Service & Becoming more like our Savior

 

Good morning brothers and sisters.  I’ve always been a fan of movie quotes, music lyrics, and other quotes that make me think...often I’ll write them down in my pocket journal to recall later.

I’d like to share a few...

“My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get”

Or

“There’s no crying in baseball”

How about…

“You’re killing me Smalls”

Or 

Big Gulps huh...well, see ya later...

Okay…these might not be motivating…but definitely entertaining and break the ice almost every time.

More serious ones…

I really like a few obscure quotes that really make me think and put into perspective a clearer path…from the Pursuit of Happyness Chris Garnder talking to his son…

“Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something, not even me. Alright? You dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it. Period.”

Another one from the live version of Cinderella…

“The greatest risk any of us will take will to be seen as we truly are.”

I really enjoy the quote from the movie Life of Pi talking about faith.

“Faith is a house with many rooms with a common guest named doubt, often visiting every floor and every room.  But doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing, after all you can never know the strength of your faith until it has been tested.”

A while back I listened to Randall Wallace speak at the National Prayer Breakfast.  Mr. Wallace is the writer of Braveheart, Sectretariat, and We Were Soldiers…and he shared a personal experience during his earlier career that became an iconic part of the movie Braveheart.

As he stated…

I had my embarrassments and my setbacks, but I kept writing; I moved to Los Angeles, I got an opportunity in television. I married. We had two beautiful sons. I had purpose in my life, and I worked like I’d seen my father work, with pride and passion. I won a multi-year contract with a thriving company. I bought an old home and remodeled it; I was promoted to producer. Except for an occasional mishap with my tie, life was sweet.

Then the Writer’s Guild went out on strike, which caused the company I worked for to void its contract with me. The strike went on forever, and when it was over the company was barely there anymore. I was out of work; my savings were gone. No one would return my phone calls--I’m sure that’s never happened where you work.

I kept trying, of course, I was always good at trying. But one day I was sitting at home, at my desk, staring at nothing, my stomach in a knot, my hands trembling, and I realized I was breaking down, as my father had. I feared I had failed my father, and my mother, and my grandmother. And my greatest fear was that I would fail my sons. I was afraid they would see me come apart, as I had seen my father come apart, and it would be something they could never forget.

I got down on my knees; I had nowhere else to go. And I prayed a simple prayer. I said, “Lord, all I care about right now are those two boys. And maybe they don’t need to grow up in a house with a tennis court and a swimming pool. Maybe they need a little house with one bathroom, or no bathrooms at all. Maybe they need to see what a man does when he gets knocked down, the way my father showed me. But I pray, if I go down, let me go down not on my knees, but with my flag flying.”

And I got up, and I began to write the words that led me to BRAVEHEART.

Tolstoy wrote in WAR and PEACE that in a battle, one man throwing down his weapon and running away can panic a whole army, and in a panic one man lifting up the flag and running back toward the enemy can rally the whole army.

How can you apply the principle to living the gospel of Jesus Christ…how can we be the one to lift the flag and rally our troops…

This week in Come Follow Me we got to review the story of Oliver Cowdery and his desire to be a part of the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon.  During that process both Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received revelation recorded in Doctrine and Covenants Section 6…

“If that wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God. For there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation.”

We all know this on principle…but do we pursue this with an eye single to the glory of God.

No matter how to feel about it, we can do better…

We work…40+ hours a week to put a roof over our head, food on the table and add some of life’s enjoyments where we can.

We play…vacation, exercise, hobbies, enjoy nature and the outdoors and when the Wyoming winters hit, we resort to watching TV, board games, puzzles, and unfortunately scrolling through drabs of social media.

We really have it easy…

But like Randall Wallace experienced during his breakdown…he glimpsed into all of our futures and put into perspective…and how many of us will be...as he put it...

“And dying in your bed, many years from now, would you not trade all the days from that day to this, for one chance, just one chance…to spend more time working out our salvation, building a relationship with Heavenly Father, teaching our children early on about the importance of faith, prayer, forgiveness, repentance, and service...

So how do we start, where do we start?  How do we help each other focus more on the Savior and receive the gift of salvation?  What can we do to be that soldier in a panic, that grabs the flag and rallies the entirev army to move forward?

So, what’s first?

“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”

Seems easy, but do we do this?  I have two types of testimonies.  The one I bring with me to church and share at the end of talks and when I choose to share it...the other is on how I live, what I talk about and how people see me act and behave...I’m trying to do better with the second one.

What am I talking about…I talk about how tired I am of politics, how much I wish live music and concerts would return, spend most of my time with work, family time, hobbies, and activities?  When I facetime with my kids its usually about what they did that day, if they have any homework they want to go over or how school was...?  Talking about my faith is not an arrow in my quiver of discussions that I have on a consistent basis.  When I die, what will my obituary say...what will my family and friends say I represented...that is my real testimony.

So how do we start to talk about Christ more…

Ammon gives us a great example and method anyone can do…if we have the desire…and is just one of the many things we can do to help each focus on the Savior.

Ammon went to the land of Ishmael, among the Lamanites and was carried before King Lamoni.  He convinced King Lamoni that all he wanted to do serve the king and “dwell among this people for a time, yea, and perhaps until the day I die.”

Three days later a number of certain Lamanites scattered the flocks, and the other servants began to weep…

“Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him with joy; for, said he, I will show forth my power until these my follow servants, or the power, which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe my words.”

After restoring the herd, the Lamanites came again to scatter the flocks, but this time Ammon stood forth and began to cast stones at them with his sling, yea with mighty power.  Determined even more that come forth with clubs to slay him.

But behold, every man that lifted his club to smite Ammon, he smote off their arms with this sword…now six of them had fallen by the sling, but he slew no save it were their leader with his sword.

Afterwards, the servants of the king testified to the things which they had seen, and he had learned of the faithfulness of Ammon in preserving his flocks, and also of his great power in contending against those who sought to slay him, and the King said…Surely this is more than a man.

Am I saying that through service, or perfect practice and execution at work will lead to the Governor or General Manager to ask you about your faith…might not happen?  But when we are in the service of our fellow being, we are in the service of our Lord.  When we open up the door to serve others, it leads to conversations about life, about hobbies, vacations, what we did on the weekend…thus creating an opportunity.

That brings up another great movie quote…

Great Moments are born from great opportunity. And that’s what you have here tonight, boys. That’s what you’ve earned her tonight, one game…tonight you are greatest hockey team in the world.

Isn’t all we are asking for is an opportunity…

Jeffery R Holland address General Conference in 2006 had a great challenge, he ended that talk with the following…

“This morning President Hinckley movingly reminded us that this is the 150th anniversary of those handcart companies, as the general conference was convening in October of 1856 here in the Salt Lake Valley, were staggering through the last freezing miles of Nebraska and were soon to be stranded in the impassable snows of the high country of Wyoming. He quoted to us President Brigham Young’s inspiring general conference message to the Saints, “go and bring in those people now on the plains.”

As surely as the rescue of those in need was the conference theme of October 1856, so too is it the theme of the conference and the last conference and the one to come next spring.  It may not be blizzards and frozen earth burials that we face this conference, but the needy are still out there - the poor and the weary, the discouraged and downhearted, those “falling away into the forbidden paths” we mentioned earlier, and the multitudes who are “kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.  There are all out there with feeble knees, hands that hang down, and bad weather setting in.  They can be rescued only by those who have more and know more and can help more. 

 And don’t worry about asking, “where are they?” They are everywhere, on our right hand and on our left, in our neighborhoods and in the workplace, in every community and county and nation of this world.  Take your team and wagon; load it with your love, your testimony, and a spiritual sack of flour, then drive in any direction.  The Lord will lead you to those in need if you will but embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ that has been taught in this conference.  Open your heart and your hand to those trapped in the twenty-first century’s equivalent of Martin’s Cover and Devil’s Gate.  In doing so we honor the Master’s repeated plea on behalf of lost sheep and lost coins and lost souls.

I’d like to challenge everyone to earn the right for an opportunity… to ask and discuss those difficult questions.  The best way we can do this is to invest the time.  There is no substitution for time with service, time spent listening, time understanding their concerns and challenges of their life, time praying for them, time following up with things that are going on in their life. Time asking them about their family, their work, their projects?  After we have earned that right, then we can have deeper discussions about Christ, how to rejoice in Christ, how to preach of Christ and how to help our children to know what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”

They will feel different when those conversations about the Savior and his mission are more frequent, more sincere, and with the purpose of what happiness can result from living the gospel.  When this happens, they continue the rally.

Isn’t that exactly what Ammon did…earned the right through service, execution of duties as a servant and going above and beyond what others in that same position did? He was willing to put in the time…Perhaps until the day I die?

So many ways to help each other focus on the Savior...pray with each other, study with each other, be examples to each other, but I’m confident the one thing we can do is serve each other.

Let’s not miss the opportunities that make the most of our lives.  Don’t live in fear but have the confidence to love as Jesus loved.  If we really want to help each other focus on the Savior there are so many paths to do that…But service and time served will provide us the opportunity to teach and be taught of the Savior.

I want to bear you my testimony…