This week in Come, Follow Me the reading includes 1 Nephi chapters 6-10. Like many, I have read and reread these chapters countless times in my life. They feel familiar and almost read like “old news” in my mind. Still, I love how the Come, Follow Me manual gives additional resources and insights into these chapters. I invite you to use these in your personal and family study if you haven’t already. I am seeing the difference it makes in my own family as we strive to study daily. This week it highlights a talk by Kevin W. Pearson from 2015 called “Stay by the Tree.” I read and listened to this talk both on my own and then with my family. I remember hearing this talk, but it struck me differently this week as I studied. Here are a few things I learned from the talk:
- How many times to I tell people or hear other people say the phrase “Hang in there”? I love how Elder Pearson says that “is not a principle of the gospel.” Enduring to the end isn’t something we “hang in there” to accomplish. It is much more purposeful than that. Elder Pearson defines enduing to the end as “constantly coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him.” Such a simple, but powerful statement. We endure through the mists of darkness, river of filthy water, and scoffs and scorns of the great and spacious building by focusing on Jesus Christ and our covenant relationship with Him. The thought that came to me as I pondered this was the sacrament. Each week we have the opportunity to go to church and partake of the sacrament. This is a literal and physical as well as spiritual “coming to Christ” to “be perfected in Him.” We set aside the things of the world. We offer up our own will and desires and give them to Christ, with a broken spirit and a contrite heart. This might look like changing our plans, changing our motivations, changing what we thought we wanted to align our lives with the will of the Lord. It could be that we struggled to get along with family members (not going to lie, reading about Nephi’s experience with his family brings hope to me when I get frustrated as a wife and a mother). Or perhaps there are habits we are striving to change. Repentance means change, so what better way to endure to the end than making continual course corrections daily, and a more solid course correction each Sunday at the sacrament table? We have been told by many leaders that the sacrament is the most important ordinance we have. Do I treat it that way? Do I take it for granted? Some Sundays are better for me than others in this regard, but after reflecting upon this statement by Elder Pearson, I am more dedicated to making my sacrament meeting experience more holy, more committed, allowing me to endure better.
- The six things that Elder Pearson cites in his talk to do to pursue his definition of enduring to the end are not new. Prayer, make covenants with Christ, faith, reading the Book of Mormon, avoid distractions and deceptions, and deepening conversion. Not only are the concepts not new, they are simple. Not easy, but simple. We need to do what we can to improve each of these six things daily and then enduring will be possible. Even joyful.
- This quote didn’t strike me in 2015 like it did this week: “As we yield our hearts to God, the Holy Ghost changes our very natures, we become deeply converted unto the Lord, and we no longer seek the spacious building. If we stop doing those things that bring about deepening conversion, we regress spiritually. Apostasy is the reverse of conversion.” This goes along with my insights of my first point, but I couldn’t help but love the way he worded this. If we are not focusing our efforts to deepen our conversion, to strengthen our efforts to keep our covenants and become more like Christ, then the opposite is happening: apostacy is happening. That stings! I have never thought of it that way. I’ve heard the phrase that if I’m not moving forward, I’m going backward–that we don’t stand still. But to say that if we aren’t moving toward deeper conversion, we are moving toward apostacy indeed stings. I don’t want that! I want more than anything to follow Jesus Christ and to become like Him. He has saved me from death and sin, and all He asks is that I keep His commandments. Yet, how many times to I let that “natural man” (Mosiah 3:19) creep in, forgetting or getting lazy in how I seek Him? How many times do I lose focus of my goal to become like Him? Unfortunately, a lot. Now, I’m not saying (and I don’t believe Elder Pearson was either) that apostacy is immediate. No, it’s a gradual thing. This is why it is critical to reset our focus each day in our prayer and scripture study, our temple attendance and church meetings, and in our thoughts and actions. We are human. We will make mistakes. But we need to fix our mistakes quickly before they become so habitual that we are not where we thought we were spiritually. To use the tree of life analogy, we may find ourselves farther from the tree and closer to the great and spacious building if we are not vigilantly careful. For me, this is a recommitment to again focus on those simple six things to endure to the end. And I need to recommit daily, or at the very least weekly when I take the sacrament.
- “Once we enter into covenants with God, there is no going back. Giving in, giving up, and giving out are not options.” I loved this! Elder Pearson shared his own story of having to explain to his business firm why he was leaving to preside of a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a different state. He said his answer came with clarity that he had made a covenant when he was nineteen and he wasn’t going to go back on that. Covenants are eternally binding. Sometimes as mortals, we may forget this. But God doesn’t forget us. He will help us keep our covenants if we seek Him. Elder Pearson goes on to say, “In the kingdom of God, there is a standard of excellence for exaltation. It requires valiant discipleship! There is no room for average or complacent disciples. Average is the enemy of excellence, and average commitment will prevent you from enduring to the end.” Keeping covenants and staying by the tree is not an easy task. It takes effort. It takes focus. And, we can do it, especially because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want more than anything for us to succeed and They are always helping us.
Okay, those are just a few of my thoughts. I’m sure you’ll find your own insights there. I just want to share one other thing from this week. I love listening to podcasts, especially ones about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ and His gospel. I have so many favorites, and I’m sure I’ll mention them here from time to time. Today, I want to share what I learned from Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast with Hank Smith & John Bytheway. This week’s guest was Dr. Gaye Strathearn. At about the 35:39-minute mark of the podcast, they were talking about what sacrifice. This is what Hank Smith said:
I remember last year for our lesson on the Garden of Gethsemane, Dr. Dan Belnap taught us something that had great impact on me. He said, ‘In the ancient world, sacrifice wasn’t giving something up, it was making something holy. It was, “I’m going to make this thing holy.”‘ That really had impact on me as I think about the time that I give to callings and temple attendance and church attendance. Instead of giving that time up, I’m making that time holy. The money that I give, it’s not giving it up, it’s making it holy. That really had impact on me.
I love this because so many times we hear that sacrifice is giving up something. I’ve even heard a step above that saying that when we sacrifice something to the Lord, it really isn’t a sacrifice because when we sacrifice, we are blessed so it’s more like an investment. While I like that, it doesn’t fit nearly as well as the definition in Leviticus to make it holy. That reframes everything. If I sacrifice my time in the temple, I am making that holy time. If I sacrifice my time to taxi around my kids to their various activities, I am making that time holy. I am doing what I can as a parent to fulfill my mission to guide and raise up these choice spirit children of God to Him. Thinking of it that way makes it no longer a drudgery. If I spend time in the scriptures or saying prayers or sharing my testimony with others, that is made holy. I can dedicate that to the Lord. This reframe will help me every day. I just need to remember it!
Okay, that’s it for this week. Let me know what other thoughts and insights you have found.