The Heart's Hidden Wedge

There is a story told of a farmer's boy who found a wedge while out on the homestead. Intending later to bring it home, he placed it between supple young branches of a walnut tree. Later never came.

Decades later, the wedge was forgotten. It had been consumed by the tree's growth and rested hidden near the heart of the tree. But when a vicious ice storm blew through those woods, guess which tree fell? That's right--the now gnarled walnut tree, split open by its heavy burden of an old iron wedge.

I thought about that story today as I was reading in Mosiah 19. War is upon the Nephites, coming in a flash attack by their enemies, the Lamanites.

King Noah is fleeing, rather than protect his people. He urges the men, the Nephites own warriors, to leave behind defenseless women and children. Just picture it! He's shouting orders to men--men sworn to protect the land--to join him in saving their own lives.

It is precisely in these flash moments, the ice storms of our lives, that hidden wedges split a heart wide open. These flash moments expose the inner workings of a life far better than modern personality tests, aptitude assessments, or even professed expressions.

Some of King Noah's men fled with him. Some could not. In seeing the faces of their own wives and children, they chose to "stay and perish with them."

The story is a riveting one for me. It is one that causes me to ponder long and hard: why is it in the blink of an eye (there is a book called Blink that explores these decisions), some choose to surrender themselves in order to protect another...and others choose purely self-protective means?

Personally, I believe it comes down to tiny, mounting, daily choices, the ones that seem not to matter. You know the kind, the little things like, "Do I give the bigger piece of cake to myself or to my child?" Those kinds of moments that appear easily not to matter. Or do they? And what about the weightier matters, the ones we'd rather not deal with...today.

I don't know. But I do know that just as that farmer's boy -- so long ago -- placed a heavy wedge in the young tree's branches, I know that it is all too easy to set aside something heavy and think we'll deal with it later. Later often never comes.

And when the ice storms flash into our lives, what then?

This is why I love the scriptures. They help me see the need I have to analyze my own life, my own heavy wedges, my own personal choices. Where are those choices taking me? Am I headed in the right direction? What can I do today if I'm not? It's kind of like house-cleaning a little at a time, rather than all in two days right before company comes (yep, I've had those kind of moments).

This one thing I do know. I love the Savior and I'm grateful He helps me remove heavy wedges...even after they've been there so long the tree-growth in my life may have swallowed up the weight. He can help me remove anything that does not belong in my life. And I find Him daily in the pages of my scriptures, waiting to do just that! So grateful for that and for His patience with me.

P.S. Here's the link to the cool story about the farmer's boy and here's the link to the Book of Mormon story of the fleeing fathers.