The Mormons teach people to be self-reliant as much as possible. This means they need to prepare ahead for difficult times. One way to do this is to build a supply of food, cleaners, health care products, clothing, and even cash to rely on should they need it.

Typically, these items are relied on during times of unemployment. As people have learned recently, no one is immune from unemployment, regardless of education, experience, or reputation. Finding a new job can require a substantial amount of time. Those who do not need to shop, or who perhaps shop only for perishables, get through this time with little disruption to their lives and with the comfort of knowing they have sufficient food and supplies.

Mormons are counseled to avoid going into debt to obtain these supplies, since debt for any reason but home ownership and possibly college is discouraged. Instead, they begin slowly. Families are encouraged to give up a luxury, such as a vacation or cable television until the money that would have been used for the luxury has supplied the storage. Others purchase several extra items each week, working to have a one week supply. When they have this, they begin on getting ahead a second week. In the very poorest country, women are taught that when they make their daily rice and beans, they should drop a spoonful of each into a jar. When the jar is filled, it’s sealed and becomes the first item in their food storage. Since rice and beans keep an extremely long time, this provides long-term security in the form of a food the women are accustomed to serving daily.

However small the start, Mormons know that even a little food put away can make a difference. Just knowing it’s there can provide a feeling of security when those around us are frightened. We know that whatever else happens, we won’t go hungry.

The Mormons have created a website that teaches its members how to create a food and commodity supply. It includes charts that show how much of the staples a family will need. This site is very popular even with those who are not LDS.

Provident Living will show you first how to build and store the items you need to sustain life, and then how to add additional items to make survival more pleasant. Mormons you know will also be happy to help you get started on this rewarding process.

Your supply of food does not sit in the basement getting old. Mormons rotate their storage, meaning they “shop” from their food storage. New purchases go to into the storage, to be used oldest items first. One advantage of this system is that it eventually cuts shopping costs. Those who have storage can purchase on sale, in season, and in bulk, thus obtaining the best possible prices for their supplies. When a shortage causes prices to soar temporarily, Mormons can use their storage until the shortage is over, both saving money, and reserving those items for those who did not stock up in advance.

Find out what the mainstream media is saying about the no-longer odd Mormon tradition of food storage. Then sit down and start a plan for your own storage. It’s no longer just a “Mormon thing.”

In an article written by Geoffrey Janes addressing this question, Janes insightfully said: “The basic idea is that God is some kind of spiritual narcotic that dulls our senses to the pain of the world and helps us to cope with it.” Quoting from a contemporary Polish poet, Janes went on to say, “Religion, opium of the people! The true opium of modernity is the belief that there is no God so humans are free to do precisely as they please.”Opium is a narcotic. “The term narcotic (ναρκωτικός) is believed to have been coined by Galen to refer to agents that benumb or deaden, causing loss of feeling or paralysis.” [Wikipedia]

Thus, opiates have two effects: 1) to numb pain, to do away with feeling; and 2) to make one powerless to move. Marx’s statements suggest that the populace is paralyzed when religion holds sway. He thinks people cannot make thinking, rational decisions or exercise volition, when religion influences them. He thinks people are lulled into believing in fairy tales, numbing their pain, but making them unable to sense what is really real and to act accordingly.

Having been physically paralyzed from the neck down for 19 years, I know how it is to have absolutely no feeling in any part of my body except for my face and the top of my head. You may think it a blessing not to be able to feel pain, but it really isn’t.

Our bodies, as created by God, were designed to experience pain to let us know that something is wrong and to move us to act. Although pain is not pleasant, it can be a blessing in urging us to seek immediate help to discover the source of the pain, take the necessary measures to alleviate it, and thus avoid more serious damage.

I believe that our spirits function in much the same manner. If we inject too much opium of disbelief into our systems it is also possible for our spirits to become paralyzed. When an individual is spiritually paralyzed he cannot “feel” the promptings that come from God through his conscience and is not aware that he is in great spiritual pain and perhaps in danger of an impending spiritual death. It is sin and pride that cause paralysis, and not true religion. Geoffrey Janes said, “The truth is something that cannot be changed. God does exist. He created us, not the other way around.”

From the beginning of time there have been individuals and entire nations that have become spiritually paralyzed by rejecting God. They have injected into their cultures the narcotic of disbelieving in a higher power and any system or code of ethics. It has had such a numbing effect on their spirits they have become “past feeling.” Crimes against humanity have been and continue to be committed by such individuals and nations, including indeed, the nations that have followed the philosophies of Karl Marx.

For months after my accident I came very close to being spiritually paralyzed as well as physically paralyzed. It was only by turning to God with all my heart and trusting in his goodness and love that my spirit was brought back to life. Darkness, gloom, and despair were replaced by light, warmth, and joy! No, religion is not the opium of the weak!”

Jack Rushton

www.cafepress.com/brainburst/3168797

At age 50 I was body surfing with my 16-year-old son and his friend at Laguna Beach, California. I took one “last wave” and accidentally hit by forehead on a submerged rock, my neck was broken, and my spinal cords severed between the second and third cervical vertebrae. I was instantly paralyzed, lost consciousness, and woke up two hours later in the Laguna hospital surrounded by doctors and nurses. One of the nurses noticed my eyes were opened and said to me, “Jack, if you can understand what I am saying, blink your eyes once.” I blinked and there was a collective sigh of relief in the room. That began for me a new way of life that has continued on for the past 19 years.

Because of my faith in a personal God and his goodness I never was angry at Him, nor did I go around saying, with an attitude of self-pity, “Why me?” However, it did take time for me to realize that God and Christ felt my pain and suffering as much, if not more, than I did.

Although not angry about my accident and resulting paralysis, I was devastated and heartbroken for some time. It just seemed that I had lost so much and I could not conceive of living for any extended period of time completely paralyzed from the neck down and on life support.

I slid into a deep, dark, depression and there were those days I would have welcomed an early exit from mortality. I continued to pray however, and finally after a long period of preparation I was given a wonderful experience that made me know forever that God does feel our pain and is anxious to help us.

I came to the end of the rope. I hit the wall. I came to realize that no doctor or any man on this earth could do for me what I needed the most. I knew because of the nature of the injury I would never “get anything back.” What I needed and longed for was hope, peace, and the sense of well-being I had lost because of my accident. Finally I turned to God with all my heart and soul in prayer as I never had prayed before. I eventually came to understand how much I was loved by the Savior and a loving, kind, merciful, Heavenly Father. I didn’t see a vision but I was given a new heart and was filled with peace, joy, hope, and a sense of well-being I never thought I would ever feel again.

Those feelings have never gone away but have only intensified during the past 19 years; I came to understand then, and know now, that God and Jesus Christ do know what we feel and share our pain. I am convinced through my personal experience that they will take our pain and suffering upon themselves through their infinite grace and love if we will but trust them and come unto them with all our hearts.

Believing in the Scriptures, I have a feeling for how sensitive deity is to our suffering and pain in mortality. When his good friend Lazarus died and Jesus came to his aid and to comfort his sisters Mary, and Martha, the scripture says: “Jesus wept.” [John 11: 35] There are almost countless accounts in the Gospels of Jesus Christ healing the sick, restoring the dead to their loved ones, and manifesting incredible compassion to all about him.

As a resurrected being we read this moving account about Him from the Scriptures: “Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy…And it came to pass that he commanded that their little children should be brought. So they brought their little children and set them down upon the ground round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; and the multitude gave way till they had all been brought unto him… [then] he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this he wept again…” [3 Nephi 17:7-22]

In a vision given to the Prophet Enoch the following tender scene has been preserved for us as God looked upon the wickedness of his people and the resulting pain and agony they were experiencing and would yet experience:

“And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the… people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains? And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst ^aweep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” [Moses 7:28-29]

Yes, God does feel our pain! He is a God of love and compassion. I wish everyone who ever had a serious problem or challenge in their lives could have my experience. I know they can, but it takes faith, trust, and turning to God with all our hearts.

I believe this is a very profound question that has undoubtedly been asked by millions of people from the beginning of time. Life can seem unfair at times as we experience our own personal suffering, and witness through our own eyes or through the media, the incredible suffering that seems to be such an integral part of the daily lives of people all over the world.

I had to come to grips with this question on a personal level when 19 years ago I broke my neck, severed my spinal cord, and became paralyzed from the neck down and ventilator dependent.

Approximately 6 years ago I had an experience with my son-in-law that I believe will shed some light on this fundamental question about life.

One morning I received a phone call from my son-in-law, Matt. He was enrolled in the MBA program at UC Irvine which is about 20 minutes from our home. The Dean of the MBA program had just announced to all the students that were there that day that one of their classmates by the name of Michael Johnson, had drowned in a swimming accident in Northern California the day before. Michael was one of the brightest students and leaders in the MBA class. He was very charismatic and his future as a leader in the business world appeared to be limitless. His fellow classmates, including my son-in-law, were just stunned when they received the news regarding Michael. After conferring with the Dean and several classmates Matt volunteered me to come to UC Irvine to speak to the 50 or 60 students who were there that day for just a few minutes.

Matt came home, loaded me into my modified van, and drove me up to the campus. As we went into the room where the students were gathered together you could just feel the spirit of sorrow, and I could sense that many were asking themselves, “Why did something like this happen to such a good, wonderful, person like Michael Johnson? Couldn’t God have prevented it from happening?”

As I looked at these students it was impressed upon me very strongly to share with them the conversation I had with Dennis Praeger almost 15 years ago when I appeared on his talk radio show in Los Angeles. Toward the end of the hour he said “Jack, what brings you the most peace and comfort — to believe that God brought the wave that broke your neck or to believe that it was just an accident?” I, in essence, told him that I had spent very little time asking myself why the accident took place. The only thing I knew for sure was that there was a loving and kind God that would help us get through anything life would bring our way if we had sufficient faith and trust in Him.

I told the students that afternoon that each one of us has our agency and that we are not puppets of deity. We live our lives exercising our agency as we choose to do so, but there is also at play natural law. Oftentimes in exercising our agency we hit natural law head on and then experience the consequences for our actions. When I went body surfing at Laguna Beach that beautiful August day, it was something I chose to do. I firmly believe that a loving God could have protected me but he doesn’t interfere with our agency and natural law. In my own mind the “Why” question is absolutely the worst question we can ever ask ourselves when something like this happens. God could prevent every disaster or catastrophe from happening, but he doesn’t, because of his love for us and his understanding of the importance of agency.

And so things happen in life like swimming accidents, cancer, tsunamis, earthquakes, murder, abuse, and etc. — the list is endless. God doesn’t cause these things to happen and he could certainly prevent them, but in doing so we would lose the priceless gift of agency.

Mortality brings to us a variety of experiences — some wonderful and some not so wonderful. However, through all of the experiences we have we gain knowledge, and a wise and loving God, the Father of us all, will never rob us of the priceless gift of agency. The students seemed to respond to this line of reasoning.

Life is so very precious and yet it can be taken in an instant. I am very impressed that in most countries in the world there is such a desire to preserve life. You see it every day reported in newspapers and on TV where hundreds and thousands will seek to recover a lost or kidnapped child for example. If someone is injured in a car accident or stranded on a cliff and etc. many caring people are willing to risk their lives to save the life of another. Medical science can do so much to preserve and improve the quality of human life. I believe this is pleasing to God and hopefully through an extended life we can fulfill the measure of our creation and be prepared to take the next step forward in our eternal progression.

There is no price we can put on mortal life. What a gift a loving and kind Heavenly Father has given to each one of us. Each day is precious and priceless!

We also do not see what happens after people pass through this portal of life. It is not an end but a continuation of life and service. We don’t know how one’s ministering from the other side of the veil, or beyond this life, will impact their earthly friends and families as well as those they meet in their spiritual resting place. A benevolent and perfect God has factored all of that in, and has seen to every need of every individual. He hasn’t let something slip by him, or work to a unused end. There is no waste and no incidental event that won’t turn to someone’s glory. Our not seeing those results should not cause us to waiver in knowing that God is in control, and that death and suffering are not in vain, but will work towards God’s perfect loving design for each of us–while granting us our agency on the way.

The lights aren’t always green. The bread isn’t always fresh. Tires go flat. Bills mound. People take ill and die at every stage of life. People struggle. Others starve. Wars go on.

Grief is part of the human experience. Opposition is necessary for growth, according to the Mormon view of our mortal experience, revealed by the Lord through modern prophets. It can, however, be lifted through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Mormons believe that the Savior not only died to pay for our sins but also to take upon Himself our sorrow, grief, and infirmities (Alma 7:11-12).

Patricia Pinegar, former President of the Primary, or children’s organization of the Mormon Church, speaks of her own encounter with grief and the Savior’s intercession:

The difficult experience of my son’s death helped me identify and rejoice in the blessings of peace, hope, and direction-blessings that all who truly accept and live the gospel of Jesus Christ may enjoy. I can bear witness to the words of Elder Richard G. Scott: “Please learn that as you wrestle with a challenge and feel sadness because of it, you can simultaneously have peace and rejoicing” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 20; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 17). (“Peace, Hope and Direction,” Ensign, Nov. 1999).

The Savior Himself was a man of sorrow and grief, yet He must have had the supreme joy of knowing He was in tune with His Father and solace in that unique relationship with Him. We, too, can find that peace and assurance that we are not abandoned when death of a loved one strikes or when someone’s agency tragically colludes with the plans for our own life.

Elder Bateman, a contemporary Mormon leader, speaks as well to the healing balm that can come when we ask the Lord for that special soul salve that only He can truly provide:

Death teaches that we do not experience a fulness of joy in mortality and that everlasting joy can be achieved only with the assistance of the Master (see D&C 93:33-34). Just as the lame man at the pool of Bethesda needed someone stronger than himself to be healed (see John 5:1-9), so we are dependent on the miracles of Christ’s atonement if our souls are to be made whole from grief, sorrow, and sin…. Through Christ, broken hearts are mended and peace replaces anxiety and sorrow.

Grief isn’t always caused by death or sickness. There are as many life burdens as there are blessings. Of the lesser-visible crosses, modern apostle, Marvin J. Ashton remarks:

One type of cross is that of violated trust by a parent, a family member, a teacher, a bishop, a member of the stake presidency, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a co-worker, or a classmate.

Another cross that isn’t always visible but that on occasion can be very heavy and worrisome is the lack of self-respect-a feeling of unwillingness to accept oneself. Can you find it in your heart to once in a while compliment yourself on your behavior? Or do you think poorly of yourself no matter what you do? Having feelings like these can be a heavy cross to bear. Such a cross may slow down your eternal progression. (“Carry Your Cross,” Liahona, Sep. 1988.)

My own crosses have taught me, more than anything, about who Jesus Christ really is and who I really am. I’ve felt deeply His knowledge of me exceeding my own, and His awareness and recognition of my every need. I’ve seen Him anticipate circumstances and prepare me; walk with me, converse with me in ways that registered completely and undeniably, and I learned that I want more than anything His closeness forever. Regardless of their source, there is solace to be found through drawing near to the Lord, who descended below all of the things we endure, so He could lift us up out of them. I testify that His power is real, that His knowledge of our struggles is intimate, and that His ability to help us is unparalleled. If you would like to know more about how to access His power, please visit www.mormon.org or chat with the missionaries.

- Show quoted text -

In an interview with LDS practitioners discussing “spouse abuse,” John Nelson describes what is deemed inappropriate behavior:

Spouse abuse involves inappropriate acts of one spouse over the other. It may involve coercive acts in which an abuser forces a person to do something that he or she normally would not do, with no particular concern for the victim. Abuse may also include the use of threats, name calling, yelling, and intimidation.

Mormons believe in equality of gender and while the husband is said to preside in righteousness within the family, “presiding” implies love and inclusion rather than force and exclusion. Mr. Nelson goes on to clarify this principle:

In some cases abusers misunderstand or misapply the concept of leadership in the home. I want to make it very clear that it’s not the concept of a presiding leader in the home that is wrong; it’s the misapplication of it. The 121st section of the Doctrine and Covenants speaks of that specifically: “The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, … but when we … exercise control or dominion or compulsion … in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves” (D&C 121:36-37). (“A Conversation about Spouse Abuse, ” Ensign October 1999.)

Mormons believe in healing from this and other types of abuse, both for the victim and the inflicter of the injury.

Modern apostle of the Lord, Elder Richard G. Scott, speaks of the need to trust in the love and help available through Jesus Christ for the abused.

Unless healed by the Lord, mental, physical, or sexual abuse can cause you serious, enduring consequences. As a victim you have experienced some of them. They include fear, depression, guilt, self-hatred, destruction of self-esteem, and alienation from normal human relationships. When aggravated by continued abuse, powerful emotions of rebellion, anger, and hatred are generated. These feelings often are focused against oneself, others, life itself, and even Heavenly Father. Frustrated efforts to fight back can degenerate into drug abuse, immorality, abandonment of home, and, tragically in extreme cases, suicide. Unless corrected, these feelings lead to despondent lives, discordant marriages, and even the transition from victim to abuser. One awful result is a deepening lack of trust in others which becomes a barrier to healing (Elder Scott, “Healing the Tragic Scars of Abuse,” Ensign, May 1992).  See also Elder Scott’s recent General Conference address titled “To Heal the Shattering Consequences of Abuse”.

Praying for help, seeking counsel from trusted Mormon Church leaders, and allowing the Spirit of the Lord to work in incremental ways, helps the abused one heal through the atonement of Jesus Christ. And, in addition to healing for the victim, there is forgiveness for the abuser who seeks it wholeheartedly.

And for those who have not been touched by the cycle of abuse, let us help free others who have been. Let us help the innocent children, as called upon to do by President Gordon B. Hinckley, the 15th Prophet and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often errantly called “The Mormon Church”):

How great is our responsibility, how serious the responsibility of Christian people…to reach out to ease the plight of suffering children, to lift them from the rut of despair in which they walk.

Surely after all of the history we have read, after all of the suffering of which we have been told, after all of the exploitation of which we are aware, we can do more than we are now doing to lift the blight that condemns millions of children to lives that know little of happiness, that are tragically brief, and that are filled with pain (“Save the Children,” Ensign, November, 1994)

Personal Response by James Faulconer

Confronted with the problem of suffering, it is as tempting for Mormons to wax philosophical as it is for anyone else. The question makes our otherwise quiet philosophical engines rev, anxious to decide which of the three legs of the traditional problem to knock down, or to find a way to reconcile them with the existence of suffering. Is it that God is not really all powerful—or perhaps that we misunderstand what “all-powerful” means? Is it that he is not all-loving or, that perhaps we do not fully understand his love and what it entails? Is it that he is both all-powerful and all-loving,

but does not know how to stop or at least lessen our pain? The existence of suffering seems to demand that we deny at least one of God’s attributes.

Of course no believer of any stripe, Mormon or otherwise, can do that. We assert that God has whatever power there is, that he loves us with whatever love is possible, and that he knows all that can be known: he is omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient. In what would we have faith if it were not in such a being? But there seems to be a fundamental philosophical incompatibility between the assertion of these three attributes and the existence of suffering.

So what is the answer? To stop doing philosophy on this issue. The problem is in the approach: Since philosophy cannot solve the puzzle, we ought not to continue to deal with it philosophically.

Job did not understand his suffering, but his lack of understanding wasn’t an intellectual puzzle. It was a test of his integrity. Faced with the death of his family and his own suffering, he said of God, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). In the Book of Mormon, a second scriptural witness of Jesus Christ, King Benjamin admonishes us, “Believe in God; [. . .] believe that he has all wisdom and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend,” and reminding us of what that implies, he says, “I would that ye should always remember, and retain in remembrance, the greatness of God and your own nothingness, and his goodness” (Mosiah 4:9, 11).

Not all problems are amenable to philosophical solutions. Giving up on philosophy’s ability to solve this problem, however, is a small loss if any at all, for ultimately suffering is not a philosophical problem. With Benjamin and Job we recognize that there are things we cannot explain rationally, philosophical puzzles we cannot answer. But suffering is a real problem rather than a mental puzzle. It is a problem of our lives and the lives of others, a problem that requires our action rather than merely our thought. It needs our faithful, trusting, and thoughtful action, and we must trust in God’s power, knowledge, and love in order to act with confidence.

In the face of suffering—our own or someone else’s—the question is not, “How is this possible?” but “What can I do?” Acting to end or alleviate suffering is the most rational response to it—more rational than any possible philosophical resolution—for such acts imitate the sacrifice of God himself, who suffered to save us from our suffering.

Additional Resources:

Paul Ricoeur, “Evil, A Challenge to Philosophy and Theology,” Figuring the Sacred: Religion, Narrative and Imagination (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995) 249-61.

James E. Faulconer, “Rethinking Theology: The Shadow of the Apocalypse,” FARMS Review 19:1 (2007), 175-99. Available on-line: http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=641

Personal Response by Karen

Tasting God’s love in our lives includes rather than excludes times and situations of pain and complexity and hurt and grief and indecision and disappointment and depression. While some of us see His hand in some parts of our lives, we may tend to want to bracket the rest, apologizing or losing joy permanently over what seems an anomaly to the plan or an inexplicable disappointment.

Pain is a difficult thing to see and understand, unless we have the bigger picture. If we don’t, this is where many of us bow out of God’s presence and think He has bowed out of ours, where we duck from our testimonies fearful they will let us down.

And, too, it’s easy to expect pain-free lives as followers of Jesus Christ, but as one Mormon stated, “The gospel is not an exemption from pain; it is a resource in the time of pain.” I testify that God’s handwriting is always evident, even if we cannot make out His complete message to us at the time. I testify that He is in the labyrinth of our lives as well as in the straightforward moments, or God would cease to be God.

I remember when my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I’d like to share a portion of that story with you, in the hope that you may feel that God is aware of every second of your deepest sorrow or physical trial.

When I arrived at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, I ached for my mother. She was in great pain before the medical staff got the morphine drip going with a heavy enough dose to keep her comfortable. This was more than reminiscent of her 25-day stay in the hospital twenty years earlier with biliary obstruction and life-threatening surgical complications.

I was tracking Mom’s oxycodone by the hour and seeking to increase it, according to physician instructions–and hospital-protocol fliers posted in every other hallway–for Mom to be close to pain-free. But the lag time between increased doses created a valley of despair for her.

I recall the first night I asked to stay overnight and wasn’t granted permission. I later learned that she had writhed in agony between doses from 10-11:30 p.m. Finally, after a morning confab with the head of the pain management team, we got her meds and pain mostly managed. Morphine ran intravenously on a basal dose, and for extra bouts of pain, Mom was free to push the button for an extra, limited dose or bolus.

I remember several instances where Mom’s groaning was almost more than I could bear. I prayed that she would not have one more second of pain than necessary for her exaltation and purification. And then I asked the Lord straightforwardly, in a sort of spiritual gust: “How much pain is enough? How does thou know that this specific amount or that is precisely the right amount? How dost thou quantify or qualify pain? I trust Thee, but please help me have increased understanding.”

My answer came in waves of recollection. The first remembrance came in the form of a familiar story. Whether the version is real or fictional doesn’t really matter. What matters is what the Spirit said to me as I pondered it. It’s the story known as “The Refiner’s Fire.”

Some time ago, a few ladies met to read the scriptures. While reading the third chapter of Malachi, they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse, ‘And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of sliver.”

One lady’s opinion was that it was intended to convey the view of the sanctifying influence of the grace of Christ. Then she proposed to visit a silversmith and report to her friends what he said on the subject.

She went accordingly, and without telling the objective of her errand, begged to know the process of refining silver, which he fully described to her. ‘But Sir, she said, ‘Do you sit while the work of refining is going on?’

‘Oh, yes madam,’ replied the silversmith; ‘I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining is exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured.’

As the lady was leaving the shop, the silversmith called her back, and said that he had one more thing further to mention–that the silversmith only knows when the process of purifying is complete, by seeing his own image reflected in the silver.

As this story re-entered my soul, I knew that every second of Mom’s pain–and, by extension, each of ours–was counted. I just received the answer to one of the two questions I posed, a sure witness that pain is quantified. And while I still didn’t know how, that didn’t seem to matter. The Holy Ghost bore record, that God the Father and the Savior know to the second, what is apportioned and appropriate and sufficient for the refinement we require.

Notice how the second question, “How dost thou qualify pain? Through this same account, the Spirit etched into my soul a knowledge that pain was also qualified by the Refiner. He would see our image when the work was complete. He wouldn’t just know how many seconds to keep us in the heat; He also knew precisely the intended, specific quality of the final product.

God was in control of the quantity and quality of pain in this trial. There was no margin for error. What a clear response to a child’s question in time of adversity. God’s hand had certainly not disappeared nor had it been idle.

The second wave of recall came in the form of a poem I’d read once by an unknown author:

Pain stayed so long I said to him today,
‘I will not have you with me any more.’
I stomped my foot and said, ‘Be on your way,’ and paused there, startled at the look he wore.
‘I, who have been your friend,’ he said to me,
‘I, who have been your teacher–all you know
Of understanding, love, of sympathy,
And patience, I have taught you. Shall I go?
He spoke the truth, this strange unwelcome guest;
I watched him leave, and knew that He was wise.
He left a heart grown tender in my breast.
He left a far, clear vision in my eyes. I dried my tears, and lifted up a song–
Even for one who’d tortured me so long.
(Tragedy or Destiny, Spencer. W. Kimball, Deseret Book: 1996, p. 4.)

I found strength in this affidavit for pain from someone who knew it first-hand.

The third wave struck. It was the following quote that came to me in part, but which I now share in full:

No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God (Orson F. Whitney, ibid).

In fact, whenever I asked, whenever I needed the bigger picture reinforced, I received an answer. Just as Mom was receiving an additional dose of morphine as needed, at the press of a button, I, too, received spiritual boluses and intravenous injections of faith p.r.n.

Pruned, Pressed, & Purified

I’ve come to understand a little more of what it means that each of our hearts will need to be pruned, pressed, and purified, much like the olive tree and olive oil that symbolize the process, the Purifier, and the product of a pure heart.

I’ve thought about this connection, between the oil, the press, and our own presses, and share my thought-journey.

The Oil: Liquid Gold

Homer called it “liquid gold.” Athletes used to smear it all over their bodies. It was used to anoint, to cook, as a source of light and therapeutic ointment for centuries. It was infused with flowers and grasses to produce both medicine and cosmetics. This liquid gold is commonly known as olive oil.

I grew up with it, doused on tomatoes and parmegiana, in authentic Italian “gravy” (you call it “sauce!”), combined with vinegar on salads, glittering in the bottom of a bowl waiting to be soaked up by crusty Italian bread. It was the indispensable oil of my Mediterranean forebears, the salutary ingredient in native cuisine and the same base for ordinations of rulers.

I was intrigued with its healthful properties earlier in my life, but am more-so now, having been anointed, initiated, blessed, and healed as this oil has been placed upon my head–consecrated by rightful administrators of the priesthood of God. I have felt its purifying influence and have come to appreciate its significance.

The Olive Press

Olive pressing is an incredible process and immediate metaphor. Before olives are pressed, they are carefully weighed and poured through a mesh screen to separate out their leaves. They must be harvested at just the right moment and taken to the press immediately so they don’t deteriorate.

After they’re washed and rinsed, they are sent to the crusher. I have seen photos of 3500-pound granite wheels used to crush olives. They are mammoth. The olives are laid out in a large steel container as the huge stone wheels relentlessly rumble in continuous circular movement over them, crushing them into paste. They are pressed into paste first, to help release the globules of oil. And then they are churned causing the oil to bead up for extraction. All of this, as you can imagine, is a labor-intensive and ingenious work.

Gethsemane: Garden of the Olive Press

The finest olive oil producers–just as the greatest Harvester of Souls–know the olive, the precise moment of harvest, the time to crush, the way to carry them to the press (they can be damaged even by their own weight), the best method of releasing the purest oil–creating an extra-virgin product.

As we feel the press on our hearts, then, we can know the Lord of the Vineyard is the one extracting godhood from us, and that He, too, went through the press–the combined press each of us will pass through, in a way we can barely begin to grasp.

That makes me reflect on this description of the link between the olive press and the Savior’s atoning sacrifice:

The Savior was, spiritually speaking, trodden upon, trampled, crushed until the very tissues of the heart [cried] out for relief and release and until “mercy [had] compassion on mercy and claimed her own (D&C 88:40), that he may know, according to the flesh, how to succor his people. (The Olive Press: A Symbol of Christ, FARMS, pgs 5, 7).

It borders on inexpressible that the Savior was innocently pressed beyond anything we could ever bear, and that He now is our advocate in our heart-presses, allowing the nectar of our potential to produce in us.

So, the crushed oil is virgin.

The silver refined by the Refiner is perfect when finished.

Pain, too, will work towards our eternal lives. We’re here, now to experience all that comes with a body, to refine our spirits in the turbulence and triumphs of this mortal sphere. And we’re promised it will be worth it, if we endure faithfully.