iStockphoto.com/Leslie J. Morris
First Sunday of September, and we had one of the most totally uplifting services I can ever remember. I can even say that the sun shone, and that has not happened very much this summer.
Relief Society was as near perfect as I think we can get in this life. There was much of pure Gospel value in it for absolutely everyone, and we all left feeling as if we walked on air. There were smiles, a lift in the step and almost a crackle of excitement in the air.
It would be difficult to define the subject. It was the choice of the Relief Society presidency. The sister teaching felt prompted to speak on the great value and worth of every individual person. She reminded us that we each have a mission in this life for which we were chosen – and ordained – before we were born. And that applies to women as much as to men.
Already we felt special – and loved and valued! We had a greater sense of having “the DNA of Godhood” in us, as she put it. Isn’t that a breathtaking thought? We are innately programmed to become like God – if we want to.
And this mission is possible for us to achieve. Of course, it will take work, faith, prayer, time, and possibly help. But the help is there. We do not lack anything that is necessary for success. We may feel we lack a few things for happiness on a temporary basis, in this life – or, of course, we may have it. But that distinction is one that time will alter – and heal. (And of course we also need to remember that without gratitude, gentleness and faith it can also be possessed here, but lost for eternity – a very sobering thought).
To quote her exactly (and I asked for her notes, so I have it word for word), “Each of us, regardless of our beliefs or our personal circumstances, has a role to play in the Latter Day Kingdom of God.” Is that not a knowledge to dispel the occasional feelings of unworthiness that most of us have?
We do not need to conform to someone else’s idea, another person’s mould of what a “perfect” woman is like. We need to believe in ourselves, in each other, and strive to be kind, brave, honest, and so on. All the things of loving one another that we already know. She reminded us that the foundation of it all is love one another.
True Conversion
How can we tell is someone is converted to Christ?
Easy – by how they treat others. A simple yardstick, and a true one – but I think sometimes we lose sight of it.
I have a good friend who uses the expression, “It isn’t always about you!” Sometimes we become too absorbed in our own worlds to realize that an event, a plan, a happening of any sort, may actually be largely about someone else. Our part in it may not be a solo, just part of the orchestra – this time. “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” In an eternal prospective, that is of immeasurable value.
The teacher mentioned a talk given by Sheri Dew in which she spoke about the need to be valiant, and that we must learn the obligation we are under to God. Every man and every woman has a mission here. Apparently one member of the congregation found this hard and discouraging. She did not wish to be valiant. She felt Sheri Dew’s remarks robbed life of all its joy and fun. She wishes to be more casual about things. She felt overwhelmed by all that the Church requires, and being told that the Lord requires valiant women didn’t help her. She said she did not wish to be incredible, only to be herself.
My immediate reaction to that was that we are incredible – if we wish to be. That is our “self.” How can we hope to receive “All that the Father hath” if we put in only a casual effort?
Be ye therefore perfect. Perfect doesn’t mean without flaws or weaknesses – it means doing your best at any given moment. There is no end to our growth, our learning, to the glory and the happiness we may receive, no end to the things we may see and experience.
There isn’t a point at which we ever say, “Now I have arrived. There is nothing more to see, nothing to learn, nothing to create, no one else to love.” There will ALWAYS be something else beautiful, wonderful and exciting to discern. That is what eternity is about. That is the precious thing we know that it seems so few others do. That is the Plan of Salvation – eternal offspring of God – His children. He made our bodies out of clay, but our souls are immortal and our spirit bodies will be also.
Getting What We Want
The teacher also said that ultimately we will become what we give our hearts to. We will get what we must want.
That sounds a bit sweeping, but I remember a stake patriarch once saying, “We are what we are because we want to be!” I thought that was absurd, until I thought harder about it. He meant spiritually, not in other ways. And it is true. It is a matter of priorities. What we want most is what we will strive to become.
There may be other things we want as well, and it might not be possible to have them all in this life. I find I forget far too easily that this life is only a breath compared with forever.
Do I want to be brave sufficiently to risk being hurt? It doesn’t come free!
Do I want to be kind enough to control my selfish thoughts, my own pain or loss, and think of others? That doesn’t come free either.
Do I want to be honest enough to face truths that hurt, or may be very hard indeed to live with, or to own up to? Again, not without price.
In the end, do I want to serve God more than I want my own comfort, safety, personal happiness now? She is right. What I want most is what I will get – eventually. Can I say with a whole heart, “Not my will be done, but Thine”?
I’m working on it.
She said a lot more, all of it good, including many scriptures, but she ended with this:
Be proud of who you are
Be better every day
Strive to honour the world wide sisterhood.
A Matter of Traveling
Sunday School was good also, although we are now finished the Gospels, and I feel the loss because nothing else moves me as they do. We are almost to the end of Acts, and into some of the Epistles.
There is much to learn and remind oneself of regarding the faith and strength of the Apostles, as well as their struggles, and occasionally their shortcomings. It is encouraging, because we then know that our own failings are not cause to despair. It is a matter of traveling, not of arriving. They did not find it easy, nor did they always succeed. Why should we expect to?
In fast meeting I found myself thinking back on the Relief Society lesson and some of the things said that I have not mentioned, especially the differences in every woman, which our teacher spoke of very movingly. She made the point that we are all here for a divine purpose, and no one is dispensable, and no one’s mission can be served by anyone else. No one is excluded: young or old, of any race or previous faith, well educated or not, married or single, we are all necessary and valuable.
I bore testimony and found myself saying that we all have a mission that we can fulfill. God never asks anyone to do something without making it possible for him to succeed, if he will trust Him, and try. We may not be given every opportunity we would like, but we will have every opportunity we need. Possibly some things were learned in the pre-existence, and that calling is not needed now? The absence of one opportunity may really be the presence of another. We need to see what is there, not what is apparently missing. It may simply be somewhere else, out of our direct line of sight.
How terrible to reach the end of the road with the complaint that we could not do one thing because we had not the chance – to have God say, “But you didn’t need that! I gave you the opportunity to learn something else which you did need, but you didn’t trust me, and you didn’t take it.”
Trust is very hard when we believe we have abilities that are not being used, chances that are given to others who are seemingly less worthy.
It all comes down to the question, do you trust God to give you what you need now, so that in eternity you may have everything? If the answer is yes, then carry on the road, however hard it gets. It leads to celestial glory. If the answer is no, then you have some deep thought and prayers ahead.
The God of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is our Father who loves us and will give us every good thing we make ourselves able to receive – in the time that is best for us. And that can be very hard to wait for, when all around seem to be rewarded sooner. But there “seem” is the key word.
I know I judge too easily, and sometimes I have no idea of what the whole story really is. How on earth do I have the stupidity to think I can second-guess God? And yet too often I do!
Back to trust again. Look at the opportunities I have, and make the most of them, with gratitude and faith that I can learn from them what I need, and accept that in some cases it is not “all about me!” Perhaps that particular work was for someone else. My time will come – and so will yours.
Please let us say, “Yes, I know it would. I believed” – not, “I wish I had! I know now, and it is too late for faith.” No one needs lamps in the daylight. Then we shall see everything, and it will all make sense.
One step at a time. And I say that more to myself than to anyone else. Let us love what we have, who we know, treasure what is beautiful, forgive mistakes, and be gentle.
And keep the faith.
