Why do I react so strongly to such trivial things?
My usually reliable ball-point pen was not working. I scribbled circles on scratch paper to get it warmed up. I tried again. Still spotty. I checked the ink level; plenty of ink. I scribbled again and tried again. Still spotty. I got mad at my Pilot retractable fine point pen; I threw it in the trash irritably.
Then I’m haunted by the question. “Why do I let myself be defeated by a pen?”
Painfully often, I have seismic reactions to trivial annoyances. Forgotten keys. Stubbed toes. Food spilled on my favorite shirt.
My irritation is not consistent with my understanding of God’s plan.
A new thought comes with unexpected clarity: What if life is perfect? What if everything that happens is somehow a blessing? What if I am failing the test by asking life to be a weekend at a resort rather than an hour on a challenge course?
Consider a new interpretation for a familiar scripture. First, the familiar scripture:
Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.
Doctrine and Covenants 90:24
Maybe the Lord means something like:
When you understand that this life is an opportunity for you to keep focused on your eternal purposes, then no pen on earth can keep you from enjoying life and seeing my goodness. Not even a Pilot fine point pen that quits working while it has ink in it.
While it may not be theologically precise to say that life is perfect, it may approach a powerful truth. Elder Neal Maxwell quoted Malcolm Muggeridge:
All the happenings in this world including the most terrible disasters and suffering will be seen in eternity as in some mysterious way a blessing, as a part of God’s love. We ourselves are a part of that love . . .. The necessity of life is to know God. Otherwise, our mortal existence is no more than a night in a second-class hotel.
“All the happenings.” That seems to include when you get home from the store and realize that you didn’t get the thing you most need. Or when the neighbor kids want to help and they pick long-anticipated tomatoes off your bush that aren’t ripe yet. Or Siri writes a nonsense word in a message—and you discover the mistake after the message is sent.
Life is packed with frustrations. And those of us who expect all things to work for our good face a very specific challenge: To see the blessings in disappointment and minor trials.
Most of our adversities are pretty trivial compared to being driven out of our homes and crossing the frozen Mississippi in the middle of a wintry night in February. Yet I tend to react to inconveniences as if I were truly persecuted and mistreated.
When we have vibrant faith, do we react differently? Would God recommend a form of Polyanna’s glad game?
When Pollyanna was disappointed with something, she would look for reasons to be happy. For example, when she hoped for a doll but the charity gave her crutches, her dad taught her to be happy that she didn’t need them. So, she learned to be glad in all circumstances.
Was the Lord teaching the glad game in a modern revelation?
Be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours. And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.
Doctrine and Covenants 78:18-19
So, the sense that life is already perfect may mean that God is allowing challenges that will stretch me to greater patience while sending blessings that reassure me of His total commitment to my growth and redemption.
I will try to be grateful even when the internet is down, Siri can’t spell a thing, and my pen quits writing. Because, in some mysterious way, life is perfect.
Wally Goddard is a retired professor of Family Life having served in Arkansas and Alabama. He developed programs on personal well-being, marriage, and parenting. He is well known for his many creative family programs, including The Marriage Garden, The Parenting Journey, and Blueprint for Happiness. Wally has authored or co-authored several books including Between Parent and Child, The Soft-Spoken Parent, and Drawing Heaven into Your Marriage. He has been recognized by his colleagues with several awards including the Outstanding Family Life Educator Award. Wally and his wife, Nancy, have three adult children, fourteen grandchildren, and have cared for many foster children over the years. Wally describes Nancy as the finest human being he has ever known.
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