I studied a conference talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland last week in preparation for a lesson I was to teach. It was about the parable of the laborers in Matthew chapter 20.
There are many thoughts that emerged from this study, but the biggest for me was that we can school the way we perceive events.
We can make a choice about how we feel about things… perceived injustices especially. We can make a choice to let go of grudges. We can choose to see the good in a person or group of people. We are not naive to wrongs, but wise as serpents, harmless as lambs, we can more forward with courage.
My friend said that the philosophy of trusting and acting on everything that comes into your head is dangerous. We need to school our thoughts so we can act in the best ways. We can’t always trust our feelings to lead us to the best path. We can’t always trust our first perception of things. We certainly can’t trust that desire to hang on to past hurts.
Parables invite us to be participants. I tend to put myself in parables among the sheep and the 99, not as a goat or the lost ONE. The truth is, we all spend time as the prodigal now and then and it would be healthy to read the parables from the sinner’s perspective. It’s when we do this that we can find our Heavenly Father’s love and grace. We can school ourselves to find new perspectives.
I get the impression that many women tend to place themselves in the prodigal’s place too often, feeling that they can never measure up.
There is danger in both kinds of one-sided thinking. When we forget to school our thinking, we either become too concerned about justice in one case or about mercy in the other, forgetting that we need both.
“Be kind, and be grateful that God is kind. It is a happy way to live.” -Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
Elder Holland’s talk can be heard here.