As a kid, I was pretty big into the whole getting-my-own way thing. Actually, I suppose I am still a bit like that. In any case, there was a phrase that I used a lot with my siblings when we disagreed. (Oddly, it seemed the more inconsequential the topic was, the more important it was for each to win.) I am sure that I won and lost my fair share of such disagreements. But the phrase which I used and heard often was "Fine! Have it Your Way!" [In an odd twist of fate, Burger King began using this phrase as their slogan. I'm sort of scared to eat there now.]
If you have ever used the phrase "Have it Your Way" then you know that it really means, "I see a way around your idea, and plan on getting my revenge." (Add evil laughter here)

I recently had to the opportunity to ponder the times that I have used this phrase with God. As a Christian, I try to emulate Christ. During the atonement, Christ (the clean) paid the price for us (the unclean) to be reconciled with God. Being sore amazed as the weight of our sins came upon him, He plead with The Father that the task might be accomplished another way (Mark 14:33, Matthew 26:42). Knowing that this was the way of The Father, Jesus then said to His Father, "Thy will be done." The entire life of Christ was a period of patience, trust, and sacrifice that is well typified by the phrase, "Thy will be done." It makes sense to me that as a Christian, I must also strive to live as Christ did. "...submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19).

Like all of us, I have had some chances to say to God "Thy will be done". "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6).

I should really expect this. Not only do I deserve to be chastened by the Lord, but He intends for me to be far better than I imagine. As a consequence, God asks all of to experience difficult things. It might be a difficult apology that God asks of you, hard repentance, illness or some of the difficulties of life.

As I was considering all of this recently, I realized that I did not understand the phrase "Thy will be done" as well as I thought. In the past, I may have even foolishly patted myself on the back for being able to say "Thy will be done". The truth is that many times that I said, "Thy will be done" to God, what I really meant was "That seems reasonable to me. I knew that thing needed to be done anyway. It's hard, but I can see my life going back to normal again. I can get around this. I see light at the end of the tunnel." This is not a bad thing, but in my case I don't think it was a true submission of my will. In reality I was saying, "Have it your way" because I could see how my own ideas fit with God's. It takes a little humility, but when you know God is right about something it may not be very difficult to accept "having it His way".

Abraham had received many promises from God. One of them was that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4,19). But then God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son (Genesis 22:2). How can Abraham be a father if he kills his only son? The truth is,that now and then God may ask us to do something shocking. Something that causes us to be "sore amazed" and "very heavy". Like Abraham, it might appear that promises we have received are no longer possible. We may not be able to see a way through it; the difficult thing may make little sense, or even seem unfair, and frightening. It may feel as though God is pushing you off a cliff. He is pushing you toward an immense cliff and there is a rope tied around you, but he does not anchor it to something you can see. He simply lays the rope on the ground, and says "My end of the rope will not move. Jump". When such things happen, I find it almost infinitely more difficult to say "Thy will be done." It seems synonymous with saying, "My will, My desires, My interests, and goals NOT be done." The nearest I have come to it is saying "I want to want your will". And he replied, "That is good enough, for now".