"A few years ago, I spoke with a young bishop who was spending hours each week counseling with members of his ward. he made a striking observation. The problems that members of his ward faced, he said, were those faced by Church members everywhere - issues such as how to establish a happy marriage; struggles with balancing work, family, and Church duties; challenges with the Word of Wisdom, with employment, or with pornography; or trouble gaining peace about a Church policy or historical question they didn't understand.
His counsel to ward members very often included getting back to simple practices of faith, such as studying the Book of Mormon... paying tithing, and serving in the Church with devotion. Frequently, however, their response to him was one of skepticism; "I don't agree with you, Bishop. We all know those are good things to do. We talk about those things all the time in the Church. But I'm not sure you're understanding me. What does doing any of those things have to do with the issues I'm facing?"
It's a fair question. Over time, that young bishop and I have observed that those who are deliberate about doing the "small and simple things" (Alma 37:6) - obeying in seemingly little ways - are blessed and, in fact, may seem totally unrelated to them. It may seem hard to draw a connection between the basic daily acts of obedience and solutions to the big, complicated problems we face. But they are related.... Small acts of faith, even then they seem insignificant or entirely disconnected from the specific problems that vex us, bless us in all we do.
Elder Whitney Clayton October 2016 General Conference
No comments:
Post a Comment