sunday will come

as easter approaches, i have been thinking a lot about my Savior. about the sacrifice and love and power of his atonement. i was reading the blog of a sweet little cancer fighter, elena. in it, her mother mentioned something that has stuck with me for the past few days. (i think her mom might have even been quoting another family member) but, she said that she has realized that the Lord is serious about testing us in this life. like elena's mom, that prase seemed so simple to me at first. it was not until i thought about it more that i realized the depth of that analysis. life would not be a test if it were easy. i doubt that i would want the rewards that come from a sorrow-less life. it is only through the refiner's fire that we can reach our true potential.

that being said, often, i wish that life could be more simple. i wish that instead of constantly being faced with tiny tests of faith, i could face one big one and get it over with. i feel like i would easily pass an obvious test; someone holding a gun to my head and ordering me to deny my faith. the tests i struggle more with are the small ones; the ones that use the flaxen cord satan is so fond of. those are the ones that trip me up, the ones that i have to be paying close attention to notice. i suppose that is where the seriousness of the Lord's test is. not only because of the eternal consequences it holds, but also because he has tailor-made this test for me. the Lord knows that i could easily and without much effort, pass a huge, obvious test. the things that i struggle with are smaller, more vague issues. thus, the test that is my life, is filled with them.

a few (ok, so like 5) years ago, elder wirthlin gave a talk titled sunday will come. i loved it when i first heard it, and was so glad when a mormonmessage was posted featuring that talk. in the talk, elder wirthlin speaks of the friday that Christ was crucified as the darkest day in the history of the world. however, that dark friday was followed by the sunday in which Christ was resurrected. all the brightness and light that resurrection brought with it were poured out to the world. in one weekend, we saw the greatest sorrow possible, but also the greatest joy. we could not have seen one without the other. here's an exerpt from elder wirthlin's talk:

each of us will have our own fridays, those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. we will all experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. we will all have our fridays.but i testify in the name of the one who conquered death, sunday will come...no matter how dark our friday, sunday will come.

i was a dramatic, emotional teenager. i am not sure i am much changed now as an adult. the thing that stands out to me most is that many of the fridays i experienced as a youth seem so insignificant now. they seem almost comical and simple. even my more recent fridays feel dramatized. it is hard to fully remember those emotionsl; i am gladly removed from them. i can say, though, that having truly felt a friday, i know that sunday will always come. whether in this life or the next, it will come. what wonderful, hopeful news!

in other news, i went to orlando!! and pene has posted some pictures on masey's blog. head over there for an update! (unless you are bitter that, while it snowed here in Utah, florida was 78-90 the whole time)