"Let this cup pass from me..."

Elder Huffaker and I set out a couple of days ago on our bikes to go and see some people.  There were a few that thought we may be a little crazy for biking in our suits, but this did not stop us.  While riding we encountered some resistance....

Three dogs started chasing me and I tried my best to out run them but I quick realized that I wasn't going to be able to.  I managed to kick two of them away, unfortunately though as I tried to kick the third one I lost my balance and ended up going over the handlebars.  I was pretty lucky and received only one semi-serious injury and that was a pretty bad scrape on my left hand.

After we got our bikes back home all that was left to do was clean out the wound on my hand.  I began scrubbing all of the dirt and gravel out.  It was quite painful and I really didn't want to do it so I called our fearless district leader Elder Jamsa and asked him if it was really nessicary for me to get all of the dirt out.  His response was somthing along the lines of "Well if you don't want to get an infection I would say it's pretty nessicary."

My experience reminded me of another person who once asked if something was nessicary.  Jesus Christ who performed the Atonement fo us and went through more pain then any other human being has or ever will go through asked his father if he would "Let this cup from me..." (Matt 26:39)  He however submitted to the will of his father so that mankind would not "unavoidably perish" (Alma 34:9)  Sometimes my Heavenly Father has asked me to do some hard things, as he will do to all at some point, but whenever he asks me to do something that I do not want to do I remember the example of my Savior and try to respond, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt."

The Parable of the Talents

  During his ministry Jesus Christ taught many parables.  One of my personal favorites is the parable of the talents. (Matthew 25: 14-30)  In the story a man entrusts three of his servants with his money.  He gives unto one five talents, to another two, and to the last one.  Two of the three servants go trade and invest with the money that has been entrusted to them.  The other servant however is embarrassed because his master only gave him one talent so he goes and buries it, to hide it from the world.  The servants then return to their master to report on what they have done with the responsibilities given them.  The two servants who traded and invested the money doubled what they had before.  When their master heard this he said, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."  The other servant because he had hid his talent came unto his lord with even less then he had before.  When he told his lord this, his lord was angry with him, calling him wicked and slothful, and then cast him out from his presence.

  There are many things we can learn from this parable, but the thing that has always struck me when reading it is the many opportunities our Heavenly Father give us to prove our trustworthiness to him.  We, like the servants, are given things that we have responsibility over.  These things could be our responsibility to obey the commandments or an opportunity to help another.  This is essentially the purpose of life itself, to prove that we are capable to handle the few responsibilities given to us in this life so that we can earn the things that our father in heaven wants to bless us with in the next.  I hope someday that we will all get to hear that congratulatory phrase, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."