Discovery

I am a balloon artist.  It's a hobby.  While I'm in my MA program, I don't feel like I have much time to focus on it.  I've had one gig since I moved to Utah.  I got a call for a second gig, but the lady wanted me on a Sunday, which I'm not willing to do for 1) religious beliefs, and 2) its the one day I absolutely dedicate to family, especially during my Master's program.

Yesterday, I offered to teach my boys how to twist balloons.  I've taught classes to children before and it wasn't the greatest experience in my teaching career.  However, I thought it would be need to share a talent of mine with the boys and maybe see if they had a talent in it too.

After only a couple of minutes, Evan (5 years old) was crying and complaining that he "couldn't do it" because his hands are too small.  What I quickly realized was that if I were to instruct the boys exactly on the steps of making a balloon sword or dog, they either weren't going to be able to do it, or they wouldn't enjoy it.  So I stopped and changed my instructions.

Instead of "fold here", "twist there", and "squeeze that", I decided to allow my children to use their own creativity to learn the basics.  I pumped up a few balloons for them and said, make something.

Well, I ended up being more proud of them for their creations, despite how simple, than if they had followed my instructions and made the dog or sword.

Jason ended up using the little I did teach him at the beginning to make a superhero.  Evan started making a hat that lead him to create in similar design a utility belt and bracelet. Once they were done, they kept coming back for more balloons to make a new design.

If I had continued to teach them the specific steps to making a certain design, my precious boys would have only become frustrated and lost any desire to discover with balloons again.

What a powerful lesson that I feel God has also designed for us.  There are specific steps towards are exaltation. Baptism, confirmation, and other ordinances. For others having faith and serving others are steps necessary to receiving God's grace.  Well, these are steps or instructions that truly exist, just as the size of bubbles and locations where to twist a balloon are principles that lead to the desired shape of a balloon.

However, an important gift from our Heavenly Father is agency.  We have the freedom (and are encouraged) to discover for ourselves those principles.  The Lord himself said, "Prove me now herewith" (Malachi 3:10).  When Jesus was approached by those who knew of his miracles and were hungry, he did not provide the steps to performing miracles to his apostles, but rather asked Phillip "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" (John 6:5).  The Savior allowed his disciple to be creative and come up with possible solutions, or places to start.  In the Book of Mormon, Jehovah did the same with the brother of Jared who sought light in his barges.  Without giving him the steps by which it was possible, the Lord listened to Mahonri-Moriancumor's ideas and accepted one that would work (Ether 2-3).

We must do the same.  We must discover how to solve our own problems.  There are many ways to accomplish the same thing, however, only some are acceptable to the Lord.  Eventually, there will be only one way to get to where we want to go, but the Lord has allowed us to discover that way on our own, and when we get to that point we will be more willing to accept that path through our own understanding that we gained through discovery and learning.