The submissive soul will be led aright, enduring some things well while being anxiously engaged in setting other things right—all the time discerning the difference.and I just want to grab him by the shoulders and say, "But HOW? HOW are we ever supposed to discern the difference??"
But, there were also lots of profound thoughts in the talk that I think I CAN begin to understand. Recently I've been thinking a bit about faith spread over time, partly because of this thought-provoking post, and partly because of a conversation Sam and I had. Sam was talking about how miracles in our lives only seem rare because we experience them linearly (?) through time. But if we were to look at our lives like God probably does—from outside of time, seeing everything at once—we would see a clear, bright line of God's goodness and mercy and miracles—a line which never stops. Events that seem discrete or disjointed from our perspective, would be revealed as truly all part of one arc.
So I was interested when Elder Maxwell said:
Just as the capacity to defer gratification is a sign of real maturity, likewise the willingness to wait for deferred explanation is a sign of real faith and of trust spread over time.
I so often think, "I would be happy to follow God in this way if I could only understand WHY!" Or, "I would gladly submit to God's will if I could just see WHAT it is!" But I am coming to see that a major component of many trials is their very inexplicability. Not that they can't BE explained, I guess, but just that they AREN'T explained. Yet. So I like the idea that our faith and trust in God must be "spread over time"—just as His answers and explanations are! God gives us "line upon line," and our faith must advance in the same manner. For some reason it's better for us that way.
Yes but . . . WHY is it better for us this way?!!! Haha! Just joking. Just continuing on with that feeling of “Sure. Of course. But . . .”
ReplyDeleteI love the thoughts on miracles and in the big full picture it not being a tiny spark here and there, but all a huge connected line of light and miraculous. And I also like your thoughts about our faith and trust sutras along this continuum as well. Then I don’t feel so guilty that I flounder along a bit with my “But WHY! Or WHAT”s because it seems to ride along as a journey similar to the journey of receiving understanding, etc.
Oh, I am so with you on wondering HOW?
ReplyDeleteYour faith strengthens mine.
OK, the worm through time thing was pretty mind-boggling. I mean, I think I grasped the basics but then what to do with it....
ReplyDeleteI feel like the HOW of grasping the difference comes down to the HOW of learning to trust God ALL THE TIME. (is there a way to italicize on blogger? cause I'm not really trying to sound like I'm yelling). But anyway, it's like you said about trusting that some things just aren't explained and a major component of faith is being ok with that and trusting that God will see us aright anyway. This is a major struggle for me in parenting. I would do everything possible without question if I had a guarantee of the promise of a good outcome. Without that guarantee, I am constantly riddled with a self-doubt that is detrimental to my parenting and the peace that I want. Sigh.
yes!! It is a major struggle with me too. I always think, "I could agree to almost anything if I knew WHY or could see the ultimate outcome of it." I feel like that IS trusting God but I can see how it's not TRULY trusting Him, because TRUE trust would accept the uncertainty AND accept the fact that we don't even _really_ know what eternal life will look like, but God says it will be good so it must be true. Like you said, I want the guarantee of a good outcome--i.e., an outcome _I_ will think is good. Haha.
Delete(You're right, the lack of italics does make this hard.)