The Currant Bush

"Thank you Mr. Gardener for loving me enough to cut me down."
Excerpts from "As Many as I Rebuke, I Chasten." by Elder Todd Christofferson and "The Currant Bush" by Elder Hugh B. Brown are below:

I wanted to tell you that oft-repeated story because there are many of you who are going to have some very difficult experiences: disappointment, heartbreak, bereavement, defeat. You are going to be tested and tried to prove what you are made of. I just want you to know that if you don’t get what you think you ought to get, remember, “God is the gardener here. He knows what he wants you to be.” Submit yourselves to his will. Be worthy of his blessings, and you will get his blessings.

“The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become...The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account.

Sadly, much of modern Christianity does not acknowledge that God makes any real demands on those who believe in Him, seeing Him rather as a butler “who meets their needs when summoned” or a therapist whose role is to help people “feel good about themselves.”² It is a religious outlook that “makes no pretense at changing lives.”³ “By contrast,” as one author declares, “the God portrayed in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures asks, not just for commitment, but for our very lives.

We should take care not to resent the very things that help us put on the divine nature. (Namely, trials and rebuke.)

Even when we encounter mean-spirited criticism from persons who have little regard or love for us, it can be helpful to exercise enough meekness to weigh it and sift out anything that might benefit us.

President Boyd K. Packer has observed that when a person in a position to correct another fails to do so, he is thinking of himself.... Eventually, much of our chastening should come from within—we should become self-correcting. One of the ways that our late beloved colleague Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin became the pure and humble disciple that he was, was by analyzing his performance in every assignment and task. In his desire to please God, he resolved to determine what he could have done better, and then he diligently applied each lesson learned.

May we also desire to strive to repent of all of our sins daily and see what improvements we can make in our lives. I can testify that, as we do so, we will receive peace in our hearts and feel God draw near to us.