Spiritual Lightning

This is from one of my favorite gospel writers:

“And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word [the doctrine of Christ] in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen.” (Alma 33:23).

Having burdens lightened through the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ requires planting in the soul a spiritual knowledge of things as they really are (see Jacob 4:13). Much of the heaviness that we bear develops from a faith that is not sufficiently informed.

When we are weighed down by the problems of a telestial world, we need some spiritual lightening. Spiritual lightening suggests spiritual principles and powers that can light up our minds and lighten our loads. It may be possible to assume too great a burden and to take it all too seriously. This is possible even when the damages in our lives involve sex, drugs, and other heavy sorrows – because virtually all damage, innocently incurred, or self-inflicted, is ultimately reversible through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is spiritual lightening to realize that in most cases the actual details of the elements of our lives matter less than what we choose to become in the midst of them”.
(from ‘Spiritual Lightening’ by M. Catherine Thomas, p.2 & 7)

I think that is a powerful statement that “the actual details of the elements of our lives matter less than what we choose to become in the midst of them”. The “why me?” questions are often the ones which accentuate the burdens we face, and the way forward is when we start answering the questions of “what am I to learn?” and “who am I to help?” because of these things.

As we come unto the Lord with full purpose of heart we will see things as they really are, because we will have the vision of eternity.