Now the joy of (Tova) was so great even that (she) was full; yea, (she) was swallowed up in the joy of (her) God, even to the exhausting of (her) strength; ...
Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.
My mom and I had the opportunity to perform a piano-violin duet of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" during Sacrament Meeting yesterday (click here for the meaning of Sacrament Meeting.)
I love playing my violin in my home and accompanying the ward choir, but I have a hard time with doing solos. It seems as if no matter how hard I practice, when performance time comes I mess up. So yesterday I was praying and praying that it would work out. I was begging Heavenly Father to help my fingers go in the right place, to keep the bow from squeaking (it never does it at home, but it always does it when I'm in front of fifty people :S).
But despite all my prayers, I squeaked. Despite my begging, some notes were flat. As I was putting my violin away, I asked "Why didn't I get your grace? Why wasn't it perfect?"
Then I looked out into the faces of the people I'd played for. Some of them were crying. The Spirit was in the room. This is My Grace, the Spirit gave Heavenly Father's words to me. After all you can do, I will do the rest.
I was tuning my violin the other day, when I ran out of fine tuner. In case you're unfamiliar with how to tune a violin, there is a fine tuner and a tuning peg. The fine tuners are what you'll usually use, they refine the note until it's perfect. If it's really out of tune you'll use your tuning peg.
So I had turned my fine tuner to the lowest it could go. I knew what to do, I'd done it before. You bring your string out of tune by twisting the fine tuner until it's about half way and then you use your tuning pegs to bring it back to the relative area.
As I did that, I realized that this is what God is doing to us. We are so close to getting something great or becoming something wonderful, and then suddenly it seems everything is going wrong or all of Satan's forces are attacking us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is a very inspiring, simple series on the Mormon Channel on which people tell their stories of how grace has affected their lives.
There are stories of addiction, pornography, immoral sins, and just changing into a better person.
Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYgY8SPtEWG9lP4x8bbGgbUccxWmyzRk
Here is a story from Bro. Wilcox's talk "His Grace is Sufficient":
Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. How many know what I am talking about? Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.If the child sees Mom’s requirement of practice as being too overbearing (“Gosh, Mom, why do I need to practice? None of the other kids have to practice! I’m just going to be a professional baseball player anyway!”), perhaps it is because he doesn’t yet see with mom’s eyes. He doesn’t see how much better his life could be if he would choose to live on a higher plane.
Further comparisons between the piano and grace:
...The child must practice the piano, but this practice has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is change.
...“But Brother Wilcox, don’t you realize how hard it is to practice? I’m just not very good at the piano. I hit a lot of wrong notes. It takes me forever to get it right.” Now wait. Isn’t that all part of the learning process? When a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don’t say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We don’t expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying. Perfection may be his ultimate goal, but for now we can be content with progress in the right direction. Why is this perspective so easy to see in the context of learning piano but so hard to see in the context of learning heaven?Too many are giving up on the Church because they are tired of constantly feeling like they are falling short. They have tried in the past, but they always feel like they are just not good enough. They don’t understand grace. ...When learning the piano, are the only options performing at Carnegie Hall or quitting? No. Growth and development take time. Learning takes time.
His parable of the piano reminded me of this value video:
I play the piano myself. When I was five my mom started teaching me, and I hated it. I resisted all the way. Finally, my mom left me alone and I didn't learn anything on the piano for more than three years. Then I decided that the piano was the thing for me! Now I can sight read intermediate songs and am learning more challenging ones. The piano is so much fun!! Was it easy? Not always. Would it have been easier to just not play the piano? That depends. It wouldn't of been easier to play "The Entertainer." It would have been a lot harder!!
Compare my story to the Atonement. Sometimes people feel like they aren't ready. They just go off and do their own thing. Did my mom abandon me on the street when I refused to play the piano? No. She waited until I approached her, and then she helped me excel. That is what the Savior is doing for us. If we chose not to use His Atonement He won't force us. But He's always ready and always willing.
To start off this post, here's a story told by Brad Wilcox:
A BYU student once came to me and asked if we could talk. I said, “Of course. How can I help you?”
She said, “I just don’t get grace.”
I responded, “What is it that you don’t understand?”
She said, “I know I need to do my best and then Jesus does the rest, but I can’t even do my best.”
She then went on to tell me all the things she should be doing because she’s a Mormon that she wasn’t doing.
She continued, “I know that I have to do my part and then Jesus makes up the difference and fills the gap that stands between my part and perfection. But who fills the gap that stands between where I am now and my part?”
She then went on to tell me all the things that she shouldn’t be doing because she’s a Mormon, but she was doing them anyway.
Finally I said, “Jesus doesn’t make up the difference. Jesus makesall the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us.”
Seeing that she was still confused, I took a piece of paper and drew two dots—one at the top representing God and one at the bottom representing us. I then said, “Go ahead. Draw the line. How much is our part? How much is Christ’s part?”
She went right to the center of the page and began to draw a line. Then, considering what we had been speaking about, she went to the bottom of the page and drew a line just above the bottom dot.
I said, “Wrong.”
She said, “I knew it was higher. I should have just drawn it, because I knew it.”
I said, “No. The truth is, there is no line. Jesus filled the whole space. He paid our debt in full. He didn’t pay it all except for a few coins. He paid it all. It is finished.”
She said, “Right! Like I don’t have to do anything?”
“Oh no,” I said, “you have plenty to do, but it is not to fill that gap. We will all be resurrected. We will all go back to God’s presence. What is left to be determined by our obedience is what kind of body we plan on being resurrected with and how comfortable we plan to be in God’s presence and how long we plan to stay there.”
Christ asks us to show faith in Him, repent, make and keep covenants, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. By complying, we are not paying the demands of justice—not even the smallest part. Instead, we are showing appreciation for what Jesus Christ did by using it to live a life like His. Justice requires immediate perfection or a punishment when we fall short. Because Jesus took that punishment, He can offer us the chance for ultimate perfection (see Matthew 5:48, 3 Nephi 12:48) and help us reach that goal. He can forgive what justice never could, and He can turn to us now with His own set of requirements (see 2 Nephi 2:7; 3 Nephi 9:20).
“So what’s the difference?” the girl asked. “Whether our efforts are required by justice or by Jesus, they are still required.”
“True,” I said, “but they are required for a different purpose. Fulfilling Christ’s requirements is like paying a mortgage instead of rent or like making deposits in a savings account instead of paying off debt. You still have to hand it over every month, but it is for a totally different reason.”
I know that through Christ's grace, through His Atonement and His love, we can all be healed. We can feel His peace and the happiness that comes with it.
