"...becometh as a child...willing to submit to all things...."

Yesterday in the clinic I had a 6 year old patient was brought in who had gotten a piece of glass stuck in her big toe and it had been covered over by a granuloma. There was a noticeable firm bump on the dorsal aspect on her toe that wasn't inflamed much or red to the touch but it was slightly tender and hurt more when she walked. Mom said that earlier in the week she had gotten another piece out and thought that was it, but was now worried that there was more because the toe hadn't healed yet. To be able to probe for this piece of glass and then remove it mom and the girl were told that we would have to numb up her toe with a medication, and that this was going to be through a shot. I was in another room at the time with another patient while this was being explained and you could tell the moment the word "shot" was said...maybe "shot"was the wrong word to say. The girl started screaming and crying and saying that she didn't want to do it and wanted to go home instead. Her cries could be heard through the whole clinic. We finally got her into the procedure room and prepared the needle with the lidocaine. We had her lay down and mom and my preceptor help restrain her while I injected her toe. Just the mere sight of the needle made her shriek in horror. After much squirming and restraining we finally got her toe numb but this didn't get rid of the fear of the sight of a needle. To probe in the granuloma I had to use a larger needle (18 gauge), and even though I know she couldn't feel it, every time she saw the needle she screamed and tried to bring foot back. I found the piece of glass and then tried removing it with some forceps but it was too large and angled wrong to be removed from the tiny whole that I had made in the granuloma. During the procedure every time I switched between the probe needle and the forceps the girl screamed more. Many times during she would say to her mother, through tears and cries, "you said it wouldn't hurt but you lied. It does hurt! Tell them to pull it out." After the procedure was over we sat the little girl back up, cleaned her wound, put some antibiotic cream on it, and then bandaged it up. During that the little girl was quite pleasent and even picked out the color of coban used to wrap it up. She was smiling and happy and didn't resent me, my preceptor, or her mother for the pain, torture, or lies that we put her through. It's like the past 10 minutes didn't even happen.
Now I know that she remembered the pain that she felt and that she knew who put her through it, but after the ordeal that didn't seem to matter. She quickly returned to her happy little self. No resentment, hatred, or betrayal was felt or expressed. As I sat in my room later that night I started thinking about that specific event. How quickly she was to forgive us three who had held her down against her will, repeatedly stabbed sharp objects and burning injections into her skin, and told her "lies" that it wouldn't hurt much. Those didn't seem to matter anymore now that she was feeling better, and no more needles were in sight. How easy it was for her to go back trusting in her mother. How quickly she turned to be able to play with me while bandaging up her toe, even though I was the one poking around in her foot. None of the pain seemed to matter anymore, just 5 minutes later. My mind was then brought to the book of Mosiah, chapter 3, verse 19: "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
How often do we continue to hold grudges, or hatred for those whole have wronged us? How many years do we let go by not forgiving someone for something they did to us? How often do we even remember what that offense was? How long will we let our pride keep us from enjoying those relationships that we once enjoyed? How often do we blame the Lord for our pains? The pain was real, those feelings of mistrust and betrayal existed and affected us, our toe was left with a bloody hole in it, now we're left to make a decision; live in the past and continually feel the pain and mistrust, or become as a child, submissive and meek, willing to submit to all things.
Two principles we can learn from this ordeal and scripture. 1) It is possible to forgive someone for the pain that they intentionally caused us. Just as this child readily forgave me we can forgive others. For her it was easy but for us it's a little more difficult. For us it can only be done if we implement the atonement of Christ in our lives. Only his atonement makes it possible for us to feel comfort and learn to forgive. If we chose to remain in our pride and not forgive then we willingly reject the atonement of Christ in our own lives. 2) The Lord will allow trials and hardships in our lives and will even be there to "hold us down" while the injection takes place. It's not because he wants to inflict pain on us, but he knows the overall outcome of the ordeal and the proper healing that will come from it. He knows what growth can come from such experiences. We can either try to kick against the pricks, or submit to his will "in all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him." Those times will be painful, we will want to scream and cry and ask the Lord "to make them take it out" but if we have faith in him and His Son's atonement, after the ordeal we will be able to laugh and smile again, quickly forgetting the pain and quickly forgiving the one who inflicted it.
Let us learn from the example of children. Let us strive to take the principles taught to us in the scriptures. There will come times of pain and hardship, but they will be brief. The pain will only last as long as we allow it to. Only through Christ's atonement can we put off our natural man and become receptive to the enticing of the Spirit, which will make the pain go away.