Minimizing/Maximizing the Effects of Affliction

This morning, I was asked if I would be willing to give a lesson in Elders' Quorum this week, so this evening, I would like to share the thoughts I've had as I've prepared for this lesson. The topic is Chapter Three of the manual Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Howard W. Hunter. The title of this chapter is Adversity -- Part of God's Plan for Our Eternal Happiness. The chapter begins with an experience that President Hunter, then Elder Hunter, shared in the April 1980 General Conference. A few years prior to that General Conference, Elder Hunter had witnessed a boat race after which one of the oarsmen described to Elder Hunter the basic design of the boats. He explained that the prows are pointed so they could cut through the water and reduce the resistance of the water against the front of the boat, yet the oars relied on water resistance to propel the boats forward. "Resistance creates both the opposition and the forward movement."

Relating this to adversity and affliction, my plan is to have the brethren list ways that adversity could work for us and ways it could work against us. Perhaps I'll make lists in two columns on a chalkboard. Then I'll ask the Elders what we can do to minimize the extent to which our adversity works against us and maximize the extent to which it works for us. After setting up the premise and drawing a few illustrations, I'll be relying a lot on group discussion, on our ability to collectively come up with many good ways afflictions can work for or against us and what we can do about it. Naturally, I'll do a lot of brainstorming first, when I'm not as tired, but the point I'll most try to drive home to the Elders is that the afflictions we experience are a necessary part of life, and whether they ultimately work for us or against us depends mostly on how we react to them. There is a lot of water resistance in the oceans of life; there's nothing we can do about that. But what we can do is, like well-designed boats, try to minimize the negative effects of our afflictions, and maximize their positive effects.