Just "be good"

"Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done"

When in the wondrous realms above

Our Savior had been called upon

To save our world of sin by love,

He said, "Thy will, O Lord, be done."

The King of Kings left worlds of light,

Became the meek and lowly One;

In brightest day or darkest night,

He said, "Thy will, O Lord, be done."

No crown of thorns, no cruel cross

Could make our great Redeemer shun.

He counted his own will but naught,

And said, "Thy will, O Lord, be done."

We take the bread and cup this day

In memory of the sinless One,

And pray for strength, that we may say,

As he, "Thy will, O Lord, be done."

We sang this hymn yesterday in church as we prepared to take the Sacrament. The words and music of this hymn struck me, so much so that I am still thinking of them today. The last lines of the last verse hit home for me. It does require strength to align our will with the Lord's. So many times I feel like we're taught that we ought to just "be good" and things will work out. We're seldom taught how. We're even more seldom taught that it is hard.

If anyone knows how hard it is, it's Jesus Christ. He suffered for me, and all of you, not for glory or praise, he did it because it was his Father's will, our Heavenly Father, and therefore it was His will. I'm reminded of Luke 22, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane suffering unimaginable pain and cries out to God for help, asking him to make it end, to take it away, to "remove this cup." But he presses on, saying, "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."

I cannot imagine the pain our Heavenly Father had to have felt at that moment. As a parent, I cannot imagine having to watch as my innocent child suffered, so much as to bleed drops of blood from every pore. Heavenly Father was fully capable of taking it all away, but He didn't because He knew the glorious consequences of this moment. Because of Jesus Christ's Atonement, we're able to all return to our Heavenly home, to live with our Savior and Heavenly Father. We're able to repent, and be forgiven of our sins. The Law of Moses was fulfilled, and we are the benefactors.

Now it's up to us, to align our will with His, and to "be good."