Rock Pit

A young boy was trying to smooth out the dirt area behind his house so he could play there with his cars. There was a large rock obstructing his work. The boy pushed and pulled with all his might, but no matter how hard he tried, the rock wouldn’t budge.

His father watched for a while, then came to his son and said, “You need to use all your strength to move a rock this large.”

The boy responded, “I have used all my strength!”

His father corrected him: “No you haven’t. You haven’t had my help yet!”

They then bent down together and moved the rock easily.*

I am ashamed to admit how long I pushed on my rock until it occurred to me to just ask the Lord to move it for me. I will never forget sitting in Sunday School (during a period of intense life frustration) when the teacher pointed out what the Bible Dictionary said about prayer:

The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them.

Hold the phone. There were blessings He wanted to give me but was WAITING for me to ask for them? You mean to say there was nothing noble or valiant about silently rotting from the inside out from pain and anguish and jealousy and confusion? You mean there was a chance I could just ask for all the rot to be removed?

Yes.

With total sincerity and absolute faith I pleaded my case to my Heavenly Father. I begged him to remove the poison from my heart and the negativity from my brain. I told him of my wish to fulfill his purpose for me, that I didn't want to waste my happy years being sad with a glass half empty, that I didn't want to hate people with babies or kittens or puppies or lambs or chicks or anything else in baby form, that I needed to celebrate my life "as is" in case it never changed, and that I needed to have the oppressive weight of being stuck in my situation lifted because it was literally crushing the zest from my life. I explained I was tired of watching all my friends move on to new chapters while I had not even turned a page. I needed to be okay with my page if that was where my book ended. I asked for it all. And do you know what happened?

He granted it quickly, completely, lovingly, freely.

Don't push big rocks with tiny muscles when you have a loving bulldozer permanently parked next to you. 

*Elder Terrence Vinson, "Drawing Closer to God", Ensign, Nov 2013

Bulldozer courtesy of my neighbor and friend Bryton. Because I don't have boy toys yet.

Alma 43:49-50:

49 And it came to pass that they turned upon the Lamanites, and they cried with one voice unto the Lord their God, for their liberty and their freedom from bondage.

50 And they began to stand against the Lamanites with power; and in that selfsame hour that they cried unto the Lord for their freedom, the Lamanites began to flee before them; and they fled even to the waters of Sidon.

My summary: they cried to God for freedom and in that selfsame hour began to be free...