Yokes

So today I went to my home ward for church since it's spring break. In Sunday school our teacher asked, "What is a yoke?" Funny Ray Lutz called out, "It's the inside of an egg!" It was pretty great. But we got into the lesson and explained it.

from here

So if you don't know, a yoke is a wooden beam that connects two oxen together. This allows them to work together and share the weight of the load they are pulling. The oxen don't have to be the biggest or strongest, what is important is that they work together when they pull. If one thinks he can do it on his own and gets out of sync with his partner, pulling the load becomes much more difficult and it takes longer to accomplish the task than if they cooperate and work together.

In Matthew 11: 28-30 it says:

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I have heard this scripture so many times and have thought about it a little, but maybe it just clicked a little more today. I think I've understood what it means, but it makes so much more sense when you hear it verbalized by people. It says take MY yoke upon you...for MY yoke is easy, and MY burden is light.

A yoke is made for two, not for one. We don't share it with just anyone. We share it with the Savior. He asks us to share it with him. We take His name upon us when we are baptized. Through the gospel we learn of him and through Him we find comfort and peace. Sometimes we become stubborn. We think we can do it on our own. We struggle and fight. We are falling out of step with the ox in the other side of the yoke. It may be through unconscious acts or it may be through deliberate actions. Either way life becomes more difficult.

Sometimes it becomes hard to get back in sync. We have developed our own pace. However, it is possible. You had to take a few awkward steps to get out of sync, so there may be some few awkward steps to get back in, but it's possible.

There's the part of Sunday school I remember in a nutshell...well a rather large nutshell. Plus a few embellishments of my own that hopefully add to and don't detract from what we learned.

California in 2.5 days! Less than a week for Dan and Eryka's wedding! Yay! :)