" A student related his experience to help illustrate this mother hen symbolism [in 3 Nephi and Isaiah].The student, a young man, had been helping inspect some fire damage just outside of town from a recent blaze. As he and the other volunteers were assisting one of the inspectors, they noticed several smoldering mounds across the scorched earth. Intrigued, he asked the inspector what these were. The inspector replied that he should kick one of the piles. He did. To his great surprise several baby Sage Grouse chicks ran out from under the upturned mound. He was fascinated. How ingenious he thought, these little chicks had known to run underneath this refuge. The young man asked the inspector how the chicks knew about this natural shelter. To his amazement, the inspector replied that they were not natural at all; instead this smoldering heap was none other than the remains of their mother. The inspector continued to explain that when a fire breaks out the mother hen calls out to her young ones and stretches out her arm so that they can run inside her protective embrace. The young man was profoundly moved by this mother's loving and sufficient self-sacrifice. How fitting that the Lord would personify the mother hen in His words to the Nephites and Lamanites. How perfect is this example for us today!" (Book of Mormon Sunday School Manual).
"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. He intends to come and live in it Himself." (CS Lewis Mere Christianity).
This quote was in the funeral program of my friend's dad who just recently passed away after battling cancer for three years.
How beautiful to know that the Savior has made it possible for us to be saved from not only the damaging scars of sin but also from anguish, pain, grief, and even more of mediocrity, small mindedness, and the natural man. All we have to do is believe.
And I choose to believe.
2 comments:
What a moving story. Thanks for sharing it!
I think you'd like this.
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