A Mouse's Hope

Neal here again. Every couple of months or so, I have the opportunity to write a short inspirational message for our local ward (or church congregation) newsletter. For the September edition, I wrote about a subject which is certainly applicable in today's incredibly uncertain world. I hope it helps :).


I’m sure most of you have heard this cute little story: Two mice fell into a bucket of cream. The first immediately consigned himself to his fate and drowned. The second, however, kept swimming and swimming until he churned the cream into butter and escaped.

I don’t know what gave the second mouse his motivation, but I believe he needed great hope to muster that kind of perseverance. Hope provides motivation to accomplish great things, even when we fall into life’s most cavernous cream buckets.

Despite the deafening din of despair’s constant calls, it is possible, and absolutely necessary, to heed hope’s gentle whispers. We must nurture hope because hope “maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God” (Ether 12:4). Anchors keep ships safe in a storm by holding them solidly in a single relative position. Hope similarly keeps us anchored to the protection of the gospel.

Elder Russell M. Nelson said, “A more excellent hope is mightier than a wistful wish. Hope, fortified by faith and charity, forges
a force as strong as steel. Hope becomes an anchor to the soul. To this anchor, the faithful can cling, securely tethered to the Lord.”

But how do we build such steely hope when we can’t see anything but the enormity of our tasks, our trials, or our sins? Neal A.
Maxwell said: “Just as doubt, despair, and desensitization go together, so do faith, hope, and charity. The latter, however, must be carefully and constantly nurtured, whereas despair, like dandelions, needs so little encouragement to sprout and spread. Despair comes so naturally to the natural man!”

To overcome the crippling power of despair and build soul-sustaining hope, I offer the following suggestions:

Stay close to the Spirit. The Spirit is the heavenly agent that bestows hope. We can invite its presence via daily scripture study, prayer, service, kindness, and especially repentance. In Moroni 8:26 we read: “And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the
visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love...”

Keep an eternal perspective. In the animated classic film A Bug’s Life, the little ant Dot is frustrated that her wings are too little and that she can’t do everything the full-grown ants do. Flick, her full-grown ant friend, tries to assuage her by saying that she is like a seed. He gives Dot a rock to hold, asks her to pretend that it’s a seed, and explains that she has potential for greatness, just as her “seed” has potential to become a great tree. Dot then looks down at the object in her little ant hands and can only say, “it’s a rock.”

If we fail to look at what we have with an “eye of faith” (Alma 5:15), our circumstances and our lives become cold, hard rocks, rather than seeds of possibility and opportunities for eternal progression. With an eternal perspective—specifically, when we remember our divine origins, abilities, and worth—even the rockiest episodes of our life can become an opportunity to nurture hope.

Prepare. Adversities and even calamities are an inherent part of life; however, we can face our difficulties with hope when we prepare. A family that has saved money, food, and emergency supplies will maintain hope when unexpected shortages, unemployment, or natural disasters arise. A student who studies his or her hardest will face exams with confidence. A man or woman who fasts and prays and clings to the Iron Rod will stand with unyielding resolve against the fiercest of temptations.

Remember the Lord’s promise: “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear” (D&C 38:30).

Adopt a positive attitude. An attitude of perseverance will keep you kicking in that
cream.

My Father always said, “how’s the ‘tude dude?” (Translation: “How’s the attitude, son?”) during my least receptive moments.
But now I appreciate this not-too-subtle reminder. Truly, attitude so often determines success. In fact, I attribute “how’s the ‘tude dude?” to much of the little success I’ve gained in life.

In the masterful book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl explains the difference between those who survived and those
who perished in World War II’s sinister Auschwitz concentration camp. “Everything can be taken from a man but ...the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Let us choose to adopt a hopeful attitude that will open the way to spiritual survival and success.

Base your hope on Christ and His Atonement. True hope is hope in the ability of Jesus Christ to save us. It is hope in the Atonement. This is hope in its highest form. In Moroni 7:41 we read: “And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.”

Hope in salvation through the Atonement is the most enabling type of hope, because salvation is the highest and noblest goal we can strive for.

If you can hope in nothing else, hope in Christ, and I’m confident that all else will follow.

It is my testimony that Jesus Christ lives, loves us, and will infuse our souls with all the hope we need if we will but turn to him in sincere faith and prayer. May we all garner hope strong enough to keep kicking in life’s cream bucket and thereby gain salvation is my humble prayer.


Brother Jenks