Trees, Wind and Trey

Mondays are sacred and wonderful to me because of Family Home Evening...an opportunity to have my family together, learning together of gospel truths and enjoying one another's company.  We each take turns sharing a spiritual lesson, doctrine or principle and last night it was Trey's turn.  He is coming up on his eighth birthday and I have noticed that he has a wonderful ability to understand spiritual things.  Last night was no exception.  His topic was a talk from General Conference by Elder Neil L. Andersen (April 2014).  A link to the full talk is found here: Elder Andersen, April 2014

I was helping Trey to prepare his lesson after he had watched the talk a couple of times.  I asked him what he remembered most and it was an analogy that Elder Andersen had given regarding wind and trees.  To quote: "In nature, trees that grow up in a windy environment become stronger. As winds whip around a young sapling, forces inside the tree do two things. First, they stimulate the roots to grow faster and spread farther. Second, the forces in the tree start creating cell structures that actually make the trunk and branches thicker and more flexible to the pressure of the wind. These stronger roots and branches protect the tree from winds that are sure to return.

You are infinitely more precious to God than a tree. You are His son or His daughter. He made your spirit strong and capable of being resilient to the whirlwinds of life. The whirlwinds in your youth, like the wind against a young tree, can increase your spiritual strength, preparing you for the years ahead."

Trey related this analogy in his own words and then I asked him what lessons he could take from it for his life.  He replied that our faith is like the trees and that the winds are like temptations and that when we stand up to temptations our faith gets stronger.

Needless to say, I was very impressed!  It is a testimony that "the Lord God...speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding." (2 Nephi 31:3) and that "little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned." (Alma 32:23).  You cannot tell me that God's spirit working in my son is not real! To continue the words of Alma: "O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good."

I testify that God is real, that He knows us and speaks to each of us in a way that we can each understand if we are willing to put forth the effort.  He is our ever-loving and forgiving Father, and wants the very best for each of us and is willing to give us all that He has if we will but choose Him (Romans 8:16-17).