3 Nephi 21-22

(June 5, 2014)
I am convinced that one of the biggest problems that we have in mortality is our inability to see past mortality.  We see a lifetime of suffering, for example, and we think that it is so very hard to bear.  But we don’t fret when a child skins their knee.  We comfort the child, surely, but we also have the perspective that this will pass in time and skinning a knee is just a part of growing up.

I think many of our devastating trials, that we struggle so desperately with, are nothing more than skinned knees in the grand scheme of things.  But because we cannot see past the mortal experience we just don’t recognize it.  We suffer more because we don’t see how small our sufferings actually are.  This doesn’t mean we are relieved from the obligation of comforting others, of course, any more than a parent would be excused not hugging their child with a skinned knee.  But, when it comes to our own suffering, we should do what we can to keep things in perspective.

I bring this up because of the Saviors words in describing His servant (which I believe to be Joseph Smith – although I could be wrong).  The Savior said that he would be marred, but they would be unable to hurt him.  What are the implications of that?  That, to me, seems to say that they could throw him in prison, torture him, starve him, and ultimately kill him in cold blood, but they would not be able to hurt him.