I was recently reminiscing about our family reunion last summer. What a joy it is every three years when we get our children and grandchildren to join us in some location. The rotation is designed to give them years for their own family to do something, or to get some time with their in-laws. What a blast it was this time in southern Colorado near Mesa Verde National Park. We saw Native American cliff dwellings and kivas. We enjoyed 4th of July fireworks in one of the local towns. We rode horses, did some whitewater rafting, spent too much money, and rode the old-fashioned steam train from Durango to Silverton. Most of all we hung out together and had fun. One of the highlights turned out to be when we all formed teams with little Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars to conduct a Junkyard Joust. You can see the original version we modeled after on YouTube. We made so much noise cheering our respective teams that the next day the ranch management asked us to keep it down a bit.
Like most families, we are a diverse bunch of nuts. We live on both coasts, the intermountain west, and in Europe. With Michelle and I, our six children, their spouses, significant others and children we totaled 27 people. As with our normal tradition we had t-shirts designed just for us. It makes it easier to not lose each other in a crowd.
One of the things I enjoy most about being out in nature, especially with those I love, is to be reminded of how small we seem in the larger scheme of things. At the same time to be amazed by the fact that Heavenly Father put it all in place especially for us and our progress along the plan of salvation.
I’m reminded of Ether 12:27.
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
The first line says ‘weakness’ not ‘weaknesses’. In other words, as we approach God, or His creations, we understand a little better our relative position, our weakness in comparison. Next, we learn that God gives us this weakness to help us become humble. As we recognize our position, we are naturally less prideful. In fact, we often see our weakness as a sign that there is something wrong with us. We think we are somehow broken. Yet this scripture is very direct. He gives us our weakness. Then the promise. His grace, His power, is sufficient, good enough, strong enough. For what? To lift us from our relative weakness to the blessing of a Celestial sphere. But how? If we humble ourselves and exercise faith, then He strengthens us.
This last point is an important one. Much of my life I viewed becoming stronger as a sort of natural consequence of our own efforts. If we work at something long enough and focused enough, then we would eventually strengthen ourselves in that thing we work at. That’s a very Franklinesque way of thinking. Benjamin Franklin even wrote about how he would put down on paper areas he needed to improve on, and would put his efforts into them one at a time in an effort at self-improvement. There are entire industries these days making a similar argument. There are self-help gurus of every sort, each with their own approach they will happily sell to you for a dollar or two. The scripture, on the other hand, makes it clear that our efforts don’t turn our weak things into strengths. Rather, our efforts are a show of faith, a willingness to do our part. In the end, our efforts of themselves are not what brings strength. Though our efforts take us part of the way, it is the grace of Jesus Christ, His atoning sacrifice, His power, that brings about our ultimate strengthening. He multiplies our efforts.
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