Abel and Eve

During this week’s studies I was introduced to a poem that I had never read before, Lamentation by Arta Romney Ballif. The poem is written from the viewpoint of Eve as it relates to Cain and Abel. It made my heart ache to realize that women have had wayward children from the very beginning. I also realized that a mother's love is enduring and powerful because from the beginning, they have still loved and cared for those children while also saddened by the damage they have done. I cannot begin to imagine how Eve must have felt upon learning that one of her beloved sons had struck down the other. And her reaction in the poem, “Dead? What is dead?”, beautifully captures how we may feel when an unexpected tragedy befalls our family. We can feel lost as we try to comprehend the events that have drastically altered our lives.

While we may not (most of us) have to deal with fratricide in our families, some of us may have to deal with tempestuous relationships between some family members. As Eve felt, we may find ourselves asking God why, why did this have to happen? In my favorite talk, Trust in the Lord by Elder Richard G. Scott, we are taught the importance of asking the right questions when adversity strikes:

When you face adversity, you can be led to ask many questions. Some serve a useful purpose; others do not. To ask, Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this, now? What have I done to cause this? will lead you into blind alleys. It really does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition to the will of God. Rather ask, What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial? Willing sacrifice of deeply held personal desires in favor of the will of God is very hard to do. Yet, when you pray with real conviction, “Please let me know Thy will” and “May Thy will be done,” you are in the strongest position to receive the maximum help from your loving Father.

This taught me that when I am struggling, especially when there seems to be no forthcoming relief, that I am often missing the lesson that the Lord is striving to teach me. In those times we should turn to the Lord, like Eve does at the close of the poem, and ask Him to help us remember the importance of our struggles. Why were the fruit and the Fall necessary…? Why must we have difficulties in this life…? What should I be learning from my struggles…? And He will help us to remember our divine purpose for being in mortality.