I had a fascinating experience recently as I observed a group of men cutting branches from trees and putting them into a tree branch pulverizer that demolished the limbs into smaller parts and shot them into the back of a dump truck. These machines are amazing, but getting the branches through the chute into the pulverizer can be scary. If you ever get your arm or fingers caught in one of the teeth you are in serious trouble.
I watched one man whose role it was to move the branches far enough into the machine to be chopped and pulverized. He was pushing them into the machine, but the branches seemed to be jammed. I then saw something that horrified me; he put his hand deep into the machine in an attempt to push the branches far enough in to be grabbed by the teeth of the machine. I told my wife to look. She quickly looked and then she said, “don’t watch that.” This meant she didn't want to watch the man as it seemed far too dangerous for her to watch. He was literally risking his hands and arms to maneuver these branches into the machine. I saw him struggle and
make little progress with great effort and risk. I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene, nervously hoping nothing terrible would happen.
I then saw something I instantly knew I wanted to write about. He abandoned his fruitless and risky efforts with his hands, and he went to the side of the machine and grabbed a big broom. He took the broom and proceeded to use it to force the branches into the machine. As an observer, suddenly, my feelings of panic and fear were gone. This simple change in approach brought increased results, increased safety, and he achieved what he was trying to accomplish.
In watching this simple occurrence, I drew a parallel to prayer. Prayer is a wonderful
instrument God has given us to be more effective, more protected, and to accomplish our righteous desires. Prayer is given to God’s children to allow us to see His hand, wisdom, and desires to bless us in our lives. When we do things on our own, without the help of God, we are often unsuccessful. And without Godly protection, we render ourselves less safe and less productive; we seem to do things the hardest and most risky way possible.
When we use the instrument of prayer (much like the broom), we are more effective,
more protected, we see greater results, and we realize how powerful prayer can be in our daily efforts. I have learned that the instrument of prayer always brings righteous results. These righteous results are simply some of the wonderful promises of prayer that God grants to us when we obey the commandment to “pray unto the Father in the name of Christ” (2 Nephi 32:9).