Adversity, here is a copy of my Sacrament talk

Adversity

A man found the cocoon of butterfly. One day a small opening appeared.
He watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress.
It appeared as if had gotten as far it could and it could go no further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly, he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened!

The butterfly spent the rest of its short life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wing. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening was God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
If God allowed us to go through our life without obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been…
We could never fly...

Trials and adversity come in to our lives for many reason, one is the from the consequence of a our actions. I think that many trials I have had in my life are from my own making. I am lazy and procrastinate at time and then I wonder why the house is a mess and I have to spend hours cleaning instead of just doing a little every day. I over schedule myself and the kids and then complain that I have no time for myself to do the things I want to do. I get caught up in an idea and nothing will dissuade me and I even may go as far as to answer my own prayers so that I can do what I want. At these times I’ve find myself wondering what went wrong? Why did this not go like I planned and why is it so hard? Life shouldn’t be this difficult.

The Lord will never give us more then we can handle 1 Corinthians 10:13. But I believe that I have given myself more then I can handle many times. I take on more than I can do all the time and then collapse and cry from exhaustion and wonder what the heck happened? I push my body too hard and then wonder why I get injured and then I complain that I don’t have time to rest, I’m a busy person. And I just make the injury worse. These are trials I have given myself.

Most adversity has no reason at all, it is just a natural part of life. Why do bad things happen to good people? The true answer is no one knows. A friend of mine loves this quote, “Life happens when you’re making other plans.” How true is that? No one ever calls for help when you’re sitting around wondering what I’m going to do tonight. Being asked to make a meal is never on the day you have extra time and ingredients at home. The car never breaks down right next to a service station, but always in the rain or snow when your cell phone batteries are dead and when you are just out of money for that month. Illness rarely comes when your deductibles are paid up and when you were bored hoping something exciting would happen in your life, like a spending couple of fun nights in the hospital. Bad things never happen at convenient times, only at times you’re sure you could never fit another item into your schedule.

But, Some adversity comes from other’s bad choices, hurtful words or actions. Things we have no control over. A few weeks ago, we woke up to a huge red word written in spray paint across most of our white garage door. It took several hours and many cleaning products to clean this mess up. Not something I had planned on doing that day.

Some of this type if adversity cause harm and hurt. Hurt feelings, and even at time damage to life and property. Bad things happen to good people and these are times we need to turn to the Lord for help.

May we be strengthened with the understanding that being blessed does not mean that we shall always be spared all the disappointments and difficulties of life. - Heber J. Grant

"Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day" (Alma 36:3).

It is amazing how hard times, caused by ourselves or others get us on our knees more. When things are going well and everyone is healthy we rarely need to ask for anything and we coast along, but when something happens we stop and look up and ask, why me? When we should ask, What do I need to learn from this experience? That of course is much easier said than done.

As part of Heavenly Father's plan of redemption, all people experience adversity during their lifetime. Trials, disappointments, sadness, sickness, and heartache are a difficult part of life, but with the help of the Lord they can lead to spiritual growth, refinement, and progress.

We need trials and adversity so we can enjoy the good things in our lives.

It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things, 2 Ne. 2: 11. If they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet, D&C 29: 39.

I believe that no matter what we do we will have adversity and trials in our lives. Everyone does. We may think that so and so always seems to have it so easy and we think why does nothing bad happen to them? Believe me no one is spared, we just don’t know everything going on in so and so life or we would see their adversity also. Everyone has problems, trials and adversity. But good things and good friends can come out of the bad things, that happen to us.

Storms
By Margie DeMerell

There will be storms, child
There will be storms
And with each tempest
You will seem to stand alone
Against cruel winds
But with time, the rage and fury
Shall subside And when the sky clears
You will find yourself
Clinging to someone
You would have never known
But for ADVERSITY

Each person's success and happiness, both now and in the eternities, depend largely on his or her responses to the difficulties of life.

If we study the lives of great men and women carefully and unemotionally we find that, invariably, greatness was developed, tested and revealed through the darker periods of their lives. One of the largest tributaries of the RIVER OF GREATNESS is always the STREAM OF ADVERSITY.
~Cavett Robert

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

~Michael Jordan

Never be discouraged; if I were sunk in the lowest pit of Nova Scotia, with the Rocky Mountains piled on me, I would hang on, exercise faith, and keep in good courage, and I would come out on top! - Joseph Smith

So how can we rise above the adversity in our life? How can we learn to look at it as a learning experience? How can learn to see everything as an opportunity for growth and change?

How we look at things is part of the solution. I truly believe that many of the problems we see in our lives are nothing more than our own dissatisfaction with the life we have. We discount our blessings, our families and those around us that love us and we see only what we don’t have and what we desperately think we want. Our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy, he wants us to have joy in this life and how many of us are actually doing that?

I just finished a book I loved called “Have a little faith” By Mitch Albom, and in it the author asks a Rabbi what the secret to happiness is, the Rabbi thought for a moment and then answered. “Its not what the world tells us it is. Its not the bigger house, the better job, more money and more things. I have counseled many people who have all that and more, and they are not happy because of them. Having things does not keep you from wanting more and if you always want more you are missing the bigger picture, and happiness will never come.”

The author asked, “So have you solved the secret of happiness then?”

The Rabbi smiled and nods, “are you sure you are ready?”

The author nodded.

The Rabbi shrugged. “Okay, the secret to happiness is, Be satisfied.”

“That’s it?”

“Be grateful.”

“That’s it?”

“For what you have and for the love you receive and for what God has given you.”

The author asks again, “Is that it?”

The Rabbi nods, “That’s it.”

Well I cried reading this book, I would suggest it to anyone. I have seen people going through things I know would stop me in my track and yet they continue to keep going and they continue to smile. They even thank the Lord for the things they have and the trials they have endured. They count their blessings and feel they have received more than their fair share and thank the Lord again for this. They feel always in his debt and strive to work off that debt by serving others and loving those around them. They have learned that it is not what we have that makes us happy, but it is what we give back. They have also learned that the Lord is not comparing us to each other, but only to ourselves. We are not in a race to be better then someone else, we are in a race to be better than we were yesterday and even better tomorrow.

Adversity is part of life and no one will be without it, learning to deal with the lows will help us succeed in this life and in the next.

We learn who we are when in the midst of Adversity. Adversity is the trial of principle. Without it, a man hardly knows whether he is honest or not.

~Henry Fielding

If you are never tempted to do things we know instinctively are wrong, then how would we ever know what kind of person we really are. If we don’t exercise our bodies we become weak and more susceptible to illness and injury. If we never face adversity or trials we become weak willed and more susceptible to temptation. Adversity is like exercise, its not always fun or easy, but it builds strength and endurance. Endurance for the trials to come and strength to face what life throws at us and others. If we had it easy, how would we become the person we are meant to be. We each have a piece of divinity within us, we call it agency , and we need Adversity in our lives to learn to use it. But how you use it is up to you.

The Old Mule

Once upon a time a farmer owned an old mule who tripped and fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule braying and was unable to figure out how to bring up the old animal. It grieved him that he could not pull the animal out. He'd been a good worker around the farm. Although the farmer sympathized with the mule, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened. He had them help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and quietly put him out of his misery.

At first, the old mule was puzzled, but as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, he had a thought: he ought to shake off the dirt and step up. And he did just that.

"Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up." Even though he took painful blows of dirt and fought panic, he just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!

It wasn't long before the old mule stepped up and over the lip of that well. What could have buried him actually blessed him...all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

We pray to Heavenly Father and I believe he prays for us. Pray and God our intertwined and he wants the best for us, he loves each and every one of us and he wants us to return to him. Through adversity—trials, troubles, and distress—we can have many experiences that lead to spiritual growth and eternal progress by turning to the Lord.

You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

~Walt Disney

Amen