Line upon Line

One of my most cherished writing experiences was the opportunity I had to interview nearly 100 General Authorities and general auxiliary leaders for the Friend magazine for a monthly article titled “Friend to Friend.” I learned many valuable lessons as I conversed with various Brethren and auxiliary presidency members about their childhoods and what they had learned from their parents, family, and Church leaders. Usually the conclusion of these articles contained a message for children.

Elder Hartman Rector, Jr., was called as a member of the First Council of the Seventy in 1968. He then became a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy when it was organized in 1975 and was granted emeritus status in 1994. Elder Franklin D. Richards served as a General Authority from 1960 to 1986, first as an assistant to the Council of the Twelve and then as a member of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

Both of these Brethren discussed in our interviews the concept “Be There.” While their comments were directed to Primary children, adults can also benefit from their advice.

When I interviewed Elder Franklin D. Richards, he had sitting on his desk a carved and painted wooden sign: “Be There.” He said, “One of the men who most influenced my life was T.B. Evans, my stake president when I was a boy. He ran a little grocery store in Ogden [Utah], and he lived that motto. He believed that when you accept a call you should magnify it. I grew up under his example from the time I was eight until I was eighteen.”[1]

Elder Rector also talked about “Be There.” He said: “One of the most important things to learn is to be where you should be when you should be there. If you can do that, there’s nothing that you can’t do. If you think about it, when you have been in trouble, it was probably because you were where you shouldn’t have been at the time. 

“There is a time to be born, a time to die, and a time to do everything in between. When it’s time to go to bed, you ought to be in bed. When it’s time to get up, you ought to be up. There’s a time to play, and there’s a time to be in school. Be there. There’s a time to be in church. Be there. Be where you should be when you should, and everything else will follow in its proper time.”[2]

I learned myself how important it is to “Be There.” One Sunday I was enjoying an unhurried morning as we were on the late schedule for our three-hour-block. My husband was already off to his meetings as bishop. The telephone’s ringing disrupted my reverie and when I answered it, a friend from another ward said, “Janet, the bishop has just announced that you are the first speaker. What are you doing at home?” At the time I was serving as stake Young Women president and during that year had been assigned to speak once in each ward along with a high councilor. High council Sunday was generally the third Sunday of the month in our stake, but this particular ward’s schedule had been rearranged and I had not spoken with the assigned high councilor about a new date. That was no excuse; I certainly should have asked. I hurriedly changed my clothes and made the five-minute drive in three. My kind friend, waiting in the foyer of the meetinghouse, suggested I sit on the back row and try to catch the bishop’s eye while the high councilor spoke. His talk calmed me and, though late, I was able to give a message on helping the youth in our stake.

“Be There” is an abbreviated form of my husband’s comment, “An essential step to success is just showing up.” We need, as Elder Rector stated, to be in our church meetings, to be at school or work when we’re supposed to be, to be with our family, to be where we’re expected or have promised to be.

People often comment how a family member or friend is always “there” for them, particularly when difficulties arise. Not only do we need to physically “be there,” we also need to “be there” mentally and emotionally, especially in our relationships with others. I’m sure we’ve each been on one end or the other of a situation when physical presence was there, but thoughts were elsewhere.

Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke to missionary training center presidents and visitor centers directors in January 2011. He recounted the assignment he received in 1987 to find a way to open the doors of communist nations in Eastern Europe and also Russia. He said that “he felt as inadequate as Moses did when called to lead the children of Israel from bondage.”[3] He then related how he and Elder Hans B. Ringger “prayed mightily” and discussed what they could do to facilitate what seemed almost unthinkable—for the Church to receive recognition in these countries. The Lord opened the way and within four years, Russia opened its doors. Elder Nelson said: “These are some of the things that come to mind as I think of how crucial it is that each one of us, in whatever position we’re called to, will just be there, and be good examples, and do our duty, and then not figure we’ve got to do all the work ourselves, because the Lord will pitch in and make up the difference.”[4]