An Acquaintance Only

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:3-4). If we desire to become like Jesus, or even if we don't, then sooner or later all of us must become acquainted with grief, as He is. But thanks to Jesus and His Atonement, grief can remain an acquaintance only, and not become a constant companion. Christ bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, sometimes alongside us, often alone, especially when the pain became too much for us. And sometimes, when our grief is too personal, and we couldn't hand it over to the Savior even if we tried, then, like the story of the footprints in the sand, at those times He carried us. It's like at the end of the Lord of the Rings, when Frodo and Sam have made it to the foot of Mount Doom, and Frodo collapses and can go no further, Sam, knowing that he can't remove the burden of the Ring from Frodo, says, "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you." The Lord will not leave us comfortless. He will help us get through it, and with time and patience and the infinite power of the Atonement, our grief will eventually drop down to being an acquaintance once more. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelations 21:4).