Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Conviction: Broken Bench

 1 Nephi 8:24 - "... and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree."

Judging from the position of the sun and shadows in these photos, you know this experience happened a couple of weeks ago. You know, before it got dark at 5 in the afternoon.

I was walking along, minding my own business, when I noticed one of the campus benches laying on its side. It appeared as though the bench had fallen only recently, as there was a conspicuous lack of caution tape or hovering grounds people.


After I glanced at the bench, I walked away. But then, curiosity got the better of me.

How did a solid metal bench just break like that?

I turned around and went back. This is what I found.


The bench had snapped off one of its legs because rust had started to build inside. Slowly but surely, the strength of the support eroded away until, finally, some hapless bench-sitter had taken a seat, and then a plunge.

The thing is, the bench was probably perfectly functional before its demise. There's no way anybody could have known the bench would break until the very moment it broke.

I pulled out my camera and snapped some pictures, ignoring the incredulous stares I was receiving from passers-by. I shook my head, wondering if they'd ever seen a blogger in real life before. Then, I turned and went to class, thinking it over.

You see, convictions and beliefs are a lot like rusty park benches. If we don't reevaluate ourselves and where we are as often as we can, then the things we hold dear might begin to rust away. We may never notice or realize until we're challenged, all at once, by something we weren't expecting. This trial of our belief sits down on our convictions, and just like that, we break apart, lost, confused, and ultimately unhappy.

I challenge you today to examine your convictions for rusty spots. It's true you may have some convictions you wouldn't mind giving up. But if you have convictions you would never want to be without, shore them up once more.

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