For it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither good nor bad.
Look around you, you can see the opposition in all things. There is good and bad in every single thing; and in every single person. I witness my 7 year old run inside terrified of the bee outside: "It stings," she says. "It helps us have food to eat as it spreads pollen among all the plants, " I say. She sees the pain it brings. I see the good the bee does. I see the opposition in myself as I seek perfection. Even virtues can become vices. Lucy Wilson, age 12, wrote:
If all was quiet then there would be no peace.How is this so?
For peace is only peaceful if it is rare
In the noisy bustle of life.
So if all was quiet, for the first day there would be peace.
But every day after would be chaos.
- 2 Nephi 2:25 - Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
We live in an imperfect world, in a fallen state, yet we are here to have joy. But, how, how can we find joy with so much ugliness, hurt, pain and suffering in this imperfect world? How do we navigate the ugliness that must coexist with beauty?
(12) Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.There has to be an opposition to testify to us that God is real. We have to know He is real to understand our purpose here. It doesn't matter what career you choose, car you drive, clothes you wear, where your kids go to school, how you choose to teach them true principles...the how, the small details are not as critical, but that we try our best to be and do good, and that as we try we see the good in what we are doing. No matter what we choose, there is good and bad in it. We choose what we seek and what we find. Are we seeking good in our lives? Are we seeking those things that will lead us to believe in God?
(13) But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.
We cannot escape pain, sorrow, and the ugliness of the world we live in. We cannot escape the opposition. It serves a purpose.
- Doctrine and Covenants 29:39 (another book I believe to be the word of God...full of modern day revelation from God to a prophet to lead and guide us)
For if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet.
Here lies the beauty in all of this. My mind is swirling because I am growing. Swirls are circular - it makes me think of a drop of water falling into a pond: it ripples. Here is the beauty in this plan...this plan of salvation, which is God's work. There is only one perfect being who has ever lived in this fallen state: Jesus Christ. He teaches us,
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
How is that beautiful? How is a commandment to be perfect, which is impossible by ourselves, and according to our standards, especially in this fallen existence so beautiful?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.The only perfect being to live in this imperfect world, said He is the way. There is no other way. We cannot do it without Him. We can trust Him because He is perfect. And He is the only person to have walked this earth that we can trust to fulfill the purpose of our existence.
What does this have to do with the ugliness and the beauty? It all lies in the same event. It is ugly. It is full of pain, and suffering and sorrow. It is mean and horrible. It is the same kind of opposition we experience. The same things we feel and have as we see and feel the opposition in this fallen world.
(3) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.You can read about his life in the New Testament. You will find beauty in it. And you will find ugliness in his life. You can read about his ugly death specifically in Luke 22.
(4) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
(5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.And it is beautiful because He suffered it for us. Because it is only by him that we can return back to live with our Father again. Because He loves us. He knew we could not do it alone.
We all seek perfection. We are looking for it in every area and aspect of our lives. We fret and stress and do study after study about our existence here. But we are going to the wrong source. We are not perfect. Every single study we do will testify of Him because there is goodness there. Yet we will not find Him there, unless we believe. There is no perfect way to do things as we go about our days, only perfect principles to guide us through our days. And a loving and perfect Savior, Jesus Christ. He will lead us. He will guide us. He is the only one that can.
Every one's journey is personal. The answers for each of us are different. We cannot judge each other. We must love each other, as we have been commanded. And in our own lives, we seek after the good, because it is only by seeing the good that we will come to know Him.
We are seeking Him.
- 2 Nephi 2:12-14
(12) Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power and the mercy, and the justice of God.
(13) And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.
(14) And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.Every time we find Him in our lives, we find peace. I choose to believe, because every time I'm weighed down by the sorrow and ugliness in the world, the weight is only ever lifted when I believe.