The Load

I recently read a book by Ryan Holiday titled The Obstacle is the Way and his ideas have been floating around in my brain ever since. The premise of this particular self-help book is that obstacles or trials in our lives will become the very things that strengthen us if we let them. Not in spite of them but because of them. Holiday gives many many examples from history to prove his point, with inspirational figures from Abraham Lincoln to Amelia Earhart to Marcus Aurelius.

"The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, with every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition."

I have thought a lot about the current obstacles I am facing and how, instead of trying to convince myself that what I'm going through "isn't that bad" (which is better than wallowing in self-pity--I'm a pro at that), I can focus on how my particular trials are shaping me into the kind of person I want to be. Better than before, as Gretchen Rubin would say.

"Your biggest problem is that you think you shouldn't have them."--Tony Robbins

In April of 2014 Elder David A. Bednar gave a talk in General Conference called "Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease". You might remember him telling the story of a friend who got stuck in the mountains in his new 4-wheel-drive truck after attempting to bring home fire wood for the winter. It wasn't until he loaded the back of  his pick-up truck with wood that his tires had enough traction to get unstuck from the snow. It was the load of wood that ended up helping to set him free.

"Each of us also carries a load. Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints...Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness."

Why is the load necessary? Why can't life just be easy? Wouldn't we be happier without problems? And doesn't God want us to be happy? Of course He does, so He provided a way through His Son.

  "The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely on the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah." -Elder Bednar

The load will humble us and help us turn to Him ,and eventually return to Him.