This is another picture from my infamous White Pine hike a few weeks ago. I thought it was interesting how some of the trees were bent at the base. There must have been an unusually heavy amount of snow quite a few years ago, when these aspens were very young, that weighed down on their fragile trunks.
Today as I was reading, I was thinking about burdens. Alma and his people were being persecuted because of their beliefs. They were brought into slavery, and when they were caught praying to be removed from their afflictions, they were ordered to stop. Guards were placed around them to make sure that no one was praying, and any who were discovered to be doing so were put to death.
And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.
And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort...
...I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs...
And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease...(Mosiah 24:12-15)
There was something that really stood out to me as I read these verses. Alma and his people had been praying to the Lord to be released from their burden, but that's not what happened. Instead of removing the burden, the Lord made the people stronger and more able to bear them. He made the burden lighter, but he did not take it away.
When I look at the picture of the aspen trees, I think that they probably experienced something similar to Alma. As these trees were growing, they faced a heavy burden. They were obviously strong enough to withstand the heavy snow fall, because they didn't perish. The bore their burden and then continued to grow. And they're all the more beautiful because of it. If the burden had been removed, the trees would have still grown, but they would've been shaped differently. Out of the thousands of aspen trees growing around them, these bent trees stand out because of their uniqueness.
I think it's the same way with us. My burdens, heavy or light, have shaped who I am. I have become strengthened and able to carry them. It's difficult to be grateful for a burden when I'm in the middle of carrying it, but looking back it's easy for me to see that the Lord lightened that burden. If I cannot show gratitude for the burden itself, I can at least give thanks that Heavenly Father helped me to carry it.
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