Thank You For Loving Me Enough to Cut Me Down.

There is an AMAZING lesson to be learned through this video, "The Will of God," by Elder Christofferson: 

One of my weaknesses in life is being stubborn, and although I am far from perfect in this area and have more to learn, I have learned that seeking out help and willingly receiving guidance in this life is one of the biggest blessings we can partake of here on earth, especially through the help of our loving Heavenly Father. The message above is perfect in explaining this.  Our Heavenly Father truly knows what's best. Life is scary sometimes and is full of big decisions, especially as we get older. Even when things seem to be or are really fine, often times there is more of a lesson for us to learn or something completely different that our Heavenly Father has in store for us. I have learned that living the gospel to the the fullest gives us more access to our agency as we become more entrusted by our Heavenly Father, when we truly keep the commandments desire to make the right choices in life. On the other hand, even if we are living the Gospel to our best ability, sometimes it takes more than ourselves in making decisions and so forth. There are angels here on earth who really are the Lord's hands who are put in our paths to help us, whether it be our parents, friends, or people we hold dear to us. From someone who is sometimes stubborn, sometimes I think I can make all decisions on my own, when the more correct thing to do is to seek out help or listen to the advice of others. Of course we have our own agency that we exercise on a daily basis, but I do believe that answers and help often come through the people we are surrounded by. We also, of course, have a loving Heavenly Father who loves, knows, and understands us perfectly. No one knows us better. He knows the desires and intentions of our hearts, and knows how to perfectly help us when we are in need. Here on earth we have this wonderful gift of agency that we have been greatly entrusted with. I have found it wise in my life to seek out God's hand in all things, but sometimes He leaves it up to us to make decisions.  Many times Heavenly Father expects us to step into the dark and make these decisions. It can be a scary thing, but Heavenly Father knows best and he will never lead us astray in making our decisions as long as we live our lives properly and rely on the Spirit in all things. Other times, Heavenly Father is anxiously waiting for us to seek out his hand and full help in our life. He really does know what is best for us and will never help us or lead us to anything that will harm us in life.

There's one part of Elder Christofferson's message above that sticks out to me and has taught me a lot, especially when battling bmy stubbornness. I love when he says that in order to meet God's high expectations we must willingly accept and even seek out correction. The story of the current bush is a perfect example of how I and I'm sure a lot of other people feel throughout our lives feel, but the moral of the story is the important thing. It is the pruning or in different terms the molding that our Heavenly Father aids us with, that we become what he wants us to become. Often times I ask myself, "but why? everything seems fine; I'm doing the things I need to." Often times I feel like that little current bush crying out to the gardener, "How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth and now you've cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here." That's where our trust in our Heavenly Father comes in. He is our "gardener." He and our Savior Jesus Christ made it possible so that we have this wonderful, yet often trying, experience here on earth. But because of that, they know what's best for us. That's why we'll always get a response like: "I am the gardener here and I know what I want you to be. I don't intend you to be another tree. I want you to be a current bush. And some day you'll thank me for loving me enough for cutting us down." We often have great visions for ourselves, but the wonderful yet often hard thing to see if we don't open our eyes and ears a little wider, is that we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows what's even better for us. Heavenly Father again knows our hearts and desires and most of the time, if we live our lives right, he wants to give us what we desire, but sometimes our desires are not enough. Sometimes we need a certain pruning or molding in our life to make us become an even better someone our Heavenly Father sees best fit for us.

So we need not be afraid of what the "other plants" think of us and we don't need to be stubborn so we don't miss out on Heavenly Father's plan for us or miss out on the advice or help from others. Step into that darkness and exercise your agency properly, but always be willing to seek out the help and advice of others, especially from our loving Father in Heaven who does know us perfectly and always sees the big picture with everything. We can't expect the same outcome in life if we just do the same things and keep to ourselves. There are loved ones around us who want to help us and will help us stay on the straight and narrow. Seek out Heavenly Father and others for help. If you have the Spirit with you and you are choosing the right, chances are Heavenly Father and others who you go to for help won't lead you astray, because ultimately God knows what's best for us and he knows what to do for us and he knows what people to place on our path to help us here on earth. So get on your knees and give thanks to our gardener, our loving Heavenly Father, for loving us enough to cut us down. I know that through doing these things we can become more grateful, more eager to seek out God's help and others' help in our life, and that will better be able to see the eternal perspective of all things, and truly see the hands of our Heavenly Father and Savior on a daily basis. For however small or great our capacities are, we are all able to meet the high expectations of God, just as long as we pray for his love-inspired correction.