This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Morning Session of the April 1989 Conference.
Oh Elder Maxwell. Who besides him would give a talk titled
"Irony: the crust on the bread of adversity"?? I don't even know what that means. I think it means that the hardest kind of adversity is the kind that seems unfair. And maybe I haven't had very much of that in my life—though I've certainly sometimes
felt that my trials were unfair. But even without fully understanding all of it, I liked this talk. And there is one line that just keeps replaying in my head. I think it's because it's the perfect encapsulation of how it feels to raise a difficult child:
Can we absorb the irony of being hurt while trying to help?
Well? Can I?
I think I have to learn to. And it's something I'm working on (like I wrote about
here). I want to learn to love like Jesus Christ loves—and he absorbs whatever unfairness and pain we cause him, willingly. How can I be like Him if I'm not willing to do the same?
I'm so deep in living that irony that for a long time I thought I would drown--I even wanted to drown just for relief. It's the loveliest thing to be coming out the other side of that struggle.
ReplyDeleteBut I guess our Savior understands the best of all.
Yes. I thought of you when I read that quote. You seem like you have had to absorb more than anyone else I know!
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