Independence vs Dependence

I consider myself to be a very independent person. Ever since I got home from my mission, I have provided for myself entirely (food, rent, tuition, phone, car, bills, etc.). It has been tough at times, but I have learned a lot over the years and am grateful for the experiences I've had. Besides providing for myself, I have also had to create nearly all of the fun experiences I've had since my "friends" rarely invite me to do things. I am always the one planning trips, dessert parties, intramural teams, pick up basketball, soccer, frisbee, volleyball, hikes, sports watching parties, movie nights, game nights, dinners, etc. People always tell me that I am really good at planning things. I kind of wish I wasn't. I honestly don't love it. But since I rarely ever get invited to do things, I feel that I would much rather put in the work to provide fun for others as well as do something that I love then just sit at home watching tv all the time. So that's my life in a nutshell, non-stop planning fun adventures, dates, parties, sports, games, and making food for people. I just try to stay busy, meet new people, and enjoy the life. For all of the work I put in, I don't get much out of it in return. But I do like making people happy and serving others, so that's why do it. Sometimes I feel like I'm the friend that people have just so to take advantage of for the fun and the free food. That's me. The man with hundreds of "friends", but few close genuine friends.



About two weeks ago I went caving with some a bunch of people from my ward. While making a video of the adventure, I chose to use the song "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons as the background music. As I listened to it, I began to contemplate the following lines.

‘Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the maker's land


As I thought of these lines, I began to think of how independent I have become, and how my independence has made it somewhat difficult for me to be entirely dependent on my maker. I realized that I need to come out of my cave, and instead of just trying to do things on my own, I need to turn to the Lord more often to help me and guide my decisions. I need to trust Him a little more.

As I trust in Christ and exercise greater faith by becoming completely dependent on the Lord for all things then I can gladly sing.

MOSIAH 5:8-9
8 And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.
 9 And it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name of Christ.

And I will hold on hope

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

Elder Henry B. Eyering (2001–O:15, Henry B. Eyring, Prayer)
We are spirit children of a loving Heavenly Father who placed us in mortality to see if we would choose—freely choose—to keep His commandments and come unto His Beloved Son. They do not compel us. They cannot, for that would interfere with the plan of happiness. And so there is in us a God-given desire to be responsible for our own choices.
That desire to make our own choices is part of the upward pull toward eternal life. But it can, if we see life only through our mortal eyes, makedependence on God difficult or even impossible when we feel such a powerful desire to be independent. This true doctrine can sound hard:
“For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”6 Mosiah 3:19
Those who submit like a child do it because they know that the Father wants only the happiness of His children and that only He knows the way. That is the testimony we must have to keep praying like a submissive child, in the good times as well as the times of trouble.
With that faith, we will be able to pray for what we want and appreciate whatever we get. Only with that faith will we pray with the diligence God requires. When God has commanded us to pray, He has used words like “pray unceasingly” and “pray always” and “mighty prayer.”
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