Take Counsel

 Yesterday my little boy was watching a movie on the computer with his sister when I pulled him away to go take a nap. We have been trying to transition him to a bed from his crib, and so I let him lay down in the bed and left the room. He of course didn’t like being taken away from the movie but he calmed down enough that I thought he would stay there. A few minutes later, though, as I was trying to work on the couch he came walking back up the stairs. As he went past me he looked at me rather grumpily, gave me an angry gesture, and threw something at me. Then he promptly turned on his heels and went to join his sister again at the computer in a show of defiance against my actions. I reflected on his little scene of rebellion this morning as I read these words from Jacob: “Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works” (Jacob 4:10). I think that we are all at times like my little boy, seeking not to take counsel from the Lord but seeking to follow our own counsel or even counsel Him on what is supposed to be happening in our lives. We may feel, like my son, that we know best and that we are going to take matters into our own hands to get what we want. But the reminder for us all is that we can trust the counsels of the Lord—He is full of wisdom, justice, and mercy and “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him” (2 Nephi 26:24).

                One of my greatest struggles in parenting is to help my children learn obedience and to help them do what they are supposed to simply because it is the right thing to do. I want them to “take counsel” from my hand and do those things that I ask of them, but all too often that counsel falls on deaf ears. I realized this morning as I considered Jacob’s words that perhaps the very best thing I can do to help them in this regard to learn better to do it myself—the more I can humbly take counsel from His hand, the more they will be prone to meekly do what is asked of them. Instead of focusing on those things which, at least in the moment, I cannot change in my children, I should emphasize that which I can change: namely, my obedience to the Lord. The Savior of course gave us the perfect example: “the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). Jesus, who asks us to follow His commands, showed us that He too knows how to humbly follow, even as He leads at the same time. Our challenge is to seek to be like Him by following earnestly what He wants us to do, and then perhaps others will be led, “without compulsory means” to likewise follow us.