One thing I want to instill in my children is the idea that Heavenly Father loves them and will always do what is best for them. It might not be how, what, where, or when they thought, but they can trust their Heavenly Father to guide them. It also doesn't mean that life won't at times seem more than they can bear, but they will get through it and be okay. All of that is made possible through a Father's love and a Brother's sacrifice.
A friend is really struggling right now and I wanted to find something for her that she could look at and have with her. I wanted her to know that she can let it go and trust that something good can happen even in tragedy. I talk all the time, but I am never as pithy with the spoken word as I am with the written, so I made her bookmarks. Cheesy, yes, but I couldn't just tell her that everything was going to be okay when it is clearly not right now.
As I searched the scriptures for what I could put on the bookmarks I kept coming back to the words "Be still and know that I am God." In the last few years I've developed (or finally recognized that this problem is there) some kind of panic thing where all of the things that I need to do start building up inside of my head. I'm not hyperventilating on the outside, but the center of my being starts to go berserk. I get angry easily and sometimes completely shut down. That right there is a great parenting strategy and really edifies the romance of marriage.
I have learned that I have to calm myself down when I first start to feel my chest constrict. If I don't, it will get out of control. So, I go somewhere quiet and just keep a running prayer going. Help me to get through this day. Help me calm down. Help me to be okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Because it really is okay. It doesn't matter if I don't get the laundry done and my house looks like 7 pack rats and their friends live in it. It doesn't matter if I find out the night before that a huge project is due or that a husband needs cookies right now for home teaching. It doesn't matter that we had to walk a mile to middle school orientation because even though we were on time, on time for parking was an hour earlier. It doesn't matter. The things that do matter are getting done (mostly) and we will live through this.
Here's what I found in the scriptures. The story of Ruth. Women today think they have it bad. Oh, sisters, we don't even know what bad is in modern America. The beginning of the story is poignant, as is Ruth's loyalty to Naomi. After the women come back to Naomi's people they are alone and without support. No support. No jobs or ward employment specialist. No Relief Society to bring in meals. Nobody except a kindly second-cousin-or-other who allows them to glean his fields. Naomi sends Ruth to the cousin, Boaz. Ruth is supposed to go to his room at night and sleep at his feet and then come back home to wait. It was an incredibly bold act. It could have had many different outcomes and most of them would not have been positive for Ruth.
As I read the counsel that Naomi gives to Ruth after she came home, it struck me as profound, even taken out of the context of the story, and in to the context of somebody struggling with a problem. "Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall;....." Ruth 3:18
When we aren't in control of the outcome or any part of a trial, sit still. Calm yourself so that when the help comes, through whatever means it is coming, you will be able to recognize it and receive the comfort or the aid. This advice came after Ruth had done her part and then had to wait for the consequences of her actions.
Do what you can, but in the end "be still and know that I am God".
(I can't find the credits for this painting, but it is so lovely)
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