"...stronger at the broken places" - Hemingway

I listened to a conference talk today where they referenced this quote from President Packer. I was so intrigued that I researched it and found it. Man, I love him! He is one of my favorite speakers. I e-mailed it to a dear friend going through a particularly hard situation and then had the after-thought that many of you are going through similar situations so it might be helpful to you:

"We live in a day when the adversary stresses on every hand the philosophy of instant gratification. We seem to demand instant everything, including instant solutions to our problems. We are indoctrinated that somehow we should always be instantly emotionally comfortable. When that is not so, some become anxious... It was meant to be that life would be a challenge. To suffer some anxiety, some depression, some disappointment, even some failure is normal.
Teach our members that if they have a good, miserable day once in a while, or several in a row, to stand steady and face them. Things will straighten out. There is great purpose in our struggle in life. " President Boyd k. Packer (Then ELDER Packer, April 1978; Welfare Conference)



Then he went on to quote this little poem:

Yes, my fretting,

Frowning child,

I could cross

The room to you

More easily.



But I’ve already

Learned to walk,

So I make you

Come to me.


Let go now

There!

You see?

Oh, remember

This simple lesson,

Child,

And when

In later years

You cry out

With tight fists

And tears

“Oh, help me, God—please.”

Just listen

And you’ll hear

A silent voice:

“I would, child,

I would.

But it’s you,

Not I,

Who needs to try Godhood.”

(Carol Lynn Pearson, “The Lesson,” Beginnings, New York: Doubleday and Co., 1975, p. 18)


Ernest Hemingway said it well:
"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places." -