A bumpy ride
Church NewsAfter a day at an amusement park, a father and his son were discussing the relative merits of the thrill rides they had experienced that day.
The son's favorite ride, he said, had been an antique wooden roller coaster that had been functioning at the park since the first half of the 20th century.
The father, however, preferred the more modern roller-coaster-type rides. Notwithstanding their loop-de-loops, corkscrew curves and high-banked turns, he found them smoother. The bumpiness of the old roller coaster's track was quite disagreeable to him.
Then the son made a rather curious observation: "The bumps helped me feel safer."
The father wondered how this could be. Upon consideration and further conversation, he eventually arrived at the answer: The bumps and jarring gave the son an assurance that the roller-coaster car was still in contact with the track and, if it remained so, it would eventually bring him safely to the end of the ride. Conversely, there were moments on the modern coasters when he had a most disquieting sense that the car had left the track.
In a limited way, the above incident could be an analogy for life.
While progressing along the path of mortality, we are bound to encounter bumps and jolts. While these are never pleasant, if we view them with an attitude of faith, they can bring us some degree of assurance that our Heavenly Father still cares about us. We thus can feel we are still on the track of His love.
"My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction," one of the Proverbs admonishes. "For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth" (Proverbs 3:11-12).
This concept is reiterated in Helaman 15:3 as well as in latter-day revelation. At Kirtland, Ohio, the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith, "Whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you" (Doctrine and Covenants 95:1).
One who, through personal experience, learned the verity of this truth was Thomas B. Marsh.
Elder Marsh was president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the Missouri period of Church history when a spirit of faultfinding beset him, resulting in his eventual apostasy and excommunication from the Church. His subsequent statements gave enemies occasion to persecute the Saints.
In coming decades, Brother Marsh experienced much adversity. Ultimately, on Sept. 6, 1857, he spoke to a congregation in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, where he humbly acknowledged his wrongdoing and sought readmission into the Church.
Apologizing for the weakness of his delivery, he said: "My voice never was very strong, but it has been very much weakened of late years by the afflicting rod of Jehovah. He loved me too much to let me go without whipping. I have seen the hand of the Lord in the chastisement which I have received. I have seen and know that it has proved he loved me; for if he had not cared anything about me, he would not have taken me by the arm and given me such a shaking" (Journal of Discourses 5:206).
The bumps in the road will not always be a consequence of transgression. Even when we are faithful, we cannot expect that the way will always be smooth and easy. Our growth in mortality necessitates our passing through adversity.
LDS speakers and writers are fond of quoting this analogy from the great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis:
"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing, and so you are not surprised. But presently, He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace" (Mere Christianity [New York: Macmillan, 1960], p. 174).
In time, we will see that the bumps were only momentary. We may survive a financial crisis, wiser and stronger for the experience. The grief at the loss of a loved one in death will fade, and we will be left with gratitude for the association and the hope of a joyful reunion in the hereafter.
At some point in our eternal journey, we may be moved to thank the Lord for loving us enough in the moment to inflict a bit of chastening or edifying discomfort.
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