Obedience Brings Blessings - Disobedience Brings Consequences

When President Thomas s. Monson spoke on that Sunday morning in early April, in a talk he titled Obedience Brings Blessings, he shared an embarrassing story of a time when he and a childhood friend named Danny were disobedient to family rules and what the consequences of that action were.

One morning Danny and I decided we wanted to have a campfire that evening with all our canyon friends. We just needed to clear an area in a nearby field where we could all gather. The June grass which covered the field had become dry and prickly, making the field unsuitable for our purposes. We began to pull at the tall grass, planning to clear a large, circular area. We tugged and yanked with all our might, but all we could get were small handfuls of the stubborn weeds. We knew this task would take the entire day, and already our energy and enthusiasm were waning. 

And then what I thought was the perfect solution came into my eight-year-old mind. I said to Danny, “All we need is to set these weeds on fire. We’ll just burn a circle in the weeds!” He readily agreed, and I ran to our cabin to get a few matches. 

Lest any of you think that at the tender age of eight we were permitted to use matches, I want to make it clear that both Danny and I were forbidden to use them without adult supervision. Both of us had been warned repeatedly of the dangers of fire. However, I knew where my family kept the matches, and we needed to clear that field. Without so much as a second thought, I ran to our cabin and grabbed a few matchsticks, making certain no one was watching. I hid them quickly in one of my pockets. 

Back to Danny I ran, excited that in my pocket I had the solution to our problem. I recall thinking that the fire would burn only as far as we wanted and then would somehow magically extinguish itself. 

I struck a match on a rock and set the parched June grass ablaze. It ignited as though it had been drenched in gasoline. At first Danny and I were thrilled as we watched the weeds disappear, but it soon became apparent that the fire was not about to go out on its own. We panicked as we realized there was nothing we could do to stop it. The menacing flames began to follow the wild grass up the mountainside, endangering the pine trees and everything else in their path.

Finally we had no option but to run for help. Soon all available men and women at Vivian Park were dashing back and forth with wet burlap bags, beating at the flames in an attempt to extinguish them. After several hours the last remaining embers were smothered. The ages-old pine trees had been saved, as were the homes the flames would eventually have reached.

Danny and I learned several difficult but important lessons that day—not the least of which was the importance of obedience.

This experience may mirror experiences we have had. We find that doing things the Lord's way is hard. We become discouraged, and we think there must be some other way, an easier or faster way, and therefore, a better way. So we set our foolish plan into motion, despite the many warnings we've received against doing so. Soon, we become aware of unforeseen consequences, or at least, consequences that were unforeseen by us. We try to backtrack and solve our self-made problem by ourselves, but as with everything else, we need God's help more than we realize, and more than we're usually willing to admit. But as soon as we ask for help, He comes and begins to smother the blaze. But always, the Lord lets the fire blaze long enough that we learn our lesson - that His way is the best way, and even the only way, to receive the blessings He has promised.

As hard as it is to keep the commandments, dealing with the consequences for not keeping the commandments is harder. Speaking from personal experience, both are plenty hard. And that's actually part of the plan. God meant for life to be hard, so we could become stronger by living it. God even provided two ways for us to learn wisdom: by obedience, and by disobedience. When we obey, things eventually work out, and we learn that that was a good idea. When we disobey, things usually don't work out, and we learn that that wasn't a good idea. Either way, we (are intended to) learn to keep God's commandments. And by doing so, we (with lots of the Lord's help) bring ourselves closer to God.

I'm grateful that God always has a Plan B, that no matter how badly we mess things up, He always has a plan for how to fix it and turn it into a good thing. And, knowing how good His Plan B is, how can I not see that His Plan A must be even better? Keeping God's commandments is always the better way. Eventually, I'll learn that thoroughly enough to live it consistently.