“I pray that in hours of gladness, should your cup run o’er, you will remember that, to make that possible, a cup, the bitterest of cups, was drunk.
I pray that when your life, the life of attempted faithfulness, is bludgeoned and becomes wearing and wearying, you will remember that no great and good fruit comes easily, that you are the olive plants who were supposedly planted anew in him, and that only time and suffering and endurance can produce the peaceable and perfect fruit which he yearns for you to have.
And finally I pray that, as we seek to be what he said he was, the light of the world, we will endure the days of affliction and be prepared for the day of joyous reunion. All the prophets have promised that both are ahead. One day he will honor the Mount of Olives again. This time he will descend in triumph. When his foot touches it, the mount itself shall separate, be shaken, and an earthquake will follow. The earth will be purged and cleansed and will eventually shine with celestial light. We are promised we may share in those culminations to descend with him or to ascend to meet him. And either of those is glorious.
Over and over, he spoke of himself as the Bridegroom preparing his own for a feast, the feast we have been promised in our own Doctrine and Covenants, when all worthies who have been made worthy will gather. In the beginning of this dispensation, the Master counseled, “Wherefore, be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed” (that means full) “and burning” (that means alight and afire) “and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the Bridegroom” (D&C 33:17)–and still later “that you may abide the day” (D&C 61:39).” Truman G. Madsen, The Olive Press, BYUDA 5/9/82