Our lives are like this glass. A Master Gaffer, like our loving Heavenly Father, hands us our stake, knowing full well that we have never done such a thing and that we would be scared, yet excited to try. There is no time to stop, there is no time to truly practice, there is no time to second-guess our efforts, you just start twisting and go.
Trials are like the fire that turns the glass red-hot, or like the tools that shape the globe. Even while directly in the fire, you must not stop twisting—in fact, that is when you need to twist with the most purpose. And through it all, our Gaffer knew the exact moment to tell us when to take it out of the fire, he knew when the fire was too much for the glass. He knew when it was time to be shaped just a little more perfectly. The refiner’s fire is not a comfortable place to be. It involves intense heat and repeated shaping. But it is in the refiner’s fire that we are purified and prepared to meet God. Sometimes, we as fallible human beings, try to mold our trials with a little too much fervor. We think that we know best how to shape them. In those times, our loving Heavenly Father, like the Gaffer, takes our hands, guiding us in a gentle correction, all the while knowing the potential outcome of the work of art. And just like in our globe, it’s the imperfections that give character, personality, and life to the masterpiece.
Chris’s job was not to do it for us, but to help us make it. We didn’t want to watch, we wanted to learn. And just like the poker and pliers that molded the flowers inside, so too can our trials mold us. Our very centers can be pierced with the Spirit, while our lives can take on a shape of the Master’s choosing, if we only have faith to trust. Elder Quentin L Cook has said: “The refiner’s fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God.”
“Finding the Silver Lining” or “Looking for the Hand of the Lord” does not mean that the trials aren’t as hard as others. That there is no pain involve or even that they hurt less than the trials of those that do not see them as a part of Heavenly Father’s plan. It doesn’t stop the depression or anxiety, no matter how much you wish you could “change your mind.” However, looking at our trials in another way, seeing them through Heavenly Eyes, knowing that ‘He gives nothing unto the children of men, save he should prepare a way for them to accomplish them,’ helps us recognize that the Lord has not left us alone in our trials. It is a reminder that He is mindful of us, He loves us, and He wants to bless us.
I am not perfect. Just because I have remained happy and hopeful throughout this ongoing trial does not mean that it hasn’t been agony at times or that it hasn’t been the hardest thing I have ever been through. I just try each day to be a little better than I was the day before, and to love each moment that I have with my family. One thing I have learned is to live in the moment, never looking behind or wishing for something else. It’s a hard trial, but a good life.
How This Woman Finds Happiness Despite Tragedy Striking
A Woman Shares 3 Little Known Ways to Stay Positive During Trials
Lessons She Learned From Infertility
Post-Partum Anxiety is Real
Read the other posts in this series:
How This Woman Finds Happiness Despite Tragedy Striking
A Woman Shares 3 Little Known Ways to Stay Positive During Trials
Lessons She Learned From Infertility
Post-Partum Anxiety is Real
1 comment:
My sister and her sweet family are all simply amazing!
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