GIFTS: "I'm the Gardener here! --- the Good Shepherd too!"

Are you familiar with the personal account given by Hugh B. Brown of the Currant Bush?  Not all of us are aware of the story and the deeply profound lesson it carries.

In a nutshell, the story speaks of how Elder Brown pruned back the currant bush in his garden so it would bring forth more fruit the following year.  As the sap oozed from the wounded stubs of the bush he thought he could hear the currant bush saying through its tears of sap, "How could you prune me back so harshly? I was going to bring forth much fruit this season. How could you do that?"

 To which Elder Brown replied,  "I'm the gardener here. . . . I know what is best for you."

In later life, Hugh B. Brown was denied a Canadian Army promotion that was rightfully his, because he was a Mormon.  In his bitter anguish at the Lord for this greatly painful and undeserved slight, he complained, "How could You allow that to happen?!  That promotion was mine!"

Through his bitter tears, he paused and seemed to hear a Voice say,  "I'm the Gardener here."

Not long afterwards, Hugh B. Brown was called to be an Apostle of the Lord in the Quorum of the Twelve, an office that rendered his desired Army promotion of no import.

Think of the wandering lamb whose leg is dislocated or broken by the shepherd to stop it from wandering at its heart's desire.  "I'm the shepherd here," he says.  And in our lives, if He loves us enough to chasten us until it hurts abominably, He says, "I'm the Shepherd here. . . . Even the Good Shepherd, for I know what is good, and what is best, for you."

As you can plainly see, it is a deeply profound lesson.  It is a lesson of maturity only for the spiritually mature.  And yet even a child can start to understand the message, especially if the child is blessed to have parents who are united in their determination not to spoil or indulge the child.

To further illustrate:--

When President Brigham Young heard Orson Pratt proclaiming plausible but flawed and speculative doctrine one time, Brigham said to Orson, "No it isn't, Orson, and I'll rub your ears until I get you right!"

John Taylor, third President of the Church, in a Tabernacle address, said:  "I heard the Prophet Joseph say, in speaking to the Twelve on one occasion: 'You will have all kinds of trials to pass through. And it is quite as necessary for you to be tried as it was for Abraham and other men of God, and (said he) God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heart strings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God"  (JD, 24:197; emphasis added).

The Twelve are models and examples for how we should each be, for as James teaches: "Take . . . the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience" (James 5:10).

Jesus will break your heart too if He has to.

Indeed a "broken heart and a contrite spirit" is a requirement in the gospel plan of repentance (see 3 Nephi 9:20), so what a blessing if the Lord were to change your heart in that way (see Alma 5:7), if it is "set so much upon the things of this world" (see D&C 121:35).  For a heart to be changed it must first be broken then reset properly, reset in His image (see Alma 5:14, 26, 38--41, take a moment to look at these verses; you'll be glad you did, I promise).

God bless.

Steve