It can be compared to a parent who has a child that needs to learn to ride a bike. Parents arm their child with needed lessons on what to do when they are on the bike, they provide the helmet, knee pads, elbows pads, they add on training wheels for extra security and even hang on to the back of the seat.
The child in the beginning may be scared to get on the bike at first. The parent is there to give necessary comfort in those times with an "I'll be right here holding on" assurance. They reach their first obstacle, a hill perhaps, and the child struggles to pedal but because the parent is there the burden of the hill is lessened.
The parent does this because they love their child and wants them to gain confidence in their ability, gain more knowledge and more strength so they won't falter or fall. The parent also knows, however, there will come a time when they themselves become the obstacle to their child's growth and they need to let go.
Does the parent leave? Of course not, they can be found standing at the end of the street, watching with bated breath, apprehensive at your new found freedom, hoping they have taught you all you needed to know.
A child's responsibility is to get on the bike and apply what they've learned and continue to pedal even when it seems too hard, knowing that even though they can no longer see their parent fully, they are still there waiting for them to return safely back, having done all they could to prepare you.
"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Philippians 2 vs 12
Life is so full of ups and downs, hills and valleys but we can find just as much joy on those hills of hardship as in those valleys of relief.
"When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation...we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. His joy is constant, assuring us that our “afflictions shall be but a small moment” and be consecrated to our gain. How, then, can we claim that joy? We can give thanks..." Joy and Spiritual Survival By President Russell M. Nelson
"It might sound contrary to the wisdom of the world to suggest that one who is burdened with sorrow should give thanks to God. But those who set aside the bottle of bitterness and lift instead the goblet of gratitude can find a purifying drink of healing, peace, and understanding.
This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair.
When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation.
We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?
Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that we are pleased with our circumstances. It does mean that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present-day challenges.
This is not a gratitude of the lips but of the soul. It is a gratitude that heals the heart and expands the mind.
Being grateful in our circumstances is an act of faith in God. It requires that we trust God and hope for things we may not see but which are true.
In any circumstance, our sense of gratitude is nourished by the many and sacred truths we do know: that our Father has given His children the great plan of happiness; that through the Atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ, we can live forever with our loved ones; that in the end, we will have glorious, perfect, and immortal bodies, unburdened by sickness or disability; and that our tears of sadness and loss will be replaced with an abundance of happiness and 'joy, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.'" Grateful in Any Circumstances, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
We may not be able to see our Heavenly Father right now but we can rest assured that He is standing at the end of the street waiting for the return of His children. He is there to help when we call out to Him and will ease our burden when the hills of life seem too hard to climb. Let us be grateful to Him for His unending grace and love and confidence in us that He was able to let us go to learn on our own. How sad He must be knowing that there are those who never got on the bike, ones who reached their first obstacle and gave up and ones who fell and never got back on the bike nor asked for His help which He would have given.
