"Tale of the Woodpecker"

On the fourth of July this summer my family and I were leaving to go see a movie at a local theater.  When we got into the garage, however, we found that a woodpecker had somehow flown inside and was continuing to fly around in circles around the top of the ceiling.  We waited for a moment to let the bird fly out of the garage, but we began to see that the bird was only looking up.  It would not allow itself to see the wide open garage door below.  We tried to scare it out of the garage by yelling at it, but all it did was fly in circles faster.  Simply put, we were not very impressed with the intelligence of this bird.  Finally my father grabbed a broom, and at the precise moment, he knocked the bird down a little with his broom mid-flight so that instead of again flying into the wall, the woodpecker bolted out of the garage door and was finally free.
As we drove to the movie, I reflected on that poor animal's problem.  What an amazingly stupid bird!  All that animal had to do was look down, or even fly a little lower.  I can only imagine what was going through its limited mind. 
Then the thought came to me--oftentimes, we are very much like that woodpecker.  We find ourselves stuck somewhere in life, and it seems that no matter what we do, or how much faster or father we push ourselves, we can't find a way out.  Because of our unwillingness to change our perspective, we wear ourselves out and become discouraged.  We ask ourselves, "Why is life so hard?"  "Why do bad things happen to me?"  "How come nothing I do works?"
I have recently finished reading Mormon (a book in the Book of Mormon).  Throughout the course of the Book of Mormon, the Nephites, the people that God sent prophets to in the ancient Americas, had gone through a turbulent history, cycling through periods of peace, then prosperity, followed by pride, class distinctions, war and destruction.  Eventually in each of these violent periods the people would be humbled and would "look down" on themselves as they really are--as people who had strayed from the right path.  Unfortunately, only a few hundred years after Christ, they found themselves again in a destructive war brought on by their own pride and class distinctions and sins, and this time, they did not look down--they were "stiff-necked" in scriptural terms.  They refused to "look down" to the point that they became consumed by revenge, and the entire Nephite civilization was destroyed as a result (see http://www.mormon.org/ for more about the Book of Mormon).
When we choose to humble ourselves, we change our perspective.  We shed off the "I have arrived" mentality and adopt the "I can climb higher" mentality--we acknowledge that we are not perfect and that there is room to grow.  This does not mean that we take on a "I'm so weak I can't go any farther" mentality--humility does not mean low self-esteem.  Humility means that we realize that we need help and know where to find it.
I also feel encouraged by the thought that when I feel like I have been hit by a broom, that it likely means the Lord is simply trying to help me out by changing my perspective.  "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked" (Psalms 94:12-13).
I am thankful that God has called prophets for our day, just like he called Moses and others to be prophets to other people that God loved just as much as me.  Through these living prophets and the scriptures, many people have access to a broader perspective.  I don't have to keep on flying around in circles, no one has to.  I know that when I read the scriptures, I feel encouraged by the simple answers I find for my most complex problems.  I often need the reminder to be humble.  I feel closer to Christ when I read His words in the scriptures, and feel that I can trust him more and more as I gain a deeper perspective of who He is and what He has done for me.  I personally guarantee that it is that simple.