Back in Arizona, I have two golden retrievers. Well, I guess they're just my parents' and sisters' golden retrievers now that I don't live there anymore... Whatever. Anyways, they're brothers named Jersey and Leo. They're practically identical. Strangers can't tell them apart. But their behavior makes them very distinct.
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| These are my babies. Jersey's on the left, Leo's on the right. |
I dedicated my life to training them when they were puppies and I was in high school. I gave them equal care and attention, but they turned out very different. My dad and I would walk them every morning while I still lived there. During those walks, I learned a valuable lesson that influenced me both on my mission and in my everyday life.
Jersey is a total sweetheart. He's a joy to walk--the kind of dog that you can trust to hold his own leash. He's content to just be with us and walk at our pace. He loves retrieving tennis balls, and he'll do so for hours if we let him. Whenever we have the opportunity, we love to let him off the leash to have a good run. We know that he'll stay close by and always come back when he's called.
Leo, on the other hand, can never be trusted off the leash. He's cuddly and affectionate, but he thinks he's the boss of everybody. He's always looking for something to chase. Walking him is a pain. We struggle to keep him back with the group. He never brings tennis balls back, and if we ever do take a chance and let him run free, he's very slow to heed our calls and come back to us. Because we usually can't find a safe place to let him loose (knowing he'll run forever and chase anything that moves), we usually just keep him leashed.
On several occasions, Dad and I would be sitting at the park with the dogs. Jersey would be happily retrieving tennis balls and Leo would be whining and straining against the leash. I'd look back and forth between the two of them and think, "If Leo would only behave, he could run free and have fun, too."
It seems a strange concept, but really if Leo would just let himself be restrained by the rules we'd established, he would have the same liberty as his brother.
The same principle applies to all of us. In fact, my dad on a few occasions would use the dogs as an example (usually when my sisters and I were trying to break family rules). "Would you rather be like Jersey or like Leo? I'm willing to give you more freedom, but I need to be able to trust you to obey and stay in the limits we've set."
We had to protect Leo from himself on those walks. Had he been let off-leash before learning obedience, he could have been hit by a car, caught someone's cat, or gotten himself hurt somehow. Similarly, my dad set rules to help us stay out of trouble. He wanted to trust us, but first we had to heed his voice and use our agency wisely and steer clear of trouble. Once we had his confidence, he would extend our curfew or give us other liberties.
God is the ultimate Father. He wants us to be free from trouble, too. Once He knows He can trust us to stay away from danger and listen to His voice, He too will give us more liberty and more happiness. From working with my dogs, I've seen why obedience is the first law of Heaven. I'm reminded of Mosiah 2:41--"Consider the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God." The commandments of God aren't just rules meant to keep us from enjoying ourselves--they are in fact guides to help us be more free and have more happiness. Through His latter-day prophets He has warned us to avoid alcohol, drugs, pornography, and adultery, knowing that those behaviors are addictive and restrictive. He doesn't want to keep us from those things just to be cruel, any more than we kept Leo on the leash just to make him unhappy. He is protecting us. Freeing us, in the long run. If we stick to His rules, the rewards will be more joyous and liberating than anything we could ever experience by disobeying.
Jesus Christ became the greatest of all because He only did what God commanded. God could trust Him completely with His power. Christ gave up His own will to "seek the will of the Father which [had] sent [Him]" (John 5:30).
We are commanded to follow Christ's example, and I can honestly testify that greater happiness comes with more willing obedience. I was never happier than when I felt that I deserved the trust of both my earthly father and my Heavenly Father.
Best of all, I know that God loves me even when I mess up and disobey, whether willingly or in ignorance. I love Leo even though he's a pain when on walks. My dad loves me and my sisters even when we stay out too late. I know, because I have felt it, that God always loves us. He loves everybody, even those who don't love Him. I know that repentance is real, and that following the commandments gives us power over our own lives--makes us stronger--gives us more freedom. Through training golden retrievers, God has trained me to recognize and follow that valuable principle.
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