Learning Lessons

Today at my day care I watched one of my kids play with the trashcan, a trashcan similar to this one:

As he kept pushing the lid back and watching it swing, I went over and told him, "You shouldn't play with the trashcan because you could pinch your fingers doing that. It will be owie on your fingers." He looked at me and understood, but decided it was too much fun to pass up.

About a minute later I heard him begin to scream because he had just smashed his finger in the trashcan.

It hit me right then about how much a parent must wish their child understood everything the way they do. On a daily basis, I'll come close to begging my 2-year olds to do something that I know will only make them happier, but they are living only in the moment and only in their own understanding. They don't see what I see.

As I thought on this principle I became 1. More grateful for my own parents, who I'm sure had many instances like this with me, and 2. For my Heavenly Parents.

I thought about how often in life we hear God's counsel for simple things like "You should read your scriptures every day." or "Pray every evening and night." He can see everything, and in the vast view that He holds, He can see that these things will make us happy. Not only that, He can see how much these things will prevent us from the "smashed fingers" in our life.

Like my 2-year olds, it's not easy for us to see what God sees. We think to ourselves, "Maybe I'll just play for a little while longer and nothing bad will happen."

But then, when something bad happens, God is always there.

When my little 2-year old smashed his fingers, I went to him and said, "See, I told you that playing with the trashcan would smash your fingers." After reaffirming that fact, I gave him a big hug and tried to comfort him until he was better. I would never dream of leaving a child to cry when they are truly hurt, even if they did something I just told them not to do, even if the consequence was deserved.

That's not to say that I could take the consequence away, because his fingers were going to hurt no matter what I did. But I could be there to comfort him through it.

It's the same with God, I think, and likely with most of our earthly parents as well. No matter what we've done in opposition to God's advice, He will be there with open arms when we hurt ourselves. How frustrating it must be for Him to watch us day by day, constantly giving and re-giving advice through His Prophets and Apostles, knowing the path to happiness, and seeing us test it anyway.

Yet, He's always there.

I guess the 2 main lessons in this all are: 1. You can learn a lot from 2-year olds, and 2. We should just do what God says and we'll be happy.