ON MEMORIAL DAY, we went on a little hike to Devil’s Punchbowl at Lake Crescent. It was a delightful day and we had a pleasant walk enjoying the beautiful scenery. It was only a little challenging at the end for our youngest child, right before you get to the bridge where the path is uneven and steep.
Today I have a cast on my leg due to a broken ankle. I had surgery because I fractured my fibula. You might guess that the broken ankle happened while walking down the steep part of that trail. But you would be wrong.
It happened while walking down a gravel path at our house; a path I’ve walked down a thousand times. Who trips in their own yard and breaks their ankle?
I’ve considered how much more interesting the story would be if I had been skiing down a black diamond run, doing parkour or doing tricks on a skateboard. But walking down a pathway in my yard? If I weren’t staring at the cast, I wouldn’t believe the story myself.
Why do we go through trials in this life? Why must physical and mental pain and suffering be part of mortality? Why do we have setbacks?
An Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Orson F. Whitney (1855-1931) said, “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”
I have thought about this since my fateful tumble down my treacherous gravel path. “What am I to learn from this?”
One month into this broken ankle, I am beginning to see how challenging it can be for handicapped people to get around.
I am developing more gratitude for the help received from my family and others when many simple tasks have become strenuous.
Every experience we have lets us see through different eyes and from different perspectives.
A beloved hymn speaks of adversity.
“Though deep’ning trials throng your way, press on, press on, ye Saints of God! Ere long the resurrection day, will spread its life and truth abroad…
“Though outward ills await us here, the time, at longest, is not long. Ere Jesus Christ will reappear, surrounded by a glorious throng…”
Jesus Christ descended below us all.
In a coming, marvelous day, our frail bodies will be resurrected into glorious eternal beings. Jesus Christ was the first to be resurrected. His infinite, atoning sacrifice paved the way for each of us. After our own resurrection, our spirits and bodies will never again be separated, and we will become immortal.
Every person born on earth will be resurrected because Jesus Christ overcame death.
In speaking to his son, the prophet Alma taught, “The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame. And now, my son, this is the restoration of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets. And then shall the righteous shine forth in the kingdom of God.”
As we trod along through life’s hardships, let us have more charity towards our neighbors and draw closer to Jesus Christ. He will lighten our burdens. Then let us hope for a better day when we will shine forth in the kingdom of God.
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Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. Bishop Jason Bringhurst is the leader of the Mount Pleasant Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Port Angeles. His email is jasonbring@gmail.com.
