“And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.” (3 Nephi 27:14-15). To make a wire, a metal worker puts a piece of metal through a process called “drawing.” Drawing consists of forcing a piece of metal through a narrow hole in a machine called a die or draw plate. As the wire is pulled through the die, it is compressed to the narrower diameter. A wire may go through several dies, each of a narrower and narrower gauge, until the wire achieves the correct length and width. Understanding this process can help us understand a little better what the Savior meant when He said that He will “draw” all of us unto Him. Just as the wire must pass through a “die”, we too must “die” and be born again. Christ is the gate that we must pass through, the strait and narrow way. This process will be difficult. It will force us to refocus all of our time and energy and attention and effort on our core values. The parts of our lives that are fuzzy and out of focus will need to be brought back in if they are going to squeeze through the strait and narrow way. A wire does not lose any mass as it becomes finer and narrower. It simply grows longer. We have this misconception that the sacrifices that our Savior requires of us will cause us to lose out on important parts of our lives, but this is not true. We will be more focused, but that will leave us with more of ourselves, and not less. And just as a wire must be drawn and pass through many dies before it reaches the right size, so too must we die and be born again many times before the Lord is finished drawing us and refining us. We may think that after the first or seventh time that we have repented and sacrificed all that we have and pledged to serve with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength that we have changed and given up and suffered and been blessed a great deal, but we haven't seen nothing yet. Just because we have managed to squeeze through a die the size of a grapefruit does not mean we are anywhere near finished. The Savior intends to draw us until we are finer than the finest stand of hair, and long enough to wrap ourselves around the whole world. We are not going to reach perfection on our first trip through the strait and narrow path. The Savior knows this. He has already laid out a nice number of seventy times seven times that we can focus on to start things off. Each time we exercise our faith and repent and renew our covenants we are drawn through the gospel die once more. Thus we learn line upon line. Each time we are a line that is a little more delicate and refined. Each time we love a little more freely, go forth with faith a little more boldly, repent a little more quickly, serve a little more selflessly, give a little less grudgingly. Yes, every time the die will be a little tighter than we are ready for, but we will be so amazed at how much closer we get each time to that perfect ideal that we are always struggling and striving for.
