...With a Burden

I was recently reading through old things I've written and came across a small comment I made years ago: When you carry a load you need to keep your head bowed and your knees bent. What an interesting correlation between physical and spiritual burdens! Look at this man carrying a load of sticks on his back, you'll notice that indeed, the only way it is possible is because his head is bowed, and his knees are bent.




Now think of your own challenges in life. Sometimes the problems get heaped on your back one stick at a time. Sometimes they seem impossible to carry. But it IS possible! Just keep your head bowed and your knees bent. God is our relief. When you turn to him he will "ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs" (Mosiah 24:14) How incredible! All we need to do is turn to God in constant prayer. Keep our knees bent, our heads bowed.

...With Grout

I spent a good amount of time on my knees one day covered up to the elbow with thick brown muck used for grouting. However, my thoughts weren't centered on the sand under my nails or the pain of kneeling on a hard surface, I just kept having one thought that repeated itself in my head like a broken record: grouting is like Christ's Atonement.

A silly thought, or at least I thought so. I pushed at it again and again, determined I'd lost my mind, but rather than leave the thought changed into something more profound: Christ fills the gaps.

Being from the "Bible Belt" of America I've heard a lot of people claim they've been "saved" and I've thought a lot about that concept. What does one need to do to be saved? Many believe that simply believing that Christ died for them is enough to save them no matter how they act or what they do in this life; through Christ's grace all are saved. In essence Christ's sacrifice is like grout. With just his sacrifice we're doing nothing but spreading grout on an untiled surface. No tile equals no floor.

The scriptures tell us "that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." (2 Nephi 25:23 ; emphasis added) We need to follow the example that Jesus Christ set for us, and each day strive a little harder to be more like Him. It is by grace that we are saved, but what we do and how we act do matter. Every time we follow a commandment we are placing a tile on our floor. However, we could place tile after tile and still not have a floor. It's only through Christ's sacrifice, the grout, that the floor is made. Only He could kneel down and fill in the gaps.