Adversity

The events of recent weeks or even recent years seem to be showing a disturbing trend of escalation in scope and magnitude. We have seen natural disasters of biblical proportions. We have seen man's darkest, ugliest attributes. We are clearly building to something cataclysmic.

In Matthew 13:25, 29-30, we are given "The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares" which illustrates how both good and evil are sown together until the time of harvest where there will be separation and final reward. "after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned." The tares are allowed to sow alongside the wheat because to eliminate them would be to risk destroying the wheat as well......what does this analogy mean?

In all things, there is an opposite. I was sharing with a dear friend an example of how opposites combined to create a thing of beauty in a room that I had seen. The colors used were opposites on the color wheel, but when skillfully used together, the result was breathtaking. Opposites and opposition are necessary. We need darkness to appreciate the light. Through pain and suffering we achieve compassion and strength. I can list a multitude of examples, but the simple fact is that one cannot exist without the other.

On this Easter morn, I would admonish reflection on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and while doing so, ask: "Am I wheat or am I tare?" Once you have come to terms with your place in the harvest........REAP!

D&C 4: 4
"For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul."