The Trials of Diamonds

The First Presidency Message for this month comes from President Henry B. Eyring, and is titled "The Reward of Enduring Well." In his message, President Eyring spoke about how the trials of life exist not just to test our capacity to endure them, but also to polish us, refine us, and make us more like our Heavenly Father. As I read this message, I thought about diamonds. "Most natural diamonds," according to the Wikipedia article on diamonds, "are formed at high temperature and pressure at depths of 140 to 190 kilometers (87 to 118 mi) in the Earth's mantle. . . . Diamonds are brought close to the Earth's surface through deep volcanic eruptions by magma." Once the diamonds are formed, brought to the surface, and mined,  they "are converted into gems through a multi-step process called 'cutting'," which has its own Wikipedia article. This article describes the cutting process in detail, including steps called "cleaving or sawing" and "bruting." Diamonds have to go through a lot in order to be created, and then they go through a lot more to become cut and polished gems, but by the end of the process, the diamonds will have become beautiful and valuable gems that symbolize the ability to last for an eternity.

Similarly, we had to go through a good deal of hardship just to be human, and we have to go through even more hardship to become saints. The process puts us through a good deal of pressure, and there is a lot of cutting that needs to be done as well. But as our impurities are gradually removed and our lives are shaped after the pattern set by the Savior, we become spiritually stronger and more beautiful until we become the priceless gems we always had the potential to become.

In light of this, the endurance of trials and hardship seems less cruel and more uplifting. God didn't put us on Earth and subject us to hardship out of some morbid curiosity to see how much suffering we could endure. He subjects us to hardship because those trials help to transform us into the God-like beings God knows we can be. Those trials help to cut and polish us and turn us into more perfect versions of ourselves. Diamonds couldn't become diamonds without the hardships they go through. Similarly, God knows we need to go through some hardships in order to become our best selves.