Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Everything happens for a reason...

I have never liked the sayings, "Everything happens for a reason" or "It was all part of the plan." I appreciated this explanation.

There is danger in saying, “Everything happens for a reason” or “It was all part of the plan,” because that could imply that everything that happens is according to God’s will. The truth is that some of what happens in life is contrary to God’s will—because after all, we are all free to accept or reject His will.

Of course God can intervene in world and personal events. But often He leaves us to make choices and deal with the natural consequences of mortality, of our own actions, and of the actions of others. Much of the time He forbears out of respect for our agency, for if He were to manipulate every detail of our lives, He would interfere with our agency and our eternal growth.

This does not mean, however, that God is distant, distracted, or uncaring. In fact, it is truly amazing how much our Father chooses to become involved in the small and simple moments of the lives of His children. Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught: “God’s personal shaping influence is felt in the details of our lives—not only in the details of the galaxies and molecules but, much more importantly, in the details of our own lives. Somehow God is providing these individual tutorials for us while at the same time He is overseeing cosmic funerals and births, for as one earth passes away so another is born (see Moses 1:38). It is marvelous that He would attend to us so personally in the midst of those cosmic duties.”

"Instruments or Agents?"
Lloyd D. Newell
Ensign, April | 2019