Adversity Comes From Where?

Elder Eyring gave a talk during the April 2009 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entitled, Adversity. In it he suggests that we prepare for impending adversity in times of relative ease; that adversity is necessary for individual growth. I sometimes wonder at adversity.

What is the source of adversity? It seems that aside from natural processes (aging) and disasters (me ripping my knee apart!), the primary genesis for adversity is agency. Adversity comes as a consequence from our use of agency and others' use of agency. This definition absconds the blame of difficult circumstances from God and parachutes their derivative over the blanket of humanity. Suddenly it isn't God that hates us, but we who suffer the consequences of ourselves. This isn't an original idea, but under the context of adversity, it has assuaged some of my personal grievances.

Knowing our power for personal self-detriment, the solicitous need for the Atonement ever mounts. It would seem that some adversity, as a byproduct of agency, can be abated through the power of the atonement.

Adversity seems a small price to pay in preservation of personal agency, and an increasingly amazing pathway toward utilizing and understanding the Atonement.