Monday, September 15, 2014

Burdens and the Atonement

I was asked to give a talk recently from Elder Bednar's "Bear Up Their Burdens With Ease" from the April 2014 conference:


In the April Conference this year, Elder David A. Bednar told a story of a friend who purchased a 4WD pickup. He said:

“Shortly after taking possession of the new vehicle, my friend ... decided he would cut and haul a supply of firewood for their home. ...[the] snow already had fallen in the mountains where he intended to find wood. As he drove up the mountainside, the snow gradually became deeper and deeper. My friend recognized the slick road conditions presented a risk, but with great confidence in the new truck, he kept going.

“Sadly, my friend went too far along the snowy road. As he steered the truck off of the road at the place he had determined to cut wood, he got stuck. All four of the wheels on the new truck spun in the snow. He readily recognized that he did not know what to do to extricate himself from this dangerous situation. He was embarrassed and worried.
“My friend decided, “Well, I will not just sit here.” He climbed out of the vehicle and started cutting wood. He completely filled the back of the truck with the heavy load. And then my friend determined he would try driving out of the snow one more time. As he put the pickup into gear and applied power, he started to inch forward. Slowly the truck moved out of the snow and back onto the road. He finally was free to go home, a happy and humbled man.”
Elder Bednar pointed out that it was the load of wood that gave the truck enough traction to get out of the snow and return home. “Each of us also carries a load,” he added. “Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints.”

We need to ask ourselves, “What am I carrying in my truck?” Or as Elder Bednar put it, “Is the load I am carrying producing the spiritual traction that will enable me to press forward with faith in Christ on the strait and narrow path and avoid getting stuck?”

Here are a few points I took from Elder Bednar’s story to help me get my truck out of the snow:
First, watch what I put into the back of my truck. I worked for a moving company for the year before my mission and I saw people pack things I considered to be odd. One family brought their water storage with them, others brought stacks and stacks of old newspapers and magazines, furniture restoration projects in various stages of completion that they were going to get around to finishing “one day”, the old-fashioned metal milk cans (the tall ones) full of wheat, boxes and boxes of books that had never been read. Then they were usually confused at the end why we couldn’t get everything to fit into the truck.

We had an experience several years ago when we moved from Edmonton to Strathmore that helped us learn the lesson of prioritizing what goes into the truck. My experience in moving helped me determine that we needed the large truck, even though at the time we only had two small children. I made the reservation a few weeks in advance and when I went to pick it up, the truck wasn’t available and we had to use a medium-sized truck. I knew right away we wouldn’t have room for everything, but despite my protests this was our only option and we had to make some decisions about what we wanted to bring with us. Friends who came to help us load the truck found themselves taking things home with them so that we would have room to pack the items we really needed. While we weren’t exactly thrilled at the time, it did help us to weed out some of the “nice” things we really didn’t need in favor of the items that we needed most.

Elder Bednar cautioned, “we should be careful to not haul around in our lives so many nice but unnecessary things that we are distracted and diverted from the things that truly matter most.”

There is a quote attributed to the French writer Voltaire, “The enemy of the best is the good.” If we put too many good things in our truck, we may not have room for those things which would give us the best traction. Elder Oaks said in his Oct 2007 conference talk, “Consider how we use our time in the choices we make in viewing television, playing video games, surfing the Internet, or reading books or magazines. Of course it is good to view wholesome entertainment or to obtain interesting information. But not everything of that sort is worth the portion of our life we give to obtain it. Some things are better, and others are best.” (Oct 2007 General Conference)

There were probably many other things Elder Bednar’s friend could’ve used to fill the back of his truck, but the load of wood was the best to provide the necessary weight and traction.

Second, like everyone else, I’m going to have to carry a burden. That’s part of the terms and conditions we agreed to when we said we’d follow our Heavenly Father’s plan before we came to mortality. Elder Bednar said, “Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness.”

Did he just say we can’t ultimately be happy without bearing a load? That probably seems counter-intuitive to most of us. Captain Moroni could teach us about being cheerful during hard times. He was the head of the Nephite army for 17 years of war with the Lamanites. It was during this time of war that it was recorded, “…behold there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi..." (Alma 50:23). Despite the constant war, the Nephites were happy because of their righteousness and obedience to God. And not just a little happy, but like "they're making a new Star Wars movie" happy. In fact, this was the happiest they had been as a people since Lehi and his family walked off the boat.

A spirit of gratitude seems to be essential to finding happiness in the midst of trials and burdens. Section 78 of the Doctrine and Covenants instructs us that, “And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious” (D&C 78:19). Not just some things, or most things, or the things we like, but all things.

Sister Bonnie D. Parkin taught in the April 2007 general conference, “The kind of gratitude that receives even tribulations with thanksgiving requires a broken heart and a contrite spirit, humility to accept that which we cannot change, willingness to turn everything over to the Lord—even when we do not understand, thankfulness for hidden opportunities yet to be revealed. Then comes a sense of peace.”

Third, Elder Bednar spoke of the importance of the Atonement in our lives in relation to being able to bear our burdens. He said the Atonement “enables us to do good and become better in ways that stretch far beyond our mortal capacities.”

In a 2001 BYU devotional, he said, “I suspect that you and I are much more familiar with the nature of the redeeming power of the Atonement than we are with the enabling power of the Atonement. It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us… But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in us—… to empower us... Most of us clearly understand that the Atonement is for sinners. I am not so sure, however, that we know and understand that the Atonement is also for … good men and women who are … striving to become better and serve more faithfully.”

Nephi recounted his experience of being tied up by his angry brothers and left “in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts.” (1 Ne. 7:16). He prayed to be delivered according to his faith, “…yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound.” (vs. 17)

In that situation, I can guarantee my prayer would not have been so charitable and probably would’ve had a few requests to smite my evil brothers because they so clearly deserve it. Notice Nephi didn’t ask for the Lord to magically make the ropes fall off. He asked for enough strength to free himself, something he could not do without the added ability through God’s help. In essence he was saying, “I will do everything I can to get free, please make up the difference.”

The Book of Mormon offers another example of how the Lord’s enabling power helped the people accomplish more than they could on their own.

Alma the Elder and his people were being oppressed by Amulon, a former priest of King Noah. Amulon and the Lamanites put such heavy burdens on Alma’s people that they “[cried] mightily to God” (Mos 24:10) to the point Amulon instructed the guards to kill anyone found praying to God. They continued to “pour out their hearts” in prayer, and the Lord promised to “deliver them out of bondage” saying, “I will … ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders” (Mos 24: 13-14).
The Lord made it clear that while Alma and his people were still in bondage, they would still have to carry the burdens so they could stand as witnesses and “know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions” (Mos 24:14). In other words, the burdens they had to bear were intended to bring the people closer to the Lord and strengthen their testimonies. He wants us to know that we don’t have to go through hard times alone.

President George Q. Cannon taught, “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. … We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments. ["Freedom of the Saints," in Collected Discourses, comp. and ed. Brian H. Stuy, 5 vols. (Burbank, California: B.H.S. Publishing, 198792), 2:185]

Sometimes the Lord removes our burdens, but most often He helps us become strong enough to carry them. The key is to “…submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord" (Mos 24:15). That seems like a difficult thing to do as we are struggling with our burdens.

Joseph Smith also set an example of cheerful and patient submission while he was confined in the Liberty Jail. In Doctrine & Covenants 123:17, the last verse written while he was still in jail, he wrote, “Therefore, dearly beloved … let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.” (italics added)

Sometimes when we are so focused on our own burdens, it can be hard to hear the gentle invitation from the Lord, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

That means Christ is offering to help us carry our load. Think about that for a minute. No matter what we’re carrying, Christ is extending the invitation to bring it to Him and He’ll help us carry it. As Elder Maxwell taught, “We can confidently cast our cares upon the Lord because, through the agonizing events of Gethsemane and Calvary, atoning Jesus is already familiar with our sins, sicknesses, and sorrows. He can carry them now because He has successfully carried them before” (Neal A. Maxwell Gen Conf Oct 1987).

I feel sometimes we have a tendency to think the Atonement can help us after we’ve done all the work. Nephi did say that it is “by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23), right? It’s like we’re trying to move a heavy piano up a flight of stairs on our own, thinking that if we can just get it to the top of the stairs, then Christ can help us roll it into nicely into place. We need to remember that His invitation was to those “that labor and are heavy laden” and not to those who are already finished. As I understand it, Nephi’s statement means that the strengthening and enabling power of the Atonement will save me over and above everything I can do. I will never get the piano to the top of the stairs on my own, so it’s a matter of accepting the Lord’s invitation to help and then not complaining about how heavy the piano is while He is doing most of the work.

Elder Bednar went on to say, “We are not and never need be alone… There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (see Alma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.”

He concluded his talk by saying, “I invite you to study, pray, ponder, and strive to learn more about the Savior’s Atonement as you assess your individual load… The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah (see 2 Nephi 2:8). I testify and promise the Savior will help us to bear up our burdens with ease (see Mosiah 24:15). As we are yoked with Him … and receive the enabling power of His Atonement in our lives, we increasingly will seek to understand and live according to His will. We also will pray for the strength to learn from, change, or accept our circumstances rather than praying relentlessly for God to change our circumstances according to our will. … We will be blessed with spiritual traction.”