I'll Trade Ya! The Ol' Switch-A-Roo

Last night at Institute class, Sister Covak shared a story that she had heard at church on Sunday. She said that there was a little girl who threw temper-tantrums a lot. One day she had been really good and asked for a cookie. Her mom said, “No. You’ve been so good today, you can have TWO cookies.” But all the little girl heard was NO. She then proceeded to throw a four hour temper-tantrum because she didn’t get what she wanted. Needless to say, she didn’t get any cookies.

On the other hand there is a story that circulates the e-mail forwarding population called The Necklace. It’s about a little girl who goes to a store and sees a cheap necklace made of fake pearls and she wants it. She asks her mother if she can get it for her, and her mother does. The little girl wears the necklace all the time and she shows it off. One night, when her daddy is tucking her in to bed, he asks if he can have her necklace. She tells him that it’s her most favorite thing in the world, but if he wants it, she’ll give it to him. He says that he does want it, and she fulfills her promise and gives her greatest treasure to her daddy. He then pulls out a box from his pocket with a real pearl necklace in it and gives it to her.

As I’ve been thinking about these stories, I thought about when I’ve seen my mom with young kids. Sometimes they get a hold of something that is unsafe for them. I remember one day, we were sitting at the set dinner table, watiing for dinner. My sister, brother-in-law, and their baby were there, and the baby picked up one of the knives on the table for cutting whatever meat we were having. It was a sharp one, not a butter knife. A steak knife, that’s what they’re called. Everyone at the table pointed out that he had done this, but my mom picked up her spoon and handed it to him and said, “Here, I’ll trade you.” He then took the spoon and let her take the knife from his hand.

I think this is how Heavenly Father works. There are many things in the world that are like that knife, dangerous and bad for us. Some things may be more like the necklace, precious to us, but cheap and harmless. Some things may be like the cookie, something we want at the time that will satisfy our personal craving or sweet tooth. But Heavenly Father doesn’t ask us to give these things up because He wants to make us unhappy. He wants us to be safe. He sees our metaphorical knife and says, “Here, I’ll trade with you!” and gives us a metaphorical spoon. He takes our cheap pearl necklaces and gives us something vaulable and real. He allows us to have more cookies than we’ve asked for because He sees that we’ve been good and is rewarding us.

Sometimes we don’t see the trade or increase of reward and we throw temper tantrums. But He will always do what is best for us. My nephew was too young to understand that knives can hurt him. Maybe we don’t realize that something we want will hurt us. Heavenly Father sees more than we do, he has an eternal perspective. He can see the past, present, and future clearly, while I see what I want or I think I need at the time. Even my present vision is not clear.

In young womens they taught us that the law of sacrifice was giving up something for something better. We can’t always see the something better, and sometimes we completely miss that it is better. But Heavenly Father will always reward us for giving up whatever he asks of us, whether it be drinking, dressing immodestly, 10 percent of our income, swearing, bad music, dating before we’re 16, spending Sundays at the mall, sex before marriage, R-rated movies and even PG-13 ones. I think every Latter-Day-Saint has their favorite sins. No one is perfect. I know I’ve got mine. It can be a tv show you watch, a habit you won’t give up, tithing you think you can’t afford. Let us all try to be like King Lamoni’s father who said, “O God, Aaron hath tole me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day.” (Alma 22, 18) The something better will always come, and eventually we will be prepared to receive his best gift, Eternal Life.

Matthew 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, ho much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask?