Heavenly Father loves all of His children and it gives Him tremendous joy when His children follow Him. Straitening them in the wilderness with His rod or His word is a symbol of His love like a loving father who corrects his children because he sees the great potential that they have.
He straitens me in the wilderness of life through trials and afflictions to help soften my heart and to make me who I need to be. And, He provided a way for me to be healed—the way is simple, I must only look to the Atonement of Christ and allow Him to heal me from sin, despair, and grief.
He straitens me in the wilderness of life through trials and afflictions to help soften my heart and to make me who I need to be. And, He provided a way for me to be healed—the way is simple, I must only look to the Atonement of Christ and allow Him to heal me from sin, despair, and grief.
 | STRAITEN, verb 1. To make narrow. 2. To contract; to confine. 3. To make tense or tight. 4. To distress; to perplex; to press with poverty or other necessity |
I love this definition of the word "strait." We tend to think of the negative aspects of the word--as in a straitjacket that constricts freedom. In truth, the commandments are blessings that give us more privilege and freedom than we can ever imagine. If you look at the Webster's 1828 dictionary it includes in the definition: close, intimate, not crooked. It also includes the word "strict." Strict is another word that we give a negative connotation. I love the story of Nicholeen Peck, a woman who was invited to be on a BBC television show called "The World's Strictest Parents." At first she recoiled at the word, then when she looked up the original definition of the word she agreed wholeheartedly. Strict = "Exact, accurate, rigorously nice, governed or governing by exact rules; to observe the strictest rules of virtue and decorum. Not indulgent."
ReplyDeletehttp://parenting.teachingselfgovernment.com/strict-parent-232;
http://parenting.teachingselfgovernment.com/videos/worlds-strictest-parents