Cheating on the Homework or Seeing Opportunities Instead of the Obstacles?

Mike Hosey, An Elder

I hated math when I was in sixth grade.  I struggled with it from that point until my first year of college when everything finally clicked, and I could apply the concepts to actual problems. Anyway, before that, I often needed just a little help.  If I could just have a hint at the answer, or a hint at the procedure, I could sometimes stumble into an understanding of what my teacher was trying to instill.

She used to send the class home with little booklets full of math problems. And it seemed like this homework was a never ending torturous list of boring, incomprehensible busywork. At the end of each math activity were blocks of red dots and patterns.  Beneath these patterns, one could make out what looked like little etched, squiggly lines of gray.  I learned that if I looked at these blocks through a red lens, or even if I took a transparency and colored it with a red marker and placed it over these blocks, that the red patterns blended together into a seamless background, and I could see written in gray, the answers to those problems that tormented me! It was magic! Did I use this newfound discovery? Well, yeah . . .  But don’t get the idea that I’m condoning cheating. I’m not.

Instead, here’s the point of that story. Those red blocks were obstacles that kept me from seeing what was really there.  Sometimes we walk out into the world, and those pesky red boxes hide wonderful opportunities from us.  But if we choose to look through the proper lens, those obstacles fade to the background, and we see clearly what we need to do, and how we can grow.

Consider the story of Peter and John visiting the temple (Acts 3:1-10). As they were about to enter the temple they were met with a lame man who asked them for charity. Instead of viewing him as an obstacle, or as someone who would slow them down, or as a nuisance asking for money they didn't have, they viewed him as an opportunity to proclaim the power of Jesus.  Because they were wearing the right glasses, the lame man was healed,  He then praised God, in the name of Jesus, while walking and leaping before a whole bunch of people who didn’t know the savior.  Peter and John grew in their faith, the man grew in his faith, and in health, and God’s kingdom grew with a new chapter of scripture.

Your whole life is full of opportunities, but you must look past the obstacles to realize them.