Silver bullets

The other day I came across this passage in Bruce C. Hafen’s book The Broken Heart (page 5):

Our understanding of the Atonement is hardly a shield against sorrow; rather, it is a rich source of strength to deal productively with the disappointments and heartbreaks that form the deliberate fabric of mortal life. The gospel was given us to heal our pain, not to prevent it.

And then I ran into 1 Nephi 17:2 and 17:12 in my scripture study yesterday morning:

And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings… [For the Lord said:] I will make thy food become sweet, that ye cook it not.

Which reminded me of Mosiah 24:14–

And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

Sure, it’d be nice if the Lord would just eliminate all our problems, but that’s missing the point. The gospel doesn’t take away our pain. Instead, it gives us a way to deal with it, to turn bad into good, to give us beauty for ashes. When we let the gospel filter our pain, it deepens our souls and makes us more human, more complete, more in tune with reality. And while pain and sorrow are still mostly unpleasant, they become not only manageable but life-affirming and in the end turn out to be some of the most poignant and meaningful experiences life has to offer.

Ben, I love that you titled your post “Silver Bullets.” I’ve come to see that there is no such thing as a silver bullet, just good, old-fashioned hard work. The gospel isn’t about having an easy life. It’s about becoming like Christ. And I don’t think Christ had time to sleep in or play video games. Like you said, the atonement deepens our souls. Weak things become strong and we have the capacity to handle more, not less. In the parable of the talents (Matt 25), we learn that the reward for being faithful over our stewardship is to be given more to take care of, because through Christ we grow to be able to handle it.

I’ve thought a lot about this with work. If you want to become the CEO, you manage hard projects and you succeed, and then you get harder assignments with more responsibility that you couldn’t have handled before, and you succeed at those. If you never have any challenges you’ll never develop and never be promoted. God doesn’t want us remain as entry-level laborers in His vineyard. He wants us to become CEOs.

Nicely put. It’s a pity so many today are afraid of good, old-fashioned hard work…