Building Your Life on the Rock by Jamie Ashby

One of the most beloved primary songs of all time is that of "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man." When singing this song, primary children all around the world will leap out of their seats and proceed to make the familiar hand motions representing the falling rain and the rising floods. As they excitedly shout and gesture, "The rains came down and the floods came up, and the house on the rock stood still" (primary songbook, #281), many of these children don’t realize that they are singing about a very simple and yet very important truth that all men must learn. This basic truth is that all men must build their lives on the rock, that is, all men must build their lives on Christ. "There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God" (1 Samuel 2:2). Within the church, we have been taught that Christ is the cornerstone; he is the surest foundation that if we build our lives on, we cannot fall. But how exactly are we supposed to go about doing this? What can we do to ensure that we have a strong foundation built on the rock of our Redeemer? Throughout the scriptures, there are countless basic principles that if we will constantly remember, we will always be firmly planted on the rock of our Savior.
One of these many principles can be found in 2 Nephi 1:19. In this verse it says, "But behold, his will be done; for his ways are righteousness forever." This past summer, my bishop said that we need to pray every day and every night for the strength to be able to allow our will to fall in line with the Lord’s will. Because we are all imperfect humans, this is not a very easy task to undertake. It takes courage and humility to be able to realize that what you want isn’t always going to be what the Lord wants for you. There will be times in very person’s life when they will feel so sure about what they want that they might allow pride to overcome them and they won’t want to surrender their will to the will of the Lord’s. But when this occurs, we must humble ourselves. Even Christ, the only perfect person to ever live on this earth, was humble enough to submit himself to his Father’s will. The trials, pains, and afflictions that he endured are far worse than anything we could ever imagine. And yet, he was humble enough to say, "nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39). If we can come to the realization that God knows what is best for us and then be able to carry that out, we will become so unshakable that any "rainfall" or "flood" that Satan directs at us won’t be able to move us.
Another principle that can keep us firmly planted on the rock of our Redeemer is found in 2 Nephi 2:2. Here is says, "thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain." It takes a great deal of faith to be able to realize that our trials are given to us to make us stronger. In 1 Nephi 20: 10 it says, "I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." From this scripture we learn that the trials we undergo are similar to that of a refining process. Just as fire is used to cleans metals of all impurities, our trials are given to us to purify and strengthen us. If we can always remember that there are specific reasons why God gives us all of our trials, then we will be able to approach them with a new perspective. Rather than giving up and falling astray, we can now look at our trials as an opportunity to find out what the Lord wants us to learn from the experience. By having this spiritual mindset we will be able to center our minds on Christ; and if our minds are centered on Christ, then we will be able to firmly stand against all opposition that we will face during our lifetime.
A final principle that I find to be of utmost importance can be found in 2 Nephi 2:25. This verse reads, "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." With all of the things going on in our daily lives, it is so easy to get caught up and stuck on trivial matters that really are of no importance. Do you ever look back on your life and regret all of the times that you got so worked up over silly little matters that really probably wouldn’t have made any difference? This is something that I use to really struggle with. Throughout almost all of high school, I was a perfectionist. I would do anything to get straight A’s even if it meant me never being able to socialize and going through very high levels of stress. Along with this, if I didn’t get an A on even small homework assignments, I would get really down on myself. When I look back on my high school years, I have realized that my desire to be perfect resulted in me missing out on some of the best years of my life. There are so many activities that I skipped out on and so many memories that I could have made; but instead I was in my room slaving over my schoolwork. I went through some of the best years of my life being absolutely miserable when I could have been enjoying life to the fullest. In 2 Nephi 2:25 we learn that men are that they might have joy. The very purpose why we are here is to be happy, not only in this life, but in the life to come as well. When we are happy, the entire world seems to be a better place. When we are happy, we will have desires to be a better person and we will try to be more like Christ. It is not near as hard to plant our feet on the rock of our Redeemer when our hearts of full of joy. It is so important that we realize that the purpose why we are here on this earth is so that we can be happy. If we come to this realization and not let the small and unimportant (in the eternal perspective) things get to us, then we will be able to build a very strong foundation on the rock, which will never let us fall.
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yeah, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall" (Helaman 5:12). Christ is the surest foundation on which any person can center their lives on. Although it might be hard to do, it is necessary. If we don't, then we will be like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. "The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the sand washed away." If we can always remember that God knows what is best for us, that he will consecrate our afflictions for our gain, and that we were meant to happy, then we will be able to firmly plant ourselves on the rock of our Redeemer, and we will never fall away.
Works Cited
Primary Songbook #281
Old Testament
The Book of Mormon
New Testament