Barely Hanging On

Jeffrey after his terrifying ride to church

As Sister Luscher and I drove out of our apartment complex on the way to church last Sunday I looked out my window and saw that there was a bright green grasshopper clinging to it. We figured that he probably wouldn't be able to hang on for very long as our speed increased to 35. But as we got to each stoplight he was still hanging on and would try to reposition himself to have a better hold. As we got closer to the church Jeffrey (that's what we named him) was still hanging on for dear life although there were several times we thought he wouldn't make it. I continued to force myself to go the speed limit because there were other cars behind us but 35 suddenly just seemed too fast because when you're a grasshopper it's probably the equivalent of going 100 for us. I thought when we got to the 25 speed limit zone that would be better but it didn't seem to make much difference for poor Jeffrey. By this time we were almost to the church so we were really rooting for him to just hang on a little longer (even though I'm pretty sure he couldn't hear us). Finally, we pulled into the church parking lot with Jeffrey still on the window. We were so relieved and surprised that he had made the journey of 3.2 miles, to us that doesn't seem very far especially when you're driving but to a little grasshopper on the window it's a lot farther.

Ready for the real life application? So as I watched this poor little grasshopper on the window and as I've thought about it since I realized that Jeffrey is a lot like us. We all have times in our lives when we feel like we're barely hanging on and we're not sure if we're going to make it. We wonder why God thought we could handle all this but He's always there to help us. He cheers us on (even when the noise of the world is too loud to hear Him), He gives us little breaks so we can get a better hold on the gospel and remember that our goal is to get back to live with Him and in order to do that we have to go through some tough stuff here. He sees the eternal perspective while we only see what's right in front of us. One of my favorite scriptures says "My son [or daughter], peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes" (Doctrine & Covenants 121:7-8). It always reminds me that even though things are hard and I can't see what the end results will be, God does. Our trials don't last forever and we are blessed as we are faithful to the gospel and keeping the commandments.