Our Father's Business

Mary and Joseph being the devout Jews that they were, went to the temple in Jerusalem during Passover.  At this time Christ was a mere twelve years old.  At the close of the Passover, the group that Mary and Joseph had been traveling with obviously began returning home.  They made about a days journey until they realized that Jesus was nowhere to be found.  I cannot imagine the sheer panic that His parents must have felt after they realized he was missing.  I am not a mother, but I am an older sister to six younger siblings and there have been times when I have "lost" them, and the sick feeling that I experienced was something that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I imagine this picture below depicts fairly accurately how they might have felt.  Can't you just imagine that moment of panic?

 After THREE DAYS they found Jesus. Three LONG days of worrying, wondering, and hoping that their son was okay.  Now when the scriptures say that when Mary and Joseph found him they were "amazed" and had "sought [him] sorrowing," I think that is the understatement of the century.  What I think it really means was that they were furious, worried sick, and probably so relieved that they were close to tears.  It is at this moment that Christ says, "how is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"  These are the first recorded words that we hear Christ say.  What power.  Right from the beginning of His life, Christ declares that He is and always will be about His Father's business.

Now why would a perfect god allow His poor parents to suffer for so long, not knowing where He was?  Probably the same reason that Christ chooses to allow us to suffer trials.  Sometimes we suffer them for many many LONG days.  Those days are filled with the same worrying, wondering, and hoping that everything will be okay that Mary and Joseph experienced.  Sometimes we are so furious and worried sick when we aren't receiving the answers that we need that we could cry, and sometimes we actually do.  Christ allows us to suffer so that we can grow.  Everything Christ allows us to experience is for our benefit.  Just like it says in Doctrine and Covenants 122:7 "know thou, my son (or daughter) that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." Some might say that isn't fair that Christ would allow us to suffer, however, Christ made it fair because HE suffered as well in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He suffered our sicknesses, our pains, and our frustrations.  He knows EXACTLY how we feel because he experienced it all, and he had to experience it utterly alone. So that tells me that I there are lessons to be learned in EVERY SINGLE THING that happens to me.

When I am sick,  I can remember the many people in the world who are so sick that they are suffering in a stale white hospital room.

When I fail a test, I can be reminded of the many people who don't have the opportunity to be educated.

If I have been praying and praying for an answer and haven't received one, I can learn patience.

There are innumerable lessons to be learned from our life experiences.  Christ allows us to experience this pain and suffering because he is still "about His Father's business."  It is all part of God's plan for us to learn and grow.  We are on this earth to gain experience, learn to choose, and be tested to see if we choose right or wrong.  But the best part of this is that not only are we here to be tried and tested, but God created men that they might have JOY.  Through these trials we can trust in God and the Atonement of Christ and THAT my friends is how we experience true joy.  If Christ is about His Father's business, shouldn't we be as well?  If people ever question your standards or why you don't "have fun" you can tell them "I am about my Father's business." We should be attending God's house on a regular basis, we should be studying the Word of God and building our relationship with God by praying to Him daily.  To experience true joy we must use the Atonement to feel clean and be uplifted and empowered.  So lets all make a pledge to do these things.  Let's pledge to help those in need, to study and to pray.  Let's pledge to follow in the Savior's footsteps.  Let's pledge to be about our Father's business.