The Drill Instructor

In her Saturday Morning Session General Conference talk, Sister Joy D. Jones shared a story of a friend of hers who had joined the military during the war with Vietnam. Her friend spoke of how grueling his training was and how inhumane his drill instructor seemed. Yet, that training paid off in a critical moment, and Sister Jones' friend's life was probably saved by his difficult training and tough drill instructor.

I suppose that explains why God is sometimes tough on us. He knows that we need good training in order to prevail in the conflicts of life, and especially in the war against evil. Without a little bit of tough love from our loving Heavenly Father, we probably wouldn't have the strength we need in order to succeed against our temporal and eternal challenges. I once had an Utterly Ridiculous and Admittedly Untrue Theory that the adversary was something like a tough personal trainer. Now I think that maybe God is.

I'm not a huge fan of hardship, even in the relative safety of a training camp, but I suppose that's what we signed up for when we came to Earth. And, so long as I'm bound to face hardship, I suppose I'd rather get it from someone who has good intentions rather than from someone who's trying to destroy me. I'm glad that God acts like a drill instructor sometimes. We need the training that such tough instruction provides. Sister Jones said that it's better to sweat in a safe learning environment than to bleed on the battlefields of life. If it saves any bloodshed, on my part and/or my Savior's, then I'm willing to endure some harsh training at the hands of my Drill Instructor.