When I was a little girl, my dad taught me
of Latter-day Saints, we know that it is on
how to play chess. I quickly caught on to
our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus
the role that each piece played, how it
Christ that we must rely. They have the
could move across the board
eternal knowledge, experience, and
perspective
and that the pieces needed to
work together to capture my opponent’s king. There was only
one problem, my opponent
was usually my dad who had
much more experience playing the game. He could strategize and think ahead a few
moves, whereas my focus
was just to kill the king.
Over the years and with
hours of practice, my mind
could begin to see a few
moves ahead. I could make a plan of attack and get closer to taking my dad’s
that we need as
king. Many of my pieces were still lost and
we make choices and plan out our lives. It
many games were too. But I was getting
is our faith in them that allows us to ac-
better because my dad taught me how to
cess their guidance and gives us the confi-
see ahead just enough to know that I had
dence we need to move forward.
a chance at winning.
The prophet Joseph Smith is a perfect exThis is very similar to our lives. Like chess,
ample of this principle. When he was four-
we don’t have the ability to see everything
teen, he had a choice to make and was
that lies ahead. We must learn to rely on
confused with what he should do. He
someone else who does have the knowl-
could not see clearly ahead the path that
edge and experience to “play the game”
he should follow. While studying his scrip-
or in this case, get through life with joy
tures one day, he read James 1:5 that
and happiness.
says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him
ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,
As members of The Church of Jesus Chris
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given