One thing that I thought was interesting was the different ways the calves responded to being poked, prodded, and branded. Most would squirm and cry out and let us all know they didn't appreciate what we were doing to them. Some would try to get out of the contraption; most didn't succeed. One calf did though and I would say that I was pretty shocked and kind of happy for him. Then there were a couple of calves that didn't even move or cry out.
As Sister Williams and I were observing these different reactions we tried to decide what kind of calf we would be. Would I be normal and squirm and cry, would I try my hardest to get out of it, would I get out of it, or would I not do anything at all and just lay there? For a while I was saying that I would be like the one calf who broke his way out of the calving table and got loose. I don't know now if I would want to be that calf because he just was dragging it out even longer because he had to go back through the whole process again.
Now I don't want to be one that just tries to go around trials or just avoid them because they don't go away they just get bigger. I think of us as those calves here on earth and God and Jesus as those men that branded the calves. Sometimes we go through hard things but they won't give us anything that we can't handle. Those calves that put their trust in the men had the branding go by so much faster than those who kicked and fought against it. The same works with God. The prophet Alma teaches his son Helaman this exact concept and he says to him,"that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."(Alma 36:3)
Life isn't easy nor was it meant to be easy but I do know that as we put our trust in the Lord, especially during in our trials, life is so much better.
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