Service: Less is More

          Each of us has the capacity to help others for good.   Many people feel it a privilege to be placed at the right spot at the right time in order to be a positive influence in others' lives.  Sometimes we yearn to be able to help those that are close to us in time of difficulty.  Those who have had that experience know that it is one of the sweetest moments we can have.

          Yet, at the same time, there are moments when the best thing we can do for someone is to hold back.  To desist, rather than to act.  Sometimes what we don't do is just as important as what we do.  There are several reasons that this may be the case.

          First of all, the action we want to perform to serve another person may be beyond the scope of our calling.  John the Baptist recognized this.  He said, "He it is of whom I bear record. He is that prophet, even Elias, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose, or whose place I am not able to fill;" "He must increase, but I must decrease."  There were certain things that John the Baptist did not do.  Not because he could not, but because they were not within his stewardship.  He accepted his place with a full heart, in doing so supporting the cause of the Master far more thoroughly than he would have otherwise.

          Secondly, the service we want to render may be another's to give.  Even though the nature of our calling may not preclude us from helping someone else in a specific way, sometimes it is the Lord's will that someone else be the hero.  If we have been training ourselves to respond to the needs of others, this might be a hard pill to swallow.  Even if we don't care about anyone else knowing what we've done, it's only natural to want to be the one who does the helping.  But leaders understand that holding back helps others to grow. 

          For a doctrinal example of this we need not look further than God the Father.  Although He is all-powerful and all-knowing, He directs His children on the Earth to carry out His purposes rather than acting personally.  All that He does, He does through Jesus Christ.  Not because He could not do those things He asks, but because allowing others to act will help them to grow.  In this case, holding back from action is the critical service He provides us.  Although, in His love for us, He must yearn to personally be able to succor those in physical or spiritual pain, He sacrifices that desire for our good, so that we can grow through performing that service ourselves.  Thus we see that if the most important thing to us is that the services that are needed are rendered, regardless of who actually does it, our attitudes and behaviors will change.

          Lastly, sometimes withholding from action allows those we would have served to use their own agency.  Too much advice, even when it is accurate, will not often be as effective for the would-be receiver as gaining that knowledge themselves through personal revelation.  Sometimes we are the vehicle that God uses to deliver a message.  Other times our best recourse is to give frustrating answers like, "pray about it," ,"study the scriptures," or even, "well, I'm sure you'll figure it out."  Giving these answer might be hard, but it may also cause more growth than anything else you could do.  It may allow you to preserve the specific conditions of your relationship with the person you are helping so that your efforts will be more effective later on.

          The purpose of this article isn't to convince you to make excuses not to help other people.  Rather, its objective  is to highlight the fact that when in the course of desperately trying to help someone, sometimes the brake will get you to the finish line faster than the accelerator.  As we look to God for instructions on how to serve each individual person, He will guide us to do those things that will result in the greatest possible happiness for those we associate with.  How do we know that?  Because we know that He loves them so much, and that he can take far better care of them than we can.

The Prophet Joseph Smith declared that God, “before [the earth] rolled into existence, … contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth. … [God] knew … the depth of iniquity that would be connected with the human family, their weakness and strength, … the situation of all nations and … their destiny, … and [He] has made ample provision [for mankind’s] redemption”.

Part of God’s “ample provision” consists of imperfect people like you and me, committed to shining and serving in our appointed orbits, knowing all the while that we are encircled “in the arms of [His] love”

--Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Mediocrity

          Psychological studies indicate that most people believe that they are better than average.  Despite the logistical impossibility of such a scenario, each of us exhibits the tendency to think more of ourselves than what we currently are.  Even in modesty we can set ourselves up to believe that we are being more humble than we really are.  On an opposing vein, we can also decide to think so little of ourselves that we hold ourselves back from reaching our full potential.

          If true excellence lies neither in thinking a lot of ourselves or in tearing ourselves apart, then how can we decided to step beyond our present possibilities and break through the obstacles that hold us back? 

          At least part of the answer is obedience.  Obedience is the obvious, but often overlooked common denominator of success.  Adherence to the laws of physics has given mankind greater control of their physical environment.  Similarly, conforming to spiritual light and knowledge yields power to conquer spiritual mists of darkness.

          Every act of excellence was preceded by many acts of obedience, both small and large.  It was Moses' obedience to the promptings of the spirit that motivated him to lift his staff above the red sea.  It was Nephi's obedience to the commandments of God that allowed him to build a ship by himself.  It was the founding fathers' reliance on the Lord that allowed them to forge a nation from democracy where others had not. 

          The line between mediocrity and discipleship is a thin one, and letting ourselves become distracted can often cause enough of a lack of focus for us to cross it.  Consider, for example, how easy it is to begin doing something for the right reasons and then get entangled in personal interests and self-serving motivations.  Even though the nature of what you are trying to do has not changed, the fundamental drive behind the effort is no longer Christ-centered, and therefore does not qualify for an endowment of His power.

          However, we can draw hope from the plethora of scriptural examples of people who have engrained discipleship upon the walls of their  very soul.  Nephi, from the book of Helaman, is a prime example.  "Blessed art thou, Nephi," said the Lord, "for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments." (Helaman 10:4)

          The only thing that makes us different than Nephi are our choices, choices which we can change.  At one point all great men and women were where we are now.  Just as they chose the "better part" we can to.  In fact, God has slanted everything in our favor to help us to do so.

          "Men cannot really long rest content with mediocrity once they see excellence is within their reach."

--President Thomas S. Monson

Do you see it within yours?

Balance, Priority, and Spiritual Gifts

  

        The coming of the new semester for me at BYU promises some unique challenges and, hopefully accomplishments, in regards to balance.  With so many competing pressures in our lives, what is most important to us has a tendency to be drowned out by the things we think are necessary.  For example, it has been a somewhat surprising lesson that there are things that are more important to the Lord than school work.  Intuitively, this seems obvious, but how many of us would consider procrastinating homework to go to the temple or study the scriptures a natural decision?

          The reality is that we did not come to Earth to go to school.  We did not come to Earth to make money, get promoted at work, or participate in recreational activities.  We came to Earth to gain the essential spiritual skills necessary to live the kind of life that God lives and to help others to do the same.

          I believe that one day science, technology, and industry will be obsolete and that much of the knowledge and skills we once had in each of these areas will no longer be useful to us.  Prophets have long since encouraged the Church to gain an education, but never have they suggested that secular knowledge is as important as spiritual knowledge.

          Oftentimes we hear the following passage quoted from the Doctrine and Covenants to support secular learning, "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection," but we forget that the definition of intelligence in the scriptures is a spiritual one, light and truth.  To me that means that an increase in secular learning does not automatically translate to an increase in intelligence, although the two are related.  To be most effective, secular knowledge should be second to and interpreted in light of spiritual knowledge.

          By extension, our efforts to balance competing demands for our time need to be qualified by our faith in God.  That is, we cannot rely solely on societal or personal opinions about what is most important to spend our time on and when, or what is possible to fit into our schedule.   Joseph Smith taught that personal righteousness is a requirement for the power of faith to be active in our lives.  When we know that the course of our lives is pleasing to God's will, we can trust that he will enable us to give each priority its appropriate weight and to execute our plans, even when they go beyond our own ability.

          The way that God enables us is through spiritual gifts.  There are an infinite number of spiritual gifts, just as there are an infinite number of circumstances in which they can be used.  They might include things that are almost not visible, such as the gift of delegation or of determination.  These gifts extend beyond our mental capacity and often expand our intelligence in the spiritual sense.  By praying for these gifts and then developing them, we continue along the path that leads to perfection.  We will be able to balance ever-intensifying pressures while not neglecting the day-to-day spiritual and temporal needs of those around us.

And we will truly be happy.

A Pavilion From Storm and Rain

          There is perhaps nothing in this life as constant as mistakes.  From the time we are old enough to start telling lies we all begin to fall short of the glory of God.

          My Mission President once said that almost every missionary comes home better than he left, but few achieve their potential.  In that way, the mission is like life.  Almost everyone grows and develops to some extent throughout their time in mortality.  But few people reach their potential.  As I fall short of what the Lord and I expect of myself, sometimes that potential can seem far away.  That moment when your decision becomes part of the past and you beg for help to do better, the instant when spiritual wounds open that you know will take more time than you would wish to close, then is the time when sorrow reigns, the heart yearns, and sometimes all of you eternity seems to shake.  I understand better in those moments Nephi's agony at letting sin "so easily beset" him.

          But those are not the only moments of life.  There are also moments of joy, times with friends and family, and moments when you let your inner light through.  Those are moments of triumph, the time when the soul and body finally exhibit what it means to be a son or daughter of God.  That is when the near-perfect spirit that is in you stares everything that is course, ugly and dark in the face and shouts:  I WILL NOT YEILD.

          There is so much destruction inside one person's head and heart.  And yet, at the same time, there is so much hope.  There is so much hope.  People do defy the consensus.  They break the odds and snap the laws of nature and thrust their outstretched hands towards eternity.  They choose to believe in a future that they cannot see even the vaguest hint of.  The Savior said himself that all things are possible for they that believe.

          Christ's plan, then, is a plan of hope, not of last chances.  Not for any mistake, small or large.  One of my greatest sources of anxiety when I do something that is contrary to the Lord's will is that my actions may have unintended consequences that affect the lives of others in ways I can't repair.  But although I don't understand how, I know that with time and the Atonement all things will be ok.

          Elder Royden G. Derrick once said of Christ and suffering of the Atonement, "We are not required to go through His trials, but we are required to be willing to go through them."  Why?  Because a sincere effort to become like the Savior will eventually mean that we love people deeply enough to be willing to sacrifice for them, and that willingness to sacrifice grows even as our faith grows.  The fact is that we don't have to sin in the exact same way as someone else in order to want to free them from their pain.  Christ never did.

          Psalm  27:5 reads, "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock."  Isn't it good to know that we don't have to be perfect in order to be perfected?