the water and begin swimming around in it. Even encased in a couple hundred pounds of concrete, a fence post would not stay where we put it. We may as well have just balanced the fence on top of the soil and left.
That's exactly what the other man did in Luke. Rather than building on a sandy foundation, he "without a foundation built an house upon the earth" (emphasis added). He didn't dig at all.
Interestingly, after the obedient man had done everything in his power and the disobedient had done as little as possible, the same thing happened to both: "when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house." This is no mere rainstorm. This is a wall of water, hurling itself violently against the righteous as well as the wicked, just as previously the sun had shone upon them both. God is no respecter of persons.
We all know what happened to the disobedient man. His house fell, "and the ruin of that house was great." For all its trying however, the vehement stream "could not shake" the house of the obedient man, "for it was founded upon a rock."
What's my point here? Mainly this: life is hard. Deal with it. That is the wisdom of this parable. We know that trials will come. That's one reason why we're here. We know that the calamities of the last days will happen to all, not just the wicked. We also know that we've been given a way to deal with these things. That way is called work. It's also called obedience, faith, repentance, and patience. For the wicked, life is hard because they are unprepared for both the fulfilment of prophecy and the nature of the mortal experience. For the righteous, life is hard because they suffer the scorn of the world while they build their fortresses against the coming storm. This requires sacrifice and work, but at the end of the day, only the righteous still have a house. The burden of Christ is lighter by far than the violence of the stream against the unsheltered head.
That brings me to another group of people whose experience adds to this principle. You knew this would get back around to the brother of Jared eventually.
The brother of Jared had a difficult task given him by the Lord. He had to build barges that would survive a periodically submarine trip across the ocean, and then find some way to light them without windows or fire. I'll write more about his solution another time. Right now I want to focus on the journey.
The journey was hard. The Lord knew it would be and prepared the Jaredites for it physically and mentally. He said, "ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea...for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come." (Ether 2:24-25).
If you think that sounds rough, listen to this: "And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters...and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind. And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.... And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow...while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind...three hundred and forty and four days..." (Ether 6:5-6, 8, 11, emphasis added).
I intentionally left out the hopeful parts to make a point. This was no easy sailing. In fact, it wasn't sailing at all. It was like being blown across the ocean in a giant wooden football.
Nevertheless, the Jaredites were safe. Seasick, but safe. The wind was blowing towards the promised land and their vessels were "tight like unto a dish" (Ether 6:7). Notice their attitude because of their blessings:
"And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord. And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water" Ether 6:9-10, emphasis added).
The Jaredites had hard lives. Nevertheless, they dealt with it by doing the work that was necessary to prepare for the coming storm. They knew about the coming storm because of the prophet in their midst. When the storm came, their vessels were severely pounded, but they were safe. Furthermore, the storm itself was the force that drove them to the promised land. Think about that. Without their obedience, the storm would have destroyed them. Because of their obedience, it carried them to a better place - even a place promised to and prepared for them.
These things are not without a shadow.
During the easy times, we prepare joyfully for the storm. We give up the "fun" of the world for the safety of God. We don't become preoccupied with dire predictions, but we follow the prophet and get ready. During the rough times, we survive thankfully because we have taken Christ's yoke upon us. Life is still hard, but for the faithful and believing, it's not too hard. And it's hard for the right reasons. We're passing through a difficult trial with faith and steadiness, not nurturing destructive emotions and blaming God for our slothfulness. He always both warns us, and gives us an escape. As Eliza R. Snow said so well (and this may be more of a paraphrase than a quote), "I never found anything too hard except unbelief."
So begins a phrase that my friends and I often quoted to each other when we were teenagers anxiously striving to make our personal lives as emotionally challenging as possible so that we could claim the yearbook title "most likely to be long suffering." The saying ends, "I only said it would be worth it."
Now if only I could remember where it is in the scriptures.
For anyone who didn't get that inside (sort of) joke, those words are not found in the scriptures, although the spirit of them is. Christ actually does say life will be easy, especially righteous life. However, He also says it will be hard, especially righteous life. I once had a professor who said that "All truth is found in paradox," and I agreed with him because it is - and isn't.
Where would we be without that comforting invitation of the Savior's, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30 emphasis added)?
The Book of Mormon also chimes in with its familiar "men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). And we have the perpetual injunctions to lift up our heads and rejoice, as well as other scriptures denoting the lightened burdens of the righteous. We can easily argue that joy and rejoicing are not the same as ease, but that doesn't explain away Christ's words.
Contrastingly, we have more words of Christ implying the difficulty of living righteously. We are told that we must forsake houses, lands, family, and everything that ties us to this world if it keeps us from Christ. We are also given the scenarios of the wise and foolish men building houses. I like the account of this in Luke 6:46-49.
Unlike the song, in which (it is easy to interpret this way) the "rains [come] down and the floods [come] up" and the foolish man loses his beachfront property while the wise man enjoys the view from his firm mountain getaway, in the Luke version both men are severely pounded while neither is labeled "wise" or "foolish." Instead they are simply men who both heard the word of the Lord, but one obeyed and one did not.
I like this account so well because of the way it describes the building. The obedient man didn't just build on solid ground, he "digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock." Having been a fence installer at one point during my life, I know firsthand how difficult it is to "dig deep" into rocky soil. I also know the protection that a large rock gives a structure against shifting and settling as the weather changes. If our fence posts were sitting on large, deep rocks, then (provided we could dig through the rocks above) we knew they would not easily be moved.
On the other hand, some parts of the state have such sandy ground that we utterly refused to warranty installations there. We would guarantee the materials, but we knew that the first time it rained the ground would soak up the water and begin swimming around in it. Even encased in a couple hundred pounds of concrete, a fence post would not stay where we put it. We may as well have just balanced the fence on top of the soil and left.
That's exactly what the other man did in Luke. Rather than building on a sandy foundation, he "without a foundation built an house upon the earth" (emphasis added). He didn't dig at all.
Interestingly, after the obedient man had done everything in his power and the disobedient had done as little as possible, the same thing happened to both: "when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house." This is no mere rainstorm. This is a wall of water, hurling itself violently against the righteous as well as the wicked, just as previously the sun had shone upon them both. God is no respecter of persons.
We all know what happened to the disobedient man. His house fell, "and the ruin of that house was great." For all its trying however, the vehement stream "could not shake" the house of the obedient man, "for it was founded upon a rock."
What's my point here? Mainly this: life is hard. Deal with it. That is the wisdom of this parable. We know that trials will come. That's one reason why we're here. We know that the calamities of the last days will happen to all, not just the wicked. We also know that we've been given a way to deal with these things. That way is called work. It's also called obedience, faith, repentance, and patience. For the wicked, life is hard because they are unprepared for both the fulfilment of prophecy and the nature of the mortal experience. For the righteous, life is hard because they suffer the scorn of the world while they build their fortresses against the coming storm. This requires sacrifice and work, but at the end of the day, only the righteous still have a house. The burden of Christ is lighter by far than the violence of the stream against the unsheltered head.
That brings me to another group of people whose experience adds to this principle. You knew this would get back around to the brother of Jared eventually.
The brother of Jared had a difficult task given him by the Lord. He had to build barges that would survive a periodically submarine trip across the ocean, and then find some way to light them without windows or fire. I'll write more about his solution another time. Right now I want to focus on the journey.
The journey was hard. The Lord knew it would be and prepared the Jaredites for it physically and mentally. He said, "ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea...for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come." (Ether 2:24-25).
If you think that sounds rough, listen to this: "And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters...and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind. And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.... And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow...while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind...three hundred and forty and four days..." (Ether 6:5-6, 8, 11, emphasis added).
I intentionally left out the hopeful parts to make a point. This was no easy sailing. In fact, it wasn't sailing at all. It was like being blown across the ocean in a giant wooden football.
Nevertheless, the Jaredites were safe. Seasick, but safe. The wind was blowing towards the promised land and their vessels were "tight like unto a dish" (Ether 6:7). Notice their attitude because of their blessings:
"And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord. And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water" Ether 6:9-10, emphasis added).
The Jaredites had hard lives. Nevertheless, they dealt with it by doing the work that was necessary to prepare for the coming storm. They knew about the coming storm because of the prophet in their midst. When the storm came, their vessels were severely pounded, but they were safe. Furthermore, the storm itself was the force that drove them to the promised land. Think about that. Without their obedience, the storm would have destroyed them. Because of their obedience, it carried them to a better place - even a place promised to and prepared for them.
These things are not without a shadow.
During the easy times, we prepare joyfully for the storm. We give up the "fun" of the world for the safety of God. We don't become preoccupied with dire predictions, but we follow the prophet and get ready. During the rough times, we survive thankfully because we have taken Christ's yoke upon us. Life is still hard, but for the faithful and believing, it's not too hard. And it's hard for the right reasons. We're passing through a difficult trial with faith and steadiness, not nurturing destructive emotions and blaming God for our slothfulness. He always both warns us, and gives us an escape. As Eliza R. Snow said so well (and this may be more of a paraphrase than a quote), "I never found anything too hard except unbelief."
Comments
Thanks for the reminder! Love ya!