God's will...

"But may thy will be done, and not mine..."

It seems like such a classic phrase of many prayers. We ask for what we want, and then we tack that last part on, knowing that everything is ultimately in God's hands. Yet, do we ever stop and think what God's will really is?

God's work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. He wants us to become like Him, and for us to enjoy all of the blessings He has to offer. He understands that mortality is a necessary part in our journey to attain perfection, and that the refining trials we face here are indispensable in that learning process (though far from enjoyable for us or for Him). His will is that we might become like Him. He does not take joy in our sufferings or pain. How could a perfect Father in Heaven desire that we should suffer? He would surely take away our pain were it not for the fact that He understands the importance of this mortal experience in shaping and teaching us.

When we allow trials to soften our hearts rather than harden them, the benefits of our trials far outweigh our losses. Christlike attributes such as patience, faith, hope, and charity are developed. Our appreciation for and understanding of God's plan and our Savior's atonement is enlarged. In short, we could not be perfected without life's trials.

Our attitude should not be one of, "may thy will be done, and not mine". God's will is that we might be perfected through the trials of mortality so that we might return to His presence worthy of eternal life. That should be our desire as well; to learn from the curve balls life throws at us and to become perfected through our experiences here on earth.

In trials, I pray not simply that God's will be done, but that I might understand His will, that I might learn from the trials I'm called to go through and become perfected through them. I pray that my will and His will may become one.