I Do Always Those Things that Please Him

Yesterday evening our oldest son was working on a history project for school and so we cleaned off the kitchen table so he could glue his many cut-out pictures to his trifold there. When his younger brother decided to have a cereal at that same table, we told him to eat instead at the counter. He did not like this, but we moved his nearly overflowing bowl (the milk must always be to the top) to the counter for him to eat. He didn’t take too kindly to that, and he promptly moved it back. We went back and forth a bit like this until he took a different approach. He got out a big plate, put that at the head of the table, and put his bowl of cereal on top of it. That way, as he reasoned, if he spilled it would go onto the plate and the table still wouldn’t get dirty.  We gave up the struggle at that point, and satisfied that his will had prevailed, he ate a few bites and left the kitchen. The bowl of cereal was of course mostly wasted, but that was of little importance to him since he had had his way! I thought of this interchange with our six-year-old boy—something that has been repeated in varying circumstances countless times over his life—as I listened to Elder Soares this morning who recently spoke about submitting our wills to the Lord’s. He said this: “During our sojourn in mortality, we often wrestle with what we think we know, what we think is best, and what we assume works for us, as opposed to comprehending what Heavenly Father actually knows, what is eternally best, and what absolutely works for children within His plan. This great wrestle can become very complex, especially considering the prophecies contained in the scriptures for our day: ‘This know also, that in the last days … men shall be lovers of their own selves, … lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.’” Indeed, it can be a great struggle for all of us to let go of something we want in order to submit to the Lord’s will and commandments and timing in our lives. We are sometimes all like my son, insisting that what we want is the only way we can accept. It is extremely hard for all of us to say, as the Savior did, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

               Despite the fact that it usually feels he will never bend to anything besides his own will, I saw another side of this same son as we walked around Thanksgiving Point recently. There were some signs that indicated we shouldn’t be talking on the phone in an effort to encourage the patrons instead to play. My son saw this sign, and then he saw me make a phone call. In consternation he pointed to the sign with a terrified look on his face that I was breaking the rules. I quickly ended the call. I saw in that face a desire to do what was right, and that gave me great hope. Recently in the car as well he called out from the back seat of the van the speed I was going on the freeway. No, I wasn’t speeding, but I guess he wanted to make sure I knew he was watching. I’m not sure even how he could see it from there, but he clearly wanted to make sure we were following the speed limit. These brief experiences give me hope that he does want to follow the rules and is indeed willing to submit to direction and instruction. All of us, I believe, likewise have a desire deep down to please our Father in Heaven and do those things that He would have us do. Elder Soares also quoted this verse describing the Savior’s life: “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). We can find true joy not as we do whatever we want but rather as we learn to do what He wants for us. Elder Soares continued, “One of the most glorious moments of mortality occurs when we discover the joy that comes when doing always those things that ‘work for and please the Lord’ and ‘what works for us’ become one and the same! To decisively and unquestioningly make the Lord’s will our own requires majestic and heroic discipleship! At that sublime moment, we become consecrated to the Lord, and we totally yield our wills to Him. Such spiritual submissiveness, so to speak, is beautiful, powerful, and transformational.” It takes great humility to be able to submit to what the Lord wants for us, but ultimately that is what it means to become a saint through the atonement of Jesus Christ (as the angel taught King Benjamin in Mosiah 3:19). And if my son can learn to do that, even if he insists on eating his cereal where he is not supposed to, then all will be well.