The Parable of the Escelator.
Imagine you are at a mall; it's big, roomy, but surprisingly dark. You see you are surrounded by a crowd of people, all of which are milling about on the bottom floor, and they all seem to be seeking a way to the second floor. You join their gaze upwards over the balcony of the second floor, and you see a dazzling, brilliant light eminating from up there. You can't even see what the second floor contains, but you know you need to get there somehow. You feel with every fiber of your being that you want to make it up to that second floor! You press forward, with a sense of urgency now, seeking a path to the warmth above. You've wandered away from the crowds now; it's dark all around you. For whatever reason, the lights in this section of the mall are out! But up ahead you see a green light, shimmering off the wall from around a corner. As the light comes into view, you see it: a beautiful, functioning escelator, humming with energy as the stairs gradually descend. What? The stairs are only going down! You look around and see that there is no other alternative, and since the light at the top is beckoning to you, you walk up to the foot of the escalator, take a deep breath...
And step on.
As sweat starts to bead at your brow, you realize it feels like it's been an eternity on this escelator. You lift your gaze from your feet, and groan in exhaustion as you see the escalator still ascending up into dark. It's been so long. You are so tired. Surely all this work has to count for something! Legs aching, you decide to stop and rest them for a moment.
In what seems like no time at all, you find yourself back at the bottom. What?! All that time and effort, gone! You look around; still none have found this escalator, but you start to feel a little ominous from the surrounding darkness. You know that the answer doesn't lie back where you came from... So you turn your gaze back to the mechanical whir of the rolling stairs before you, and with the trace of a smile on your lips, you step back on.
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We can often ask ourselves why life is so hard. Why does every day have to require us to work? Why do we keep these commandments? Why don't we get to have fun? Everyone else isn't working this hard!
We all have to face the choice of whether we are going to strive for the second floor, or sit contently in the roiling shadows beneath. There is no other way to the light than to sweat our ways up the downward moving escalator. We mustn't lose hope, and we must never give up. If we just hang in there, we'll make it to the top.
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The Parable of the Frozen Pond (part 1)
It's been a long day. You stumble in the door, wearied by the stresses of the day. You reflect on everything that happened as you stagger to the bathroom to wash your face. It was just one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. Nothing went right! Your thoughts simmer as you look into the mirror, seeing only a tired, disgruntled face looking back at you. You're tired of people. You're tired of work. Your tired of responsibilities. You ask yourself out loud why life is so hard, a sharp edge of bitterness in your voice. You make a personal goal to take tomorrow off, and not to talk to a single soul. Yep, a good day of lounging on the couch, watching movies, maybe some ice cream... that will give you the boost you need to get back into the flow of things.
For now, you decide to collapse onto your bed, clothes and all. Sleep takes you almost instantly.
You open your eyes, squinting, until your eyes focus. You rub them, shivering. You are standing in a tranquil forest glen, but the branches are empty and the trunks cold and bare. A thick layer of snow is covering the ground, and the sky above is a deep, roiling gray. There are snowflakes glittering through the air, one lands squarely on your nose with an icy bite. Where are you? As you look around, you see a trail. Since the alternative is glomping through the snow, you decide to follow it.
You walk for what seems like a few minutes, but perhaps a few hours, and you come to a clearing in the trees. A pond slowly comes to view, and the trail ends right at the bank of it.
Now, your natural instinct tells you this is the end of the trail. But you feel something inside you, encouraging almost, to step onto the ice. You stand there, hesitant. You've been on thin ice before, and that was an experience you won't soon forget. The feeling doesn't go away, and you again receive the strangely comforting prompting to step onto the pond. You take a deep breath, and step forward.
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The Parable of The Frozen Pond
It's been a long day. You stumble in the door, wearied by the stresses of the day. You reflect on everything that happened as you stagger to the bathroom to wash your face. It was just one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. Nothing went right! Your thoughts simmer as you look into the mirror, seeing only a tired, disgruntled face looking back at you. You're tired of people. You're tired of work. Your tired of responsibilities. You ask yourself out loud why life is so hard, a sharp edge of bitterness in your voice. You make a personal goal to take tomorrow off, and not to talk to a single soul. Yep, a good day of lounging on the couch, watching movies, maybe some ice cream... that will give you the boost you need to get back into the flow of things.
For now, you decide to collapse onto your bed, clothes and all. Sleep takes you almost instantly.
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You open your eyes, squinting, until your eyes focus. You rub them, shivering. You are standing in a tranquil forest glen, but the branches are empty and the trunks cold and bare. A thick layer of snow is covering the ground, and the sky above is a deep, roiling gray. There are snowflakes glittering through the air, one lands squarely on your nose with an icy bite. Where are you? As you look around, you see a trail. Since the alternative is glomping through the snow, you decide to follow it.
You walk for what seems like a few minutes, but perhaps a few hours, and you come to a clearing in the trees. A pond slowly comes to view, and the trail ends right at the bank of it.
Now, your natural instinct tells you this is the end of the trail. But you feel something inside you, encouraging almost, to step onto the ice. You stand there, hesitant. You've been on thin ice before, and that was an experience you won't soon forget. The feeling doesn't go away, and you again receive the strangely comforting prompting to step onto the pond. You take a deep breath, and step forward.
For a moment, you think you must be dying. Your life is flashing before your eyes. But these aren't the memories you expected... You see yourself, young, stealing your little sister's candy and pushing her to the ground. The image flashes forward to another of you, furtively, slyly, stealing a snickers bar behind your mom's back at the grocery store. More and more flit before your eyes; fights with your parents, lies you told to your friends... hurt feelings, bitter choices, angry words. As the memories progress, they seem to gain speed. You are in high school, now leaving to college, being fired from your job, leaving your old apartment for a cheaper one, the memories flood on. Then, as suddenly as they started, they stop. You hadn't noticed that you had fallen to your knees during the onslaught.
You are in the middle of the pond now, but you realize you are quite safe. This water is frozen; probably several inches, if not feet, thick. Still on your knees, you realize your face is bitterly cold, wet with tears. What was the purpose of all this? Why did you just relive all the worse memories of your life? Wasn't your life at least fairly happy? Why can you only remember the worst parts? Exhausted, forlorn, your shoulders slump and the tears continue to track down your freezing cheeks.
Suddenly a voice cuts the icy silence.
"Maybe you'd like to know what this all means?"
You start, looking up at the source of the voice. You rub your eyes again, because you can't be seeing what you're seeing.
It's you. But a you from a long time ago. You can't be older than 10, yet there you are, smiling warmly, knowingly, at yourself.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here to help you. Uh..me. Us."
You don't know what to say. You don't know if you can speak, anyways. Thankfully, the young you continues, "There's something you need to know about this pond. It isn't just any pond.
It's your heart."
"We all have a heart within us, much like this pond. It swells and ripples, some places are deep, and others are shallow. The pond is deeper where we feel deep love for people, like our friends or family. Other parts are shallow, like your love for a good movie or slize of pizza."
"Sometimes the water is disturbed, roiling and crashing on the shore as you face adversity in life. Emotions like anger, doubt, fear, and jealousy disturb the waters of the pond"
"Other times, it is still as glass, reflecting the beauty all around it. As the waters cease to roil, you can see the clarity of the water, and the depths beneath. It is a beautiful thing to behold, and is a benefit to all who are near."
"Your heart was once like this: free, clear, beautiful. That's why I am here.
"What is your heart now?"
Having regained a little composure, you choke out a reply.
"Frozen."
"That's right," replies the little you, still smiling, yet a little somberly.
"You see, just as water can stagnate, so can the heart. Just as a pond can freeze, so can the heart. How does a pond freeze?"
"Well, it has to be cold," you reply. "Right?" you add on, uncertainly.
"That's right, and now we're to the point of why I'm here.
I'm here to teach you about the Atonement of Jesus Christ."
"We are shaped by every decision we make in life. Every choice, every action, has eternal consquences we can't begin to fathom. From the time you were little, you have been making choices that have slowly affected your pond. As you stepped onto the ice, what did you see?"
You ponder the question a moment before you answer. "I saw everything," you whisper, "Everything I've ever done wrong.. Every hurt I've ever dealt. Every sin I've ever committed."
"Oh no," replied little you, "that wasn't everything. That was just a mere fraction. If you were to behold every sin, wrong, and misdeed you had committed, you wouldn't be able to live with yourself. Remember the story of Alma the Younger? He was 'harrowed up by the memory of his many sins', so much that he was unconscious for the span of three days! That didn't happen to you, did it?" the little you adds with a smile.
"I guess not," you admit.
Your youthful doppelganger continues, "What you saw was to help you understand why are you standing on this icy pond. It hasn't always been this way. In fact, not too long ago, this was a beautiful little place. The water was clear, and the sun shone in its radiant warmth all the time. At night, the stars reflected on the surface like a mirror. Birds sang, and deer came to drink every morning.
Your heart used to love. It used to bask in the warmth of our Savior Jesus Christ.
There is no warmth now."
Those words hit home. You wipe the frozen tears from your cheeks and look up to the little you. "Ok, you're right. Maybe I've been a little more impatient lately. I know I can be a bit nicer and giving and stuff I guess. I know I've been skipping out on church too... but it's not my fault!" the words start coming faster now, and you feel heat rising in your face. "I've been working all the time, and you've seen the people I work with! I mean, no I'm not perfect, but I'm trying! I don't think I'm any worse than the next guy! And so what if my pond is icy?! Maybe I like having an icy pond! There's nothing wrong with that! I like to skate!" you add on almost as an afterthought, oblivious to the humor of the statement.
The silence that followed was the iciest thing you had experienced yet.
After what seemed like eons, your youthful voice breaks the silence. "You're right. You aren't perfect. And you aren't 'worse than the next guy'. There are many frozen ponds in the world today. It is a very cold place, bereft of the love and peace and warmth that can only come from Son.
Too many are lost. Too many have grown cold. Too many don't even know how to find the warmth they seek. A heart that loves Christ, and his fellowman, is a precious commodity indeed. You knew this once. You felt this once. The reason your pond is frozen isn't because the Savior has turned away. His loving arms are always open to us. You are the only one who can choose to come to Him, and He is the only one who can thaw your frozen heart. That is why I'm here.
Now let's melt the ice."
"How? How can I break this ice? It must be several feet thick! I would need some kind of a mechanical drill to get through it. Or a flamethrower," you add on sardonically.
The little you chuckles. "You can't just break this ice. We are so inclined to thinking of 'quick fixes' these days. It takes time to freeze water, doesn't it? Remember when we would fill the ice tray with Sprite in the summer, and how it seemed to take forever for it to freeze?"
You nod, although a little perturbed at the reminder that you are both the same person.
"It's the same with hearts!"exclaims little you. "They don't just turn to stone. It is a process. Day by day, thought by thought, sin by sin. When subjected to enough trial, pain, and heartbreak, even the most stalwart hearts can harden, merely to protect ourselves from all the pain we experience in this life.
"Just as the spring sunrise will thaw an icy pond, so will turning to the Son bring you a 'broken heart and a contrite spirit'. You have been in the dark too long, you have allowed your heart to harden, and grow cold.
"First, let me ask: why would you want to change? Why does the Lord "require the heart"? What's the big deal with hearts, anyway?"
The question hangs in the air. You are thinking.
Why IS the heart such a big deal? Why do the scriptures always talk about the heart? Didn't they know it's the BRAIN that controls everything? The heart is just a bunch of muscle! In fact, it's probably good to have a hard heart. That just means it's healthy and strong, right? You reflect inwardly. But that can't be right; the Lord tells us time and time again that "heardheartedness" is a sin.
"Well," you respond, finally, "our hearts reflect what we desire, right? I mean, anything with hearts is usually referring to love and stuff. So the Lord says He 'requires' our hearts because He just wants us to love Him, right?" you venture hopefully.
"Well, kind of." replies little you. "The Lord does command us to love Him, first and foremost. But what then does He command us to do?"
Suddenly a primary song from your childhood seems to ring in your ears. As I have loved you, love one another....
"Love our neighbors!" you almost shout with excitement. "The Lord commands us to love everyone, as ourselves!"
"Right! You are officially caught up to Primary level. That's good a start."
Your face burns as little you continues, "Jesus doesn't so much ask us to love Him, but to love each other as He does. You see, almost all people are selfish and prideful by nature. Love just doesn't come naturally, although some people have more proficiency at it than others. Love takes work. Love takes effort. Love sometimes means opening ourselves up to pain, and giving selflessly to others."
"We learn from the sermon on the mount that we should not only 'love our neighbors', but our enemies as well. For even the sinners love those who love them back. Christ asks us to love everyone, regardless of how they treat you."
"But that's impossible!" you blurt out, thinking of a coworker who has given you a particularly bad time. "How can we be expected to love people who are just so....unloveable?!"
The little you looks at you, sadly. "No one is unloveable. That's what Christ teaches us. When we see others as He does, infirmities, weaknesses, hopes, dreams, and all, it's impossible not to love someone.
"Take Bob for example," little you continues, referring to the coworker whose memory had just incited you to anger, "he seems like an impossible person, right? Constantly on your back, making fun of your haircut, quick to point out your mistakes and your flaws in your work. Loud, crude, obnoxious, arrogant, prideful, the laundry list of bad traits goes on. He doesn't care about anyone's feelings about himself, right?"
"...Right." you answer after a short pause, not quite sure if you are being tricked or not.
"Well let me tell you a few things you don't know about Bob. He was born in a broken family; a family of five children who were supported only by his mother. As the oldest, Bob got a job as soon as he was able, to help support the struggling family. He was fourteen when he first got a job working as a farmhand. He would work all day after school until sundown, every day. By the time he got to high school, his mom became terminally ill with cancer. She slowly passed away, leaving Bob to take care of his one brother and three sisters. He had to drop out of high school to work full time, allowing his siblings to go continue getting an education. Two of his sisters are teachers, one is a lawyer, while his younger brother is in school to be a heart surgeon."
"Bob works with you at the grocery store because that is the best job he will probably ever be able to attain."
The little you pauses, and you are surprised to feel tears again running down your cheeks. That's not all, either, as you realize you are standing in several inches of water, up past your shoe. The water, however, was not freezing, but warm and soothing, like a bubble bath. You look around and see that the pond has started to thaw in select spot, steaming slightly in the soft sunlight. You suddenly realize that sun is starting to peek through the clouds over the trees as well! Suddenly a ray shines on you, and you feel an upwelling of emotion. Not of fear, irritation, or anger, but of love and understanding for Bob Rudger.
The light becomes blinding, and suddenly you start to phase out of consciousness. You hear little you's voice, growing steadily more distant, say, "this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."
You open your eyes with the sun shining in the window on your face. You smile. It's going to be a good day.
