As Mormon said, “I cannot ‘include’ the hundredth part of” the records which he was given. (Words Of Mormon 1:5) Brothers and Sisters, I felt somewhat of this same difficulty as I was thinking about how I could sum up two years of life changing experiences for others and even more so for myself, and roll it all into 25 minutes. I thought I could spend time addressing each of my areas, no matter how hood or country they may be, or talking about my companions and blessed I was to be able to serve alongside so many great companions, what seemed to stick out to me the past few days was an experience from the first day I was in the field out in Oak Cliff. (Share the Maria Herrera De Garcia y su da me el cinto historia.)
While I don’t think that our Heavenly Father needs to go to such an extent to discipline and to teach us, I have come to know that at times he does need to grab us by the shoulders and shake us a little bit to get a point across.
Beside all of the great stories I’d be able to tell, I decided I’d share with you one of the shortest verses in all of canonized scripture which seems to me to be one of the most insurmountable commandments given from the Lord. As a backdrop, It is given during one of the most pivotal points in the Book of Mormon, where Christ speaks to the “more righteous part” of the Nephites, people who, days before his coming, had passed through all manner of trial and tribulation. They had seen cities being destroyed, family smitten even unto death, storms deform the land in which they lived, and complete darkness for the space of three days; time sufficient for them to weep over losing almost everything they had held dear to them. Days later the previously prophesied Christ made his first resurrected appearance to the Nephites that had survived the turmoil the Americas had faced earlier, and after teaching many lessons and giving much direction, he stated in 3 Nephi 12:48, “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in Heaven is perfect.” I don’t know what they were thinking then, but my heart goes out even more so to this little group of Nephites who had earlier been so wicked. As the scriptures say, it was the more righteous part of the people, the ones who received the prophets and stoned them not and the blood of the saints didn’t cry up against them. But that was the one glimmer of hope for them as they lamented after the destruction of the only 18 dominating cities mentioned of the Nephites. They cried, “O that we had repented before this great and terrible day…” How those sinners turned disciples must have felt with the overwhelming commandment given of reaching perfection.
Many times in my life I have felt the same frustration that I’m sure the Nephites felt beyond the awe of such a sermon , “How on Earth are we supposed to accomplish something that seems so unreachable,” but luckily, at the ripe old age of 19-21, I was able to see and get a grasp on what my Heavenly Father sees in me, as well in all of his children, and how he sees us getting there.
When God sent his son to give us the commandment of reaching perfection he wasn’t using poetry or just shooting a dream out there, but he meant what he said and was giving pure doctrine. And as far as how we get there is through Christ and that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone and that’s what I’m going to talk about, but on a side-note, I wanted to share an experience that I keep very close to me. As I was set apart in the office of President Lindberg two years ago, I don’t remember much, but I do remember how I felt and one line.
He blessed me that my testimony of the Savior will increase a hundredfold. At that time I thought that it was something that sure sounded neat, but it wasn’t anything that I always pondered on or had expectations for, and eventually got pushed to the backburner on things that I had on my mind. But then one night, I was lying in bed during the second best part of missionary work (next to baptisms) is when you’re done with the day and are finally supposed to sleep, and then you just think. It was the only freetime we seemed to have, and as I was thinking, for some reason, what President Lindberg said just flew right back to my mind. Feeling lucky that I was able to remember anything from such an amazing experience, I felt prompted to write it down and got out of bed to find any loose leaf paper where I jotted the quote down on some random envelope. For a long time the quote stuck with me, and as my mission was nearing a close, I looked back at everything that had happened and saw President's words, to me, turn into a prophecy fulfilled.
Before the mission, I was able to learn and appreciate of the Atonement that Christ had completed for us, but my relationship with him wasn’t much more than that, or from what I saw then. But like the Nephites that he visited, I felt like throughout the course of my mission, I truly got to know him and see his attributes. I learned that to reach perfection, we had to do more than accept him, but live like him.
As the foundation and one thing he was more than anything, is that he was perfectly obedient. He knew that it truly is the first law of heaven, and he knew that as he was obedient, he would receive divine guidance, which truly is the key to every calling.
One of the most inspiring leaders from my mission shared a story with me about the time that he was called by President Boyd K. Packer to serve as the Stake President in Longview, Texas. For a training, the Stake Leaders were brought into the High Council room, and President Packer asked everyone what some of the problems are in the stake. Some would say “home teaching” or “missionary work” or “teaching classes”, and President Packer would write each one down on the chalkboard. After a few minutes of that, he said “These are all really good, answers…”, then erased the whole board, and wrote down Personal Revelation.
Personal Revelation, which is the way that our Heavenly Father and the spirit communicates with us, is key because we don’t know the answer to every problem or situation, but our Heavenly Father does. We cannot live the commandments without this constant communication with God and heeding the council which he gives us and permits us to perform to the greatest of our abilities.
And it was amazing to be able to draw strength from the scriptures, learning of Christ’s life, and trying to direct my life in the same manner. And I began to see how Christ directed his life on these different principles such as Personal Revelation, I began to see miracles in my life as I tried my best to follow his example.
Riveroll Family Story
The attribute of Hope
The Renne y Sandra Story
The attribute of Diligence
The Erika Martinez story
The attribute of Patience
The last 6 weeks story
the attribute of Love & Charity
My page that I wrote in Sacrament meeting
Hard work is planning, and then doing what you’ve planned to do.
3 Nephi 7:7&11&14
3 Nephi 8:24-25
3 Nephi 9:13
3 Nephi 10:4&5&12
No comments:
Post a Comment