Title:
Holland, Jeffrey R. and Patricia T. “However Long and Hard the Road.” Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. 18 January 1983.
Summary:
President and Sister Holland presented wonderful doctrine in regards to enduring to the end. Sister Holland specifically spoke about “becoming” and personal development instead of worrying so much about not being married. President Holland had a more general focus of mortal and, more importantly, eternal life. He spoke of how eternal goals and dreams can help us all hang in there throughout this life. He shared the example of high divorce rates as a problem, symbolic of a lack of determination and endurance. As examples of determination and perseverance, President Holland spoke about the life of Joseph Smith, the lives of the early Saints, and the building of the Salt Lake Temple.
Insight:
This article directly ties into the sections assigned for today’s reading. In sections 124,125, and 126, the Saints had been expelled from Missouri. They had been forced to rebuild their entire community yet again. The embodiment of determination and endurance is represented in the lives of these Saints. The very idea that President and Sister Holland were trying to share is portrayed through the Saints in these sections. We are often counseled to apply the scriptures to our lives. Sometimes it may seem difficult to apply them. President and Sister Holland apply these sections to our lives for us.
Quote:
“The baking of life’s best cakes takes time. Don’t despair of tarrying and trying. And don’t ‘burn your lips’ with impatience.”
I feel this quote is particularly powerful and relevant because it completely covers all of the ideas shared by President and Sister Holland. All of life’s worthy causes are represented by “life’s best cakes.” If you give up at any time along the way, you won’t end up succeeding in those worthy causes. Impatience in life also leads to failure and hurt. By enduring to the end, not giving up, and avoiding impatience, we can all take part in “life’s best cakes.”
Response:
The words of President and Sister Holland were not especially poignant to my current life situation. I don’t have a lot of difficulties or trials. Life is going pretty much according to plan and I don’t feel like I have suffered unnecessary pain or suffering. Because of this, I have gained something different from their words than maybe most people would. As I read, I began to reflect on what things I have given up on in my life, what I possibly am giving up on, and what I may give up on in the future.
I believe that I need to think about this more often in life. What is worth continuing? What is worth giving up on? I can’t do everything in life, but I can do more than what I am currently accomplishing. There are many good things in this life, but as Elder Oaks taught, “We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.” While the words shared by President and Sister Holland referred to enduring to the end, they prompted me to not only endure, but endure well.
Determination, patience, and longsuffering can get us to the end of the race. I feel that we must also consider what condition we want to be in when we finish the race. Did we take advantage of every “best” thing that we could have? Did we endure well? The lives of the early Saints and the life of Joseph Smith are great examples of people who endured well. Not only did they persevere, but they also took advantage of the many righteous opportunities around them. After having this chance to read and learn about the importance of enduring patiently life’s trials in order to achieve life’s worthy causes, I too want to be able to endure well the lot I have been handed.
This post made me reflect on some struggles I'm experiencing in my life right now. At first, when I read the comment about the life cakes, I thought, of course, I need to have an eternal perspective. I've been getting too caught up in what's been going on and not thinking about the bigger picture. However, I need to be careful and not allow this kind of thinking to "let me off the hook" in terms of dealing with the problems in front of me. I still need to "not give up" as you mention here and try my best to make the best of the situation I'm in while I can.
ReplyDeleteYour final response paragraphs reminded me of section 121: 7-8 "My son peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." This has always given me comfort, because it gave my trials a 'purpose'. You concluded by reminding us the principles of determination, patience, and long suffering- if we endure our trials well, we will come out better than before.
ReplyDeleteThe focus you put on what you're giving up prompted me to reflect on that, as well. I especially thought about what is worth continuing in my life and what is worth giving up. It is too easy to take on too many responsibilities. I often find that I've taken on so many good responsibilities that I don't have time to do the best responsibilities well, nor do I have time to balance my life out with the best hobbies and interests. An important thing for all of us to remember is to make sure that we have time to serve in our calling, because we never know when we'll be called to do something more demanding than we currently are. When the call comes we don't want to be unable to properly fulfill it because we have already filled our lives with other good, but not better, responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteI feel like so much that Elder and Sister Holland said must have been in relation to patience. Recently at work, we watched a video about waiting to eat a marshmallow, as President Uchtdorf once related in General Conference. Just as this study showed, waiting for something greater instead of being so focused on what we can have now is a powerful attribute, even so that Elder and Sister Holland taught this principle, to be patient through our trials, having the faith in God that something better must come later.
ReplyDeleteThis post really made me think about my current life struggles and how sometimes, it is so hard to be patient. It is so important to trust in the Lord's timing and not your own. Also, especially here at BYU, I think there's a tremendous pressure to quickly get married and start a family. I like how Elder Holland talks about patience in that situation. Once again, we need to trust in the Lord's timing when it comes to marriage, and remember to maintain an eternal perspective.
ReplyDeleteI too agree that there are times when we need to declutter our lives. I have been thinking about this recently as well. I'm newly married, and so I've been trying to find ways to give more of my time to my wife while still doing things that need to get done. Isn't it amazing how from one simple article each one of us can pull different things? I think it's a testament to how the Spirit works. Even the little revelations in the Doctrine and covenants meant for one specific person can still be meaningful for each of us today!
ReplyDeleteThis post reminded me of a conversation I had with my roommate recently about timing. She said "Accepting God's will means accepting not just what happens, but also when it happens." If we accept that God wants us to get married, to use Sis. Holland's example, if we are only accept that fact and not the timing of when that will happen, then to me we are not really accepting God's will at all. I think this applies to a lot of things: personal life events (marriage, pregnancy, etc.), the governing of the Church, the actions of others (converting, coming back, etc.), and a lot of other things. I know that the Lord has a plan for the whole earth, but part of that plan is the right things happening in the right time in the right way.
ReplyDelete