The Anchor Of Souls

The Parable of the Bike and the Poop

A man once had twin sons. One was extraordinarily happy and optimistic, the other was very sad and depressed all the time. years went by and his happy son kept getting even more optimistic, and his sad son became more and more pessimistic. One day, the father decided that he wanted to do an experiment, to see if he could make his pessimistic son happy, and his optimistic son sad.



So their birthday came around, and he had thought of the perfect gifts. He knew that his boys loved riding their bicycles, so he went to the cycle shop and picked out the nicest cycle he could find. It was a beautiful red bike, made of carbon fiber, with the best racing tires, and it was a beautiful brilliant red. Then he went to a farm and found a large stinking pile of cow manure. He brought both these gifts home while his kids were at school, and left the manure on his optimistic sons bed, and the cycle on his pessimistic sons bed, and he left for work.

When he got home one of his sons ran up to him in a fit of tears and when his dad asked what was wrong he told him that he got a red cycle for his birthday, but his favorite color was blue. Then his other son tore around the corner and running, jumped into his fathers arms with an enormous smile on his face. When asked why he was so happy he replied "Dad, Where's the horse?!"

What do you hope for? 

The opposite of hope is despair and discouragement. Despair is the bane of human progression. It is immobilizing, and robs us of our faith in God, and our confidence in ourselves. Neither of these attributes can exist simultaneously in the same mind. Hope empowers us. When it is correctly placed, it can provide us with optimism, confidence, enthusiasm, and patience. It is what allows us to be happy despite our circumstances. It becomes an anchor to our souls.

Hope is developed  through our own personal scripture study and prayer. By actively praying for increased hope, it remains at the forefront of our minds, and it reminds us of our goals. When reading the scriptures, focus on the promises made by Heavenly Father. Hope is a belief that he will fulfill his promises. Look for instances where God delivers his people from their trials and afflictions. (1 Nephi 1 is FULL of great examples of this!)

"The unfailing source of hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that his son Jesus Christ saved us from death"

Christ died for your sins. He saved us all from our own self destruction. You are a child of God. He loves you. He knows you by name. Christ has felt our pains and our afflictions, and he knows how to help us. He knows what heartache, pain, and devastation feels like. He knows what it's like to be alone. So have faith in him, find hope in the fact that Christ knows you. I know he is and I know that he is.

Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as he has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.