Today’s Reading: Jacob 5:47-63
60 I have grafted in the natural branches again into their mother tree, and have preserved the roots of their mother tree, that, perhaps, the trees of my vineyard may bring forth again good fruit
Sometimes I’ve wondered: Why would a vivacious,charismatic and determined boy be forced to endure the physical and sexual abuse of a parent? Why would a 5-year-old little girl, with enough faith to walk herself to church alone each Sunday, be born to a home full of chaos and contention? Why would a loving Heavenly Father allow that?
In addition to being an allegory of the gathering of the House of Israel in the last days, what if Jacob 5 were also the allegory of your story and my story? What if the trees were our family trees? I can’t help but consider this chapter as the Lord’s gift to help us understand why bad things happen to innocent children.
It wasn’t until reading Jacob 5 that I finally began to understand something about the Lord of the Vineyard. He knows each of his trees intimately and weeps over them saying “What more could I have done for my vineyard?”[i] He “[labors] diligently”[ii] with his servants to save the natural fruit. He reproves them when they question his wisdom saying, “Counsel me not.”[iii] His goal is to save as many trees as possible, so sometimes that means he must graft a tame branch into a wild tree.[iv]
Heavenly Father knows which of his branches are most fruitful, he knows a vivacious, charismatic, and determined boy could be resilient enough to not pass on abuse. He knows that a noble daughter with a deep desire for spiritual enlightenment could share that light with her family tree forward and back. Maybe the Lord of the Vineyard loves ALL of his family trees so much that he grafts in a good branch to give that family a second chance. He foreordains some of his choicest spirit children to be transitional characters–to change the fruit of his wildest trees. They stop the cycle of sin and sadness and absorb the shock of suffering being passed from generation to generation.
Carlfred Broderick, responded similarly when he was asked “If little children are precious to God, what justification can there be for permitting some to be born into such circumstances?” He answered:
Indeed, my experience in various church callings and in my profession as a family therapist has convinced me that God actively intervenes in some destructive lineages, assigning a valiant spirit to break the chain of destructiveness in such families. Although these children may suffer innocently as victims of violence, neglect, and exploitation, through the grace of God some find the strength to “metabolize” the poison within themselves, refusing to pass it on to future generations. Before them were generations of destructive pain; after them the line flows clear and pure. Their children and children’s children will call them blessed.[v]
My husband and I are so thankful to our Heavenly Father for those chosen ancestors who were grafted into our own family trees! Because of the lives they chose to live, we have experienced something “clear and pure” flow into our families and are privileged to “call them blessed.” 
I was born and raised in Alberta, Canada and California and promised every childhood friend I would never raise my family in Utah…until I fell in love with the most amazing fourth generation Orem boy. Now we are raising our kids in the house he grew up in and we love it. I am an estate planning attorney and marriage educator but I really want to be better at those half-baked talents like speaking Spanish, playing the piano, and making dinner every night! Read more about me at mormon.org
What a beautiful way to look at both Jacob 5 and tough situations. Love this!