Lessons From A Venus Fly Trap

This week in seminary we did section 24 - which is a section that came about when Joseph Smith was starting to experience more and more (and more serious) persecution. We talked about how we deal with hard things when they happen. It was a good discussion. After, we watched a video where John Bytheway talks about that idea. He talked about venus fly traps. He said that a venus flytrap needs pure light (has to be outdoors), pure water (no minerals or additives in the water) and a cold winter. If you keep it indoors, it'll die. If you feed it regular water from the tap, it'll die. And if you don't let it go through a winter, it'll die. Then he compared that to us - we need pure light (the gospel), pure water (the daily things that we need to do to feel close to the spirit) and a freezing period of death (ya...that describes winter....but it also describes what it feels like when we go through trials). Without those things, we won't flourish. I thought that was a good analogy. I also appreciated that it showed me why I can't keep a venus flytrap alive. I've tried to have one for my class pet - but it dies. Apparently, it's not my poor gardening skills....it just can't survive in a classroom. :)