Rinse and Repeat

 

This past week was filled with receiving and training new missionaries, and counseling and attending the temple with missionaries who completed their service and were returning home. This is easily the busiest week of our six-week cycle. It was wonderful being able to attend the temple with the outgoing missionaries. But the testimony meeting after the Wednesday night dinner with the departing missionaries is always the highlight of the cycle. One of the sister missionaries’ family came to pick her up and, again because it was such a small group (only three going home), we invited her family to join us for the testimony meeting. What a wonderful experience! Now it’s back to missionary interviews, Missionary Leadership Council and Zone Conferences.

I came across the following in my personal studies this week:

Chapter 32 of Alma in the Book of Mormon is a well-known chapter of scripture where the prophet Alma compares the word of God to a seed that brings forth precious fruit. He asks us to experiment upon the word to see if it is good and in verses 41 through 43 we read: "41. But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life. 42. And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst. 43. Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you."

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf (one of the Twelve Apostles of our church), in relation to these verses taught the following:

"This is the peaceable way of the follower of Jesus Christ.

"Nevertheless, it is not a quick fix or an overnight cure.

"A friend of mine recently wrote to me, confiding that he was having a difficult time keeping his testimony strong and vibrant. He asked for counsel.

"I wrote back to him and lovingly suggested a few specific things he could do that would align his life more closely with the teachings of the restored gospel. To my surprise, I heard back from him only a week later. The essence of his letter was this: 'I tried what you suggested. It didn't work. What else have you got?'

"Brothers and sisters, we have to stay with it. We don't acquire eternal life in a sprint - this is a race of endurance. We have to apply and reapply the divine gospel principles. Day after day we need to make them part of our normal life.

...

"Discipleship is a journey. We need the refining lessons of the journey to craft our character and purify our hearts. By patiently walking in the path of discipleship, we demonstrate to ourselves the measure of our faith and our willingness to accept God's will rather than ours.

"It is not enough merely to speak of Jesus Christ or proclaim that we are His disciples. It is not enough to surround ourselves with symbols of our religion. Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the blessings of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes. And yet for some, 'spectator discipleship' is a preferred if not a primary way of worshipping.

"Ours is not a secondhand religion. We cannot receive the blessings of the gospel merely by observing the good that others do. We need to get off the sidelines and practice what we preach." ("The Way of the Disciple", Ensign, May 2009, 76-77)