He than began the transforming sacrifice, known as the atonement, that, when completed, would enable each of Heavenly Father's children to be removed from darkness, death, and misery and come to return to live with Him again. We have been taught that his suffering was so great it led him to bleed from every pore... the pain and suffering was so great that even HE, the Son of GOd plead for his suffering to be taken from him "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."(luke 22)
When He returned to His disciples, in the midst of the pinnacle of his suffering, He found them asleep and asked "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" He then asked again that they watch with him, directing them of their need to pray, for, as Christ said, "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." He then "...went away again the second time, and"
'being in agony" prayed again, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." When he came back to his disciples, he found them asleep again. He left them the third time and "prayed the third time, saying the same words." After his work was completed, after he accomplished the miraculous, divinely appointed Atonement for All Mankind, he returned again to His disciples and, I imagine, finding them asleep, lovingly said "Sleep on now and take your rest..."
This profound scriptural account has often found me asking myself "would I have stayed awake for my Savior, at His most trying time, or would I have slipped away into a quiet slumber? Recently, however-when looking from the perspective of Christ, His side of the story, rather than the side of His sleeping disciples- this account has found me asking a new question "If I was suffering my greatest suffering of all time and, seeing my loved ones did not stay a while and watch with me, would I have kindly said "sleep on now and take your rest."?
There will be times when, like Christ, we are, in a sense, in our own Garden of Gethsemane. In that place, we may find that all the love and support around us we had hoped to have is unavailable. We may find ourselves being left abandoned and alone, neglected or worse. We may find ourselves being demeaned, ridiculed, lied to, betrayed, persecuted or abused in some other way even as our Savior was. When this happens, because I believe it will, in some way for each of us, will our response be one of harbored resentment or anger or something else deemed less-than-Christ-like? Or will it be, as Christ so perfectly demonstrated, one of Love and understanding?
Though we are not perfect like Christ, nor can we be in this life, If we look at the way Christ dealt with his difficulties during His suffering in Gethsemane we can learn to apply that to our lives as we experience our own Gethsemane.
During Christ's suffering in Gethsemane, though lonely as it was, and excruciating, He let nothing deter him from Doing His Father's work. He was the perfect example of obedience. He let no pain, no loneliness or neglect, no ridicule or betrayal deter him from accomplishing His divine mission. He remembered always who he was- The only Begotten Son of Our Father in Heaven. the Christ, The son of God.
Like Christ, we must also remember who we are, sons and daughters of God, so that we are not deterred from accomplishing our divinely appointed missions when we find ourselves experiencing great challenges in life. This is key to staying on the right path.
Elder Donald L. Hallstrom posed the following question in the April 2016 General Confernece, which so eloquently demonstrated the point i'm trying to make:
"When difficult things occur in our lives, what is our immediate response? Is it confusion or doubt or spiritual withdrawal? Is it a blow to our faith? Do we blame God or others for our circumstances? Or is our first response to remember who we are--that we are children of a loving God? Is that coupled with an absolute trust that He allows some earthly suffering because He knows it will bless us, like a refiner's fire, to become like Him and to gain our eternal inheritance?"
When Christ found his disciples asleep, he didn't ridicule, demean or complain to them. Neither did He give up When He was alone, without their support. He kept going. He recognized their weaknesses, their difficult circumstances and withheld not his demonstration of love. We can do likewise when we are in similar circumstances. This will Not be easy. At times We may feel vulnerable and weak. This may require great humility from us at times and a strength beyond our own. But, especially during these trying times, we will be greatly blessed as we Seek to be understanding of others and practice forgiveness when we may be tempted to do otherwise.
Before anything or anyone else, we have a responsibility to God. In the scriptures we learn, the first and greatest commandment is To love God with all of our might mind and strength and then to love others as ourselves. We are also taught that when we lose ourselves in service to God, we truly find ourselves. When challenging circumstances arise, we can allow ourselves to think not only of ourselves but first, of our duty to God and to others. For, when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of our god.
This may seem contradictory to some. Some may feel that this implies that when we are suffering we ought to, in essence, neglect our needs and go out of our way to do more, be more, serve more, to our detriment, regardless of the severity of pain it may cause us. We need to use wisdom in our actions. Obviously, Heavenly Father does not want us to inflict more pain upon ourselves. However, we may fail to realize that we are doing ourselves the greater favor when we choose to rely upon the reality that we are royal beings, heirs to the kingdom of God, among the noble and great, and act in accordance with that truth. By doing so, we free ourselves of the spiritual burden of sin. For God Hath said No greater sorrow hath a man than to live a life contrary to the will of God
but on the contrary...no greater Joy hath a man than to know me the only true and living God. Our savior, Jesus Christ does not want us to present ourselves with unnecessary suffering just so we can prove we are accomplishing some virtue. Rather, like a tree that needs trimming in order to grow to its fullest potential, we are being asked to humbly submit to the Will of God, allowing him to heal our hearts and strengthen our character as we do so.
As mentioned before, submitting to the will of God, and entering the refiners fire, or being cut down so to speak may not be easy. But in our life's journey, we must remember, We are not alone. It is my personal belief that, especially during those dark times, when we may find ourselves painfully alone, God is in the details of our lives, sending unseen angels to lighten our burdens and lift our load.
Even Christ.when he was at the pinnacle of his suffering in Gethsemane, was visited and comforted by an angel whom Heavenly Father sent. If Christ, being as powerful and all knowing as he is and was, received the help he needed, why would He not be there for us as well? Our lack of perspective and minute understanding, our weaknesses, imperfections and inabilities and the wile temptations and tribulations we would experience in our earthly experience are precisely the reason Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane. Because He knew we could NOT do it alone. It is our job to accept his offering, give our sins to Him and let him heal our hearts. This is not a one time event. We have the opportunity to seek to repent daily, acknowledging our weaknesses and accepting His purifying forgiveness, recognizing that, it is only in and through Him that we can find the strength to overcome. We must also remember that Christ's atonement does not only cover sins but also covers pain, sickness, temptations and suffering of every kind. (Alma 7:11)
As sons and daughters of God, we need to be ever mindful that we are not allowing life's experiences, good or bad, to deter us from accomplishing our divinely appointed missions. As we strive to accomplish that, by following the example of our Savior, we can rest assured that No matter HOW difficult this life becomes, no matter HOW many times we make mistakes, because of His atonement for us, we NEVER have to be alone. When we seek to step outside of ourselves, even amidst our own Gethsemane, we are allowing our savior to lift us to greater heights, where we can truly begin to understand who we are as one of the noble and great. Let us strive to live up to that legacy we bear as sons and daughters of God, is my Prayer.
