The Claw!

This morning I woke up and all I could think about was "the Claw" scene from Toy Story.  Remember?  Woody and Buzz find themselves trapped in a claw-game vending machine, surrounded by zealous little alien squeaky toys, only to be captured by Sid, Andy's nefarious and sadistic next-door neighbor.  As I thought about this scene, it made me chuckle how life is sometimes like this.  We find ourselves stuck somewhere, we don't know how we got there, and our next move is just as uncertain.  I also thought about the words of one of the aliens: "The Claw is our master.  It decides who will go and who will stay!" 



"Farewell my friends! I go on to a better place..."



Thankfully our Master is not an arbitrary, unfeeling metal claw, manipulated by greedy children; He is the Good Shepherd who lovingly invites us to follow Him and return home to our Father in Heaven.  But He knows better than we do.  He can see things from a top-down perspective, where sometimes all we might see are the obstacles in our way.  God and Jesus know all things, but they do not determine our choices.  We still have the ability to choose the path in front of us, but sometimes They nudge us along or warn us or direct us another way. 

So unlike The Claw, God does not force us one way or the other, but similarly He puts us where we need to be.  Then it's up to us to decide whether or not we will cheerfully follow His path or choose another.  Woody and Buzz made the best out of their imprisonment in Sid's house until they could finally make a break for it and return back to the loving arms of their beloved Andy.  We too don't always get to choose our circumstances, but we certainly can choose our reactions.

Food for thought.

Much Love,

Elder Spendlove

Image from http://porcelainexistence.tumblr.com/post/5655772108

I Will Choose Free Will!

Sometimes as missionaries we get little "freebies"--we were at this burger joint in Ukiah on Monday with a local member of the Church (I had an ostrich burger.  Yeah.  That just happened), and there was all this classic rock playing (Aside: as missionaries we don't listen to the radio or music that draws us away from Christ.), and I loved classic rock back home.  I was trying not to listen to it!  I promise!  Anyway, this song by Rush comes on and as I "wasn't listening", my ear caught hold of some of the lyrics, which are as follows:

"I will choose a path that's clear--I will choose freewill!"

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose freewill.

In between bites of ostrich, I really pondered the meaning behind those words.  We as humans value free will.  We (LDS people) believe it is one of the basic reasons we're her on Earth--to use our free will to choose God instead of Satan; we use our free will to"come unto Christ and be perfected in Him", like I posted last week. 

A Stone Cut Out of the Mountain Pt. III

As my Master chiseled and scraped, brushed and polished, I began to see myself how he saw me: worthwhile, important, magnificent, and something great.  As I mentioned before, the pain of the chisel never decreased, but I learned to accept it as my Master's plan and trust that his skillful hands would work untold wonders for my future.  Truly--and I understand this will sound terribly ironic--my heart of stone softened and I learned to respect, and far greater than that, to love my Master, the Great Michelangelo.  The great care he took, the joy he expressed at seeing me become glorious, his detail in carving every intricacy with precision--it all evidences his pouring his whole soul into making me his masterpiece, his work and his glory. 

It took him three and a half years of working daily and toiling arduously to finish me, but he did it.  In the early summer of 1504, I, David, was completed.  Standing erect in mighty majesty, I was a symbol of hope for the Florentine Renaissance, a budding revival of great human achievement that was endangered by the iron-fisted traditionalists of Italy.  Michelangelo explained to me as he worked that the man I depicted had been a courageous defender of the truth and of God's kingdom long ago.  As a boy, this David had faced a foe many times his size and strength.  I was created to remind the good people of Florence that no obstacle is insurmountable when we put ourselves in the Hands of God, the Great Creator and Master. 



We truly are our Master's masterpiece.



 I am living proof of that.  I was a hard-willed, stubborn block of stone, doomed to crumble in a dusty old warehouse until I was discovered by a Master.  Once I learned to act, to submit my will to his, and not just be acted upon, a world of understanding and hope blossomed before my eyes (so to speak).  No longer was I doomed to impregnable uselessness; no longer was I destined to be rubble; no longer was I consigned to the unfulfillment of my true potential.  This Master, this caring, honest, dedicated craftsman shaped my destiny forever. 

I hope my tale has brought to light the struggles that everyone's heart, stone or flesh, must endure.  Remember, my softer-skinned friends, we are all shaped by a Master.  He knows best.  When we love Him and serve Him and submit ourselves to His will, He will polish us and craft us, and, like a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, we will all become our Master's masterpiece. 

The End

Image from: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/michelangelo-sculptures7.htm