You know, sometimes life would be so unfair if we didn’t have an omnipotent friend for a friend, as this story illustrates.

Bret entered the university majoring in English with his eyes set on going to law school, but he would have to get straight A’s in order to get in. Well, that’s all well and good, but unfortunately one of his professors was on a personal crusade to combat grade inflation. Not only that, but Bret was the only religious person in a class full of agnostics.

On their first writing assignment, Bret worked for two weeks, outlining, writing, and rewriting his paper. But when it came back, the grade was a “C.” Bret was sick. He approached the instructor and asked what it would take to get an “A.”

With a sneer the professor replied, “Only God gives ‘A’s’.” The professor then added that a paper would have to be suitable for publication in order to get an “A” in his class.

Now, that’s encouraging. With the next assignment they were given one week to analyze a novel. It couldn’t have come at a worse time in Bret’s life. He had commitments for the rest of the week; every day was tied up; there was no free time. And he had too much integrity to renege on the commitments he had made. Even Saturday, he spent the day doing yard work for an incapacitated family. By Sunday, he was in trouble and he knew it; he had done absolutely nothing on the paper. Surely, this was a classic example of the ox being in the mire. The Lord would understand if he wrote the paper on Sunday, wouldn’t he? He was sorely tempted. But then, he remembered the promise he had made to the Lord that he would never do homework on the Sabbath. He set the paper aside and made plans for Monday morning. As he did so, he asked the Lord to strengthen and help him. Monday morning he had a scant two hours, one of which he spent brainstorming, and the other typing. There was no time for revisions or corrections, or even a hello as he gave it to the professor. He turned it in fully expecting to get it back with a failing grade, but at least there was this assurance that he had done his best. No matter what happened, he was square with the Lord.

The next week he came to class. The essays were on the corner of the teacher’s desk. As usual, the professor waited till the end of class to pass them out, which was just fine with Bret; he was in hurry to get it back. As the class closed though, the professor picked up the stack of papers, and then just stood there flipping through the pages of the paper on top of the stack. Finally, he looked up. “Class,” he said after a moment, “I suppose I have a reputation for being a hard grader. Well, I want you to know that today, for the first time in my teaching career, I have awarded a student an A+.”

He handed out the papers. Bret looked down at his grade. It was an A+.

“I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; …“ (D & C 82:10)

“Perhaps the professor was right after all,” Bret said, “only God gives A’s.”