There is One who cares

From His Tower

By Emily Freeman

What burdens does he carry? What weighs heavy in his heart?

What keeps him up at night?

…a tender peek into the prayer of a prophet.

A prayer of pleading in behalf of the wicked people who rejected him time and time again.

Interrupted by a gathering crowd, Nephi speaks openly from a broken heart.

“I have gotten upon my tower that I might pour out my soul unto God, because of the exceeding sorrow of my heart, which is because of your iniquities!

“How could you have given way to the enticing of him who is seeking to hurl away your souls down to everlasting misery and endless wo?

“Ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd…”

“O, how could you have forgotten your God…”  (Helaman 7:15-20)

These chapters really do make me sad.  I am in no position to relate to the sorrowing of the president of the church, but I bet in one degree or another all of us have been here.

“Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something

other than God which will make him happy.” 

C.S. Lewis

The same story continues.

I have seen my good Bishop weep because of the choices of ward members.

I have heard the anxious cries of parents over their rebellious children.

I have seen the disappointment in the eyes of fellow teachers and leaders as they learn about their students outside of class. Sometimes my wife will watch a horrible story on the news and then ask,

“When is He coming back? I’m ready!”

All of these situations are only a reflection of the tears that flow in heaven for the same souls.

And perhaps that is the healing balm in all of this.  There is One who cares even more than we do.

In the words of one of our living Nephi’s on the tower:

“In the private sanctuary of one’s own conscience lies that spirit, that determination to cast off the old person and to measure up to the stature of true potential. In this spirit, we again issue that heartfelt invitation:

Come back.

The world can at times be a frightening place in which to live. The moral fabric of society seems to be unraveling at an alarming speed… None—whether young or old or in-between—is exempt from exposure to those things which have the potential to drag us down and destroy us.

We are waging a war with sin, my brothers and sisters, but we need not despair. It is a war we can and will win. Our Father in Heaven has given us the tools we need in order to do so. He is at the helm. We have nothing to fear. He is the God of light. He is the God of hope. I testify that He loves us—each one.”  

Thomas S. Monson