As much as I wish I was already nearing perfection, I'm not there. And there are plenty of little reminders...sometimes daily, sometimes hourly.
Luckily, I am not left in such darkness to aimlessly wander around forging a path at my own liking. I have very specific and incredibly helpful guidance. God has not decided to give only a few generations of people a Prophet to guide them. We are loved by Him, too. I cannot imagine what the people felt sitting on the Mount listening to the Beatitudes or at Mars Hill listening to an Apostle's words. But, it would probably be somewhat similar to this:
Different as we are in circumstances and experiences, we share a desire to become better than we are.
The message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is that we can and must expect to become better as long as we live.
Part of that expectation is set for us in a revelation given by God to the Prophet Joseph Smith. It describes the day when we will meet the Savior, as we all will. It tells us what to do to prepare and what to expect.
It is in
the book of Moroni: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the
Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this
love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son,
Jesus Christ;
that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope;
that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”
1
I remember watching the faces of a room full of children singing on a Sunday:
I’m trying to be like Jesus; I’m following in his ways.
I’m trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say.
At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice,
But I try to listen as the still small voice whispers,
“Love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
For these are the things Jesus taught.”
2
It seemed
to me that they were not just singing; they were declaring their
determination. Jesus Christ was their example. To be like Him was their
fixed goal. And their eager looks and their shining eyes convinced me
that they had no doubts. They expected to succeed. They believed that
the instruction of the Savior to be perfect was not a hope but a
command. And they were sure He had prepared the way.
Love is the motivating principle by which the Lord leads us along the way towards becoming like Him, our perfect example. Our way of life, hour by hour, must be filled with the love of God and love for others. There is no surprise in that, since the Lord proclaimed those as the first and great commandments. It is love of God that will lead us to keep His commandments. And love of others is at the heart of our capacity to obey Him.
Just as Jesus used a child in His mortal ministry as an example for the people of the pure love they must and could have to be like Him, He has offered us the family as an example of an ideal setting in which we can learn how to love as He loves.
That is because the greatest joys and the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships. The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. And the sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love. The ideal God holds for us is to form families in the way most likely to lead to happiness and away from sorrow. A man and a woman are to make sacred covenants that they will put the welfare and happiness of the other at the center of their lives. Children are to be born into a family where the parents hold the needs of children equal to their own in importance. And children are to love parents and each other.
That is the ideal of a loving family. In many of our homes, there are the words “Our Family Can Be Together Forever.” There is a gravestone near my home of a mother and grandmother. She and her husband were sealed in the temple of God to each other and to their posterity for time and all eternity. The inscription on the gravestone reads, “Please, no empty chairs.” She asked for that inscription because she knew that whether the family will be together depends on the choices each family member makes. The word “please” is there because neither God nor she can compel another to choose happiness. And there is Satan, who wants misery, not happiness, in families in this life and in the next.
My hope today
is to suggest some choices which may seem difficult but that would
assure you that you have qualified for there to be no empty chairs in
your family in the world to come.
First, I
give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you
to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes
weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your
companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load
and soften the sorrows of your companion.
Now I give
counsel to the parents of a wandering child. The Savior is the perfect
example of persisting in love. You remember His words of comfort to the
people among the Nephites who had rejected His earlier invitation to
come to Him. He spoke to the survivors of the destruction which came
after His Crucifixion: “O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft
will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if
ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart.”
3
The story
of the prodigal son gives us all hope. The prodigal remembered home, as
will your children. They will feel your love drawing them back to you.
Elder Orson F. Whitney, in a general conference of 1929, gave a
remarkable promise, which I know is true, to the faithful parents who
honor the temple sealing to their children: “Though some of the sheep
may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later
they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after
them and drawing them back to the fold.”
Then he
goes on to say: “Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold
on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the
salvation of God.”
4
You can pray for your children, love them, and reach out to
them with confidence that Jesus reaches for them with you. When you
keep trying, you are doing what Jesus does.
Now to those who have adopted other people’s families as if they were their own: I have friends who remember my children’s birthdays better than I do. My wife and I have had friends who seldom failed to visit or to remember a holiday with us. I often am touched when someone begins a conversation, “How is your family?” and then waits to hear the answer with love showing in their face. They seem attentive when I go through a description of the life of each of my children. Their love helps me to feel more keenly the love of the Savior for our children. In their question, I can sense that they are feeling what Jesus feels and asking what He would ask.
For all of us it may be hard to see in our lives an increasing power to love and to see ourselves becoming more like the Savior, our perfect example. I wish to encourage you. You have had evidences that you are moving along the road to becoming more like Jesus.
You have felt it in your family when you asked the pardon of your spouse or forgave a child for some mistake or disobedience. These moments will come more often as you try to do the things you know Jesus would do. Because of His Atonement for you, your childlike obedience will bring a feeling of love of the Savior for you and your love for Him. That is one of the gifts that is promised to His faithful disciples. And this gift can come not only to you alone but also to the loving members of your family. The promise was given in 3 Nephi: “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” 8
I hope you will go out today looking for opportunities to do as He did and to love as He loves. I can promise you the peace that you felt as a child will come to you often and it will linger with you. The promise is true that He made to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” 9
From Elder Henry B. Eyring's talk Our Perfect Example
1 comment:
I really liked this post. Thanks for sharing.
Post a Comment