Teacher's corner

I missed Kristi's lesson last Sunday (Oct 12) but here is a summary of some wonderful ideas about facing and even growing from adversity.

· How can adversity be for our good?
Ezra Taft Benson said, "It is not on the pinnacle of success and ease where men and women grow most, it is often down in the valley of heartache and disappointment … where men and women grow into strong characters. Every reversal can be turned to our benefit and blessing and can make us stronger, more courageous, more godlike."


· We will be supported and blessed in our times of trial.The Book of Mormon has many examples of how whole groups of people were blessed through their common adversities.

· Large scale adversities such as natural disasters and wars are part of the mortal experience. We cannot entirely prevent them. But, we can determine how we will react to them.

· Neal A. Maxwell said, "murmuring can be noisy enough that it drowns out the various spiritual signals to us, signals which tell us in some cases to quit soaking ourselves indulgently in the hot tubs of self-pity!" He said, "be of good cheer is what is needed”

· In her book called Adversity, Elaine Cannon shares this valuable example:
"An old cowboy said he had learned life's most important lessons from Hereford cows. All his life he had worked cattle ranches where winter storms took a heavy toll among the herds. In this maelstrom of nature's violence most cattle would turn their backs to the ice blasts and slowly drift downwind, mile upon mile. Finally, intercepted by a boundary fence, they would pile up against the barrier and die by the scores.
"But the Herefords acted differently. Cattle of this breed would instinctively head into the windward end of the range. There they would stand shoulder-to-shoulder facing the storm's blast, heads down against its onslaught.
" 'You always found the Herefords alive and well,' said the cowboy. 'I guess it's the greatest lesson I ever learned on the prairies—just face life's storms' " (Adversity [1987], 133–34).