My Brain is Back

This week I had the assignment to speak in church, and any brain cells not being used to take care of my kids were used in preparing for it (or just worrying about it). I thought I'd share it here, if for no other purpose than to keep for my posterity, and for my angel mother who continues to inspire me.

I was born into the church, and generations of my ancestors on each line have been members their whole lives. I grew up in Northern Virginia, where the church was strong, but still somewhat obscure. I was the fourth of eight children, which really made me an oddity in that particular region, where two-income and two-child families were predominant.

There are many things that you don’t understand until you get older, and I feel like I’m still learning from my parents and their examples. My mother is and always has been an extremely anxiously engaged person. She fills her life to overflowing with good things to do, which admittedly left me feeling a little resentful when I was young. If there was ever someone in our ward who was new or didn’t fit in, she was by their side, visiting them, inviting them over for dinner, cleaning their apartments, and giving them rides. She even infamously lent our eleven-seater van to an older gentleman, who in turn totaled it. But she didn’t mind. Instead she insisted that the money we got from the insurance company was a blessing. That is just the kind of person she is.

Bishop Causse, in the last General Conference Priesthood Session gave a talk entitled, “Ye Are No More Strangers.” For me, my mother exemplifies what Bishop Causse described when he said,

“Unity is not achieved by ignoring and isolating members who seem to be different or weaker and only associating with people who are like us. On the contrary, unity is gained by welcoming and serving those who are new and who have particular needs. These members are a blessing for the Church and provide us with opportunities to serve our neighbors and thus purify our own hearts.”

In the church, we have countless opportunities to serve but limited capacity to do so. I think the key for all of us is living worthily of the Spirit, asking in faith, then acting on the promptings we receive. Elder Bednar has spoken on several occasions, and one during a recent Stake Conference, about the Atonement, and how it can help us become more like Christ. He says,

“The enabling power of the Atonement strengthens us to do and be good and to serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity.”

I’m often guilty of comparison, especially when I feel I’m not doing enough. I know I am not my mother, but I sometimes feel like my efforts seem inadequate when compared to hers. I think this is exactly where Satan wants me, and he is pretty successful at it.

Still, I have also had times when I have felt exactly what Elder Bednar calls this enabling power. When I was newly pregnant with my fourth child and had not yet made that knowledge public, I also came down with the flu. I was miserable and exhausted, and felt completely inadequate to even take care of my own kids. I remember feeling especially overwhelmed because I had also committed to help someone out by watching her child for a few days. Not wanting to back out, I prayed for help. Through the enabling power of the Atonement, I believe I was not only given the desire and the ability to serve, but I was also blessed with strength beyond my own. On that morning when I was to start babysitting, I was back to full health, and even morning sickness didn’t seem to be an issue. I was grateful to have the opportunity to serve, and I was also grateful to have full use of my body for the first time in about a week. The enabling power of the Atonement is real.

None of us is perfect. There are times when I feel like I’m doing alright at listening and acting on promptings, but there are other times when I know that I’m not.

President David O. McKay said, “The purpose of the gospel is … to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature.” Thus, the journey of mortality is to progress from bad to good to better and to experience the mighty change of heart—to have our fallen natures changed.”

As Bishop Causse reminds us, it is also important to recognize whose work this is. He says,

“In this Church our wards and our quorums do not belong to us. They belong to Jesus Christ. Whoever enters our meetinghouses should feel at home. The responsibility to welcome everyone has growing importance. The world in which we live is going through a period of great upheaval…[it] is becoming one large village where people and nations meet, connect, and intermingle like never before.”

He then shares an excerpt from the famous novel, Les Miserables. In the story, Jean Valjean has just been released as a prisoner, and is seeking refuge. But as news of his past spreads through the town, he is completely shut out and left to wander. Jean Valjean finally comes to the door of the town bishop, who welcomes him in, knowing full well his colored past. This disciple says to Valjean,

“’This is not my house; it is the house of Jesus Christ. The door does not demand of him who enters whether he has a name, but whether he has a grief. You suffer, you are hungry and thirsty; you are welcome…What have I to know your name? Besides, before you told me [your name], you had one which I knew.’

[Valjean] opened his eyes in astonishment. “Really? You knew what I was called?’

‘Yes,’ replied the Bishop, ‘you are called my brother.’”

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, we enjoy a unity that is real and tangible. We have each entered into a covenant to become His people, to always remember Him, and to keep His commandments. We also share the burden of being outsiders in an increasingly secular world. We know what it feels like to be strangers, so we can empathize with those new converts who come into this gospel as strangers. We can help them continue fighting their battles with sin and turning to Christ, because it is a battle we are all familiar with.

In Mosiah chapter 4, we read the familiar words of King Benjamin, who said,

“19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have…?

20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy…

21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right…O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.”

We are all partakers of God’s great gift, which unifies us in humility and faith. Bishop Causse shares an example of perfect unity from the Book of Mormon, after Christ’s ascension into Heaven. “The record observes that there were no “Lamanites, nor any manner if –ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.”

Another powerful example of unity that I was reminded of was the people of Ammon. Alma the younger, who could have been king, chose instead a life of missionary service with his brothers and friends. As a result, they brought thousands of their Lamanite brothers and sisters into the gospel.

Once these Lamanites were converted and had fully repented of their sins, they needed to completely separate themselves from their past and be joined with their fellow saints. The Nephites, who had endured countless offenses from the Lamanites could have easily left them to fend for themselves, but they didn’t. They gave them part of their land, and they gave them protection. They did not harbor any feelings of resentment or judgment.

As we heed the call to “Hasten the Work,” we will see the membership of the Lord’s kingdom grow in numbers and diversity. Bishop Causse says,

“It is very likely that the next person converted to the gospel in your ward will be someone who does not come from your usual circle of friends and acquaintances. You may note this by his or her appearance, language, manner of dress, or color of skin. This person may have grown up in another religion, with a different background or a different lifestyle.”

These are exciting times! Like those Nephites who had the gospel for generations, we have been given much. Whether we are recent converts or lifetime converts, all of us here have the scriptures and access to all the words spoken by our modern day prophets. We each have the gift of the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion and guide. And because of this gift of light and knowledge, we have a responsibility to share, because, “unto whom much is given much is required.”  (D&C 83:2)

My husband and I have lived in this ward for six and a half years now, and have been privileged to witness several conversions to the gospel and full fellowship into this ward. What I said about my mother, I could easily say about so many of you. This ward has so much warmth and love. Just yesterday, I was honored to be in attendance at Soucha’s baptism, and I’m grateful for the spirit she brings to Young Women’s, and for her righteous desires. It is thrilling to welcome each new member into the fold. They add so much, and we need them just as they need us.

So as we “hasten the work,” how are we, as members of the church, preparing ourselves to welcome strangers in?

During His mortal ministry, Christ gave us the perfect example as He went about doing good, especially to those were excluded from society. Asking us to follow Him, Christ said,

“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

By extending ourselves through love, by doing our visiting and home teaching, and by acting on promptings we receive, we can become more like our Savior, and make His church open to all who come.

Bishop Causse closes by saying,

‘I pray that when the Lord gathers His sheep at the last day, he may say to each one of us, “I was a stranger, and ye took me in.

Then will we say unto Him “When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in?”

And He will answer us, “Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”