Bend, Don't Break

Today I sat outside in the grass for a while thinking. Thinking about this blog, actually, and what I was going to post for today. I could go the easy route and put up one of my freeze-dried, pre-done posts (probably another favorite scene from a favorite movie) or I could actually start fresh.

Guess I'm starting fresh.

As I was sitting, pulling up pieces of grass and shredding them one by one, I noticed the most durable pieces of grass were also the most flexible. Take a piece of nice green grass and bend it- notice how you can twist and contort it into unnatural shapes and positions. The grass bends, but it doesn't break.

It made me think of something Margaret D. Nadauld, former Young Women General President, said in 2000:

"Women of God can never be like the women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."

This quote can of course apply not only to women, but to men also. I have great admiration for "go get 'em" men and women, whether their stories are fictitious in books or real in real life. The biggest reason for my respect is the way those people stand up for themselves. They don't let themselves be pushed around, and they stand up for others who are maybe not as strong as they are. But I am learning the hard heart, the tough, "can't touch this" heart, is perhaps more brittle than the soft, flexible, meek heart. Nephi had it right when he said, "I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm... (earlier in the verse) O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever."

Faith can move mountains.

Grass