A Broken Heart Comes Naturally, But A Contrite Spirit...

Sometimes we are asked to bare a burden we thought we did not ask for. We assumed that our life would go as we had planned it, and our hopes and dreams, whatever they may be, slip from our grasp and fall to the floor shattered, often by those we love. Our hearts are left broken and it is apparent that we can not fix it.

Our Savior has asked us for a broken heart and a contrite spirit. (2 Nephi 2:7; 3 Nephi 9:20, 12:19.) It seems to me that God has given us all a heart that is easily broken, but a spirit that is not so easily tamed. When our hearts are broken a piece of us dies inside, but what we often fail to realize is the reward that awaits us once we learn to submit ourselves to the will of God.

In a husband and wife relationship we think that everything should be peaches and cream. We have a picture of what our life is going to be like with them and then we get married and we find out that it is hard, sometimes seemingly harder than we can bare. We may even feel that we were short changed. I believe it was meant to be that way. As our hearts are broken together we can either leave the pieces on the floor or pick them up and take them to the Lord and ask him to help us mend them.

I do believe that God does not ask us to bare more than we can bare, but often we carry much more than he asks us to carry. An unforgiving heart carries with it much more than God requires of us. It is in forgiving that our burdens are made light. Marriage has the greatest potential for both a broken heart and contrite spirit as we learn to help each other past the hurts that we inflict upon each other, and begin to realize the potential of a true companionship. It is then that we may begin to get a glimpse at how insignificant even some of the most egregious offenses really are so long as we are in the process of overcoming. 

The broken heart comes easy, it just happens. However, the contrite spirit is unnatural. It requires submission, which would seemingly contradict our desire to be free. However, in reality, submission to the will of God is the ultimate expression which leads to total freedom.

Submit yourself and you will not only find freedom, but peace. All your burdens will become light and you will have found that the shattered dreams you took to the Lord were far too small for you. What you thought was the end of any chance of happiness, was only the beginning of real happiness.