Don't do this without Me.

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Elijah was spent.

Challenging wicked priests,

hiding from a head-hunting queen

desperately praying for rain-

He collapsed under a juniper tree.

I love how God didn’t meet him with a reprimand

or a motivational speech

or even miraculous strength

from an unknown source.

“And the angel of the Lord came… and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the

journey is too great for thee.”

A chance to rest, something to eat, and a reminder that Elijah was never meant

to take on this journey alone.

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I found myself in Elijah’s shoes this week

perhaps you can relate.

No priests or queens or fire

but I was spent.

Maybe collapsing

under my own juniper tree

was the only way I was going to hear

the words the Lord had for me to hear-

“Don’t do this without me.”

It’s common to associate success with

unaided completion.

We applaud individuals for

"doing it on their own" all the time.

But this heavenly reminder to Elijah and me

was to reinforce the truth that true success is not doing it without Him

but the very opposite.

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There’s a reason why

I still prepare a lesson the way my dad taught me how

and why traces of Jamie Townsend are found in the way I care for a neighbor in need.

They may not do it for me anymore

but I certainly don’t do it without them.

In every learned method

or remembered helpful tip

or memory of corrected mistakes

their physical presence is no longer the only

indicator that I am not doing it alone.

And even if I needed to give them a call before the job is finished

to make sure I didn’t miss an important step

or to allow the experts to provide guiding input or thoughtful review

The job well done is still valid for me

and the ones whose expertise I represent because they taught me how.

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Jesus Christ was sent

to live and die for you and me

representing His Father’s expertise in the way He led and spoke and loved.

Though a Being separate from His Father

not once did I picture the Savior doing it without His Father.

Not once, I imagine, did receivers of miracles see the Savior only

without also seeing and feeling love from the One Who sent Him.

40 And this is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us—

41 That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;

42 That through him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his power and made by him;

43 Who glorifies the Father…

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No,

successful completion is doing it with Him

for Him

because of Him

like Him

to glorify Him

But never without Him.

The journey is too great for thee.

And thank goodness for that.

If this were any easier -

the decisions about the future less pressing

or questions about who we are less altering

the undone pile of responsibilities or faced fears less intimidating

Maybe we wouldn’t need help.

We definitely wouldn’t need help carrying the associated blessings of walking such an easier path

I imagine it’d be a light load.

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I was plainly reminded this week-

There’s nothing noble about ‘troubling not the Master,’

so why try to do this without Him?

This reminder comes not to limit our personal capability

but to significantly increase it.

Only the true Creator of life and salvation could design such a dependency on Him

through the Atoning sacrifice of His Son

that produces individuals fit for the life He enjoys.

“My impression is that the Savior expects us to do all we can do, and He will do what only He can do.

We know that “faith [in the Lord Jesus Christ] is a principle of action” and “miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, faith comes by righteousness.”

While the Lord expects us to “do all things that lie in our power,” remember that He will provide needed help in all these things as we trust in Him.” After the Fourth Day, Elder W. Mark Bassett.

So the next time you, like Elijah, can offer only a simple

“It is enough”

before collapsing

Go ahead and rest or eat or pray.

But whenever you’re ready to stand again

and face the opportunities that we’ll someday thank Heaven for shaping us with

Don’t do so without Him.

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