What Must Be Done

I just awoke from a dream. I was driving in the car with my wife, Anna, in the town where my grandparents lived. We were just about to the highway that would take us back to my parents’ house when the Spirit told me that the Christ was about to be born.

Now, obviously in reality, I know that the Christ has already been born and at this point He doesn’t need to be born again (ironic though that statement be). But in the dream, He was finally coming, and the still, small voice of the Spirit was letting me know. But even beyond that knowledge, there was more: I saw Him in vision. I saw Him in that very moment, about to leave home and begin His calling on Earth, and I could see how He was feeling.

We often talk about the Savior subserving His will to Father’s. We recognize that His suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross was so severe, He begged for deliverance if it be possible. The pain and agony that He suffered are beyond human comprehension, but He knew it would be that way. He knew that not only would this life be hard, but that His particular death would be excruciating. He knew it from the moment He accepted Father’s call (assignment, whatever), and despite all this, He came anyway. He suffered anyway. He did what He knew needed to be done—not disregarding the cost, but knowing, at least on some level, how high that cost would be.

It really drove home His words in John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

I hope I can love Him enough.