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I have come to a realization recently. Teachings of obedience and “strengthen your testimony” have bothered me to some degree for a long time, but I didn’t know how to articulate why. I recently listened to some of the general Women’s broadcast and caught a little bit about keeping covenants. I took it as a message of “this is how you stay safe.” …then it finally hit me. When I hear “obedience” and “endure to the end” or “keep your testimony strong” I feel like we are being talked to as a child’s pony and encouraged to train like a race horse. “If we only strive to reach more than our natural potential – continuously – then we may just endure enough to reach the kingdom of heaven.” (Kingdom is not my favorite word when describing something divine.)
I feel that I understand why this message resonates with some people, it just doesn’t with me. The point is a child’s pony will never be a race horse, no matter how hard or how long it trains.
I prefer to discuss our potential in the divine plan in terms of caterpillars and butterflies – referencing “the mighty change of heart.” When the caterpillar is ready it makes the complete transformation. It may not be a perfect example for us in our human state, but I love the image and the parallels we can draw.
Thoughts? Expansion?
Last year, my mother had a health crisis that could have ended her life prematurely. Blessedly, we were able to find the best surgeons in the country, and she is healthier than she has been in a long time. The experience was the first time I considered my parents’ mortality. They will probably die in the next twenty years. Although I am no longer sure that the mormon Plan of Salvation is true/accurate, I have a strong belief that death is not the end–that we continue on. I have pondered on the life cycle of butterflies and moths, and have been filled with wonder at the enormous transformation when they emerge from their cocoons in glory. I believe we are a larval version of
something, and that death is a passageway to a more glorious reality. Sorry, I realize that this is O/T from the obedience thing, but your mention of butterflies sparked this memory.
I speak often of the caterpillar – butterfly metamorphosis, especially because I HATE the horse (training) analogies. “The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction” – William Blake
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