Egg Or Potato

 There was a really cool analogy in last week's Come Follow Me lesson.  I like teaching through analogy.  I think it's an easy way to learn.  So I decided to share this with you today.

If you take an egg and a potato and put them both in boiling water, what happens to each?  The egg becomes hard and the potato becomes soft.

Relating this to life, when we are in hot boiling water, do we become hardened like the egg or soft like the potato?

In other words, when we face trials and challenges and hardships, do we harden our hearts and turn away from God, or do we soften our hearts and turn to God?

I've seen people facing the same exact trial, in the same pot of boiling water, and one person will harden their heart and turn away from God and religion and all that's right and good.  While the other person in the same predicament, same pot of boiling water, will soften their heart and turn to God and religion and all that's right and good.

I personally don't know how people can get through the rough patches of mortality without help from on high.  Without God in my life, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the peace that they bring, I would be miserable.

Those who do choose to harden their hearts become miserable.  You can see it in their countenances.  They are always angry and blaming someone or something for their misery.  When it all comes down to their own choices.

Choices always bring consequences -- whether good or bad.  Choosing to harden your heart and turn from God will always bring misery as a consequence.  Choosing to soften your heart and turn to God will always bring peace and happiness.  Those consequences are universal.

The Lamanites and Nephite dissenters (apostates) are perfect examples of the misery, anger and hate that comes from hardening your hearts and turning from God and religion.  The Book of Mormon is full of examples of those who choose to harden their hearts like the Lamanites and Nephite dissenters.  The Book of Mormon is also full of examples of choosing to soften your hearts and turn to God and religion like the righteous Nephites.

When you're thrown into a pot of boiling water, do you become hardened like the egg or softened like the potato?

I hope we all choose to be like the potato and not the egg.  Life is much more pleasant -- happier and more peaceful -- when we choose to soften our hearts and turn to God in our times of trial and hardship.

Mortality is hard enough to navigate with the blessing of God in our lives.  I honestly don't know how people make it through mortality without Him.

That's my two cents.