A question

Today was a long day. I spoke at 9 a.m., played piano at 11 a.m., ran to correlation at 11:30 a.m., had church at 1 p.m., and then went out to do visits and got home at 8:30 p.m. And it was an awesome day!

I don't write this for oo's and ah's, but to illustrate a point in a question a friend posed to me. When I told him what I had coming up he looked at me and said, "Don't you ever get tired of it?" I replied, "No."

While my Sunday's are normally non-stop, it is a different kind of work for me. It is a work that gives me a further testimony of King Benjamin's words, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17). Serving and fulfilling our callings will give us an added measure of the Spirit.

Lehi taught his son Jacob, and everyone, that, "thy days shall be spent in the service of they God" (2 Ne 2:3). "O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless at the last day" (D&C 4:2). Paul counsels that we, "present [our] bodies a living sacrifice... which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:1-2).

Later on the Doctrine & Covenants we learn that many are called but few are chosen. Why are they not chosen? "Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world." Then we learn, "That the rights of the priesthood (God's power given to man) are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness... No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul" (D&C 121:34-36, 41-42, italics added).

How is it then that we pull down the powers of heaven in order to receive this added measure of strength we so desperately need? Three simple things... Go to Church and renew your covenants every week, pray daily, and read your scriptures. President Spencer W. Kimball said, "There is no limit to the priesthood... you hold. The limit comes in you if you do not live in harmony with the Spirit of the Lord and you limit yourselves in the power you exert."

I only limit myself through disobedience. I only limit myself through failing to obtain a personal, sacred relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. God doesn't forget about me. I forget about Him. He doesn't withhold blessings in a game of "I told you so!" When I am obedient he is "bound" to bless me (D&C 82:10). When I allow Him to take my yoke, the Spirit gives me the strong back I need when the world comes back to weight down on me.

My mortal life will be full of work until the day by body is placed in a casket and dropped into the cold hard ground. Even then, my Spirit will continue to work as I await the Resurrection and second coming of Jesus Christ. In the words of Paul, my body will be a living sacrifice.

President Kimball once said in an area conference that he wasn't afraid to die. What he was afraid of was having to face the Savior and hear him say, "Oh, Spencer. You could have done so much more." President Thomas S. Monson said we need to live our lives the way we wish we would have after we died.

I don't want to look back one day and cry over what I could have become. There are things that have happened, but the past is done and gone. With Paul, I once again say, "this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:13-14).

"For man to lay down his all, his character, his honor, and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his life also — counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ — requires more than mere belief or supposition that he is doing the will of God; but actual knowledge, realizing that, when these sufferings are ended, he will enter into eternal rest, and be partaker of the glory of God... Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for, from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things." (Joseph Smith Jr., Lectures on Faith, 6:5, 7, bold and italics added).

I press forward to the high calling. I press forward to endure to the end and hear the Father say, "Ye shall have eternal life" (2 Ne. 31:20). I press forward to see the joyful faces of my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I press forward to hear the words, "Well done thou good and faithful servant: thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord" (Matt 25:21).