SELF-WILL

 

I have been pondering of late just how much of myself am I willing to give to God. I have been on the path of faithfulness my entire Church life but never could quite come to the point of being able to sincerely say, “thy will be done”.

How much of myself should I give to God? All of it….because none of me belongs to me. Neal A. Maxwell has said that our will is “really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Swallowed Up In The Will of the Father”, General Conference Oct 1995). Everything else He has given us including our bodies and the air we breathe.

King Benjamin also tells us that we belong to God and not to ourselves (Mosiah 2:26). Not being owners of self makes us stewards instead and that is a responsibility we should not take lightly:

“In the Church a stewardship is a sacred spiritual or temporal trust for which there is accountability. Because all things belong to the Lord, we are stewards over our bodies, minds, families, and properties (See D&C 104:11-15)”. Being a steward in this life means you own nothing…..not even yourself. The one who created us owns it all.

A faithful steward is one who exercises righteous dominion over self and his fellowman. Have you ever heard someone say, "It's my life, I'll do with it what I want"? I am pretty certain we are all familiar with this statement. Some of us have heard it from our defiant children.

Imagine if the Saviour had said that when He sojourned in mortality. Imagine if He decided He was going to do His own will as opposed to the Father’s. Where would we be today?

I am now in one of the most difficult periods of my life and have the opportunity to rise to this next level of growth where I can choose to say the words that rolled off the Saviour’s tongue in the Garden of Gethsemane, which I know will elevate me to a higher level of faith.

It’s amazing to me how I have been brought to this moment of the greatest difficulty in my life to make this choice. I imagine the Saviour missing from the Garden….who would have taught me to say the most important words I will ever utter?

I am at the gate of Gethsemane looking in and I am beginning to understand the man kneeling there in agony….Oh how I admire Him….and want to be like Him!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by Liz Lemon Swindle)