I shared this story in a talk I was asked to give in Sacrament Meeting a week later. For those reading this who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I will explain that a "talk" in Sacrament Meeting is what other churches would call a sermon. Although we don't call it that. We speak in the main meeting to the whole congregation from the pulpit about a gospel centered topic. I have since had a debate with myself about whether or not I wanted to share what I spoke about with all of you in this blog. Since you are reading this, you can figure out which side won that debate.
I started out with a few questions to ponder. What does a Christ centered home look like? What does a Christ centered life look like? What do these things feel like?
After telling the story about Seirsha, I told of a time years ago in my life when I didn't have much happy inside. You might say, I was going through a very, very long trial. I didn't share many details about that time in my talk and I'm not going to share them here. They really don't matter. But I will say that I was active in church, going every week, holding callings, even leadership callings. My 3 oldest children had served missions and I should have been happier. Something was obviously missing. I could have blamed some external circumstances for that, blamed actions and choices of others, and maybe been justified in doing that by some standards, but what it came down to was the lack on my part of a personal relationship with my Savior. Without that, I couldn’t make any changes in myself or my circumstances. We had just moved into a different ward and stake and we almost immediately had a visit from the president of the Relief Society (women's organization in the Church) and also the Elder's Quorum President (men's group). They were there to welcome us to the ward and assess any needs we might have. Within a month or so, we started having visits from a home teacher who impressed me a lot. Brother Meacham was in his late 80s. He was at our home faithfully every month with the traditional home teaching visit. What impressed me about him was his willingness to do what he was assigned to do in the manner that he understood it should be done. He had a lifetime of service behind him and he was not going to stop now. I saw people in this new ward who were so impressive and I knew the Lord could count on them. They were such an example to me. One night, I prayed desperately to be someone the Lord could count on, because I knew that I was not. Let's just say a long chain of events, over the span of several years, began to happen and change started to take place in me.
Somewhere in that time frame, I had a dream. In this dream I was looking for a home in a forest area. I couldn't see very far off, due to the thick trees. Then I came around a group of trees to a clearing. I immediately knew that this is where my house would be, but I had to build it. It wasn't there yet. But what was there was a paved driveway coming up to where the garage would be, and the trees had been cleared and the ground leveled. It was prepared and I now had to do my part to build it. Now my dream fast forwards and I'm now in the newly built house showing someone around. I walk from room to room and what I woke up remembering about this house is that there was a fireplace in every single room, even the kitchen, and a fire burning in every single fireplace. As I was now awake from my dream and thinking about it, the words, 'the spirit of God like a fire is burning' came into my mind.
Now in my talk, I shifted gears and spoke about the parable of the 10 virgins. You know the one, where the Bridegroom came and 5 of the virgins were ready with oil in their lamps and 5 had empty lamps, with no oil. They had not prepared and were caught off guard. (Matthew 25: 1-13) A few questions that come to my mind are: What were those 2nd 5 doing ? Why hadn't they filled their lamps? Why couldn't those 1st 5 share their oil with the last 5? An eye opener for me was when I learned that Elder Bruce R McConkie stated that all 10 of those virgins represent members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who were all looking for the 2nd coming. Elder Lynn G Robbins of the Seventy said in a talk titled Oil In Our Lamps:
The ten virgins, according to Elder
Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “represent those church
members who are looking for the Bridegroom to come; and the oil-filled lamps
are symbolic of the Holy Spirit which lights the way before the saints.”
“And five of them were wise, and five were
foolish”.
Elder McConkie further explains that
this parable is not about “good and bad, not righteous and wicked, but wise and foolish. That
is, all of them have accepted the invitation to meet the Bridegroom; all
are members of the Church … but only five are valiant
therein.”
In the parable, only those with oil in their lamps were able to
enter the house of the bridegroom. In modern times, only those worthy of a temple
recommend may enter the house of the Lord.
“They that were foolish took their lamps, and
took no oil with them;
“But the wise took oil in their vessels with
their lamps”.
Those 2nd 5 still had their vessels, but the vessels were empty. When I heard that talk from Elder Robbins, I was struck with the thought of being an empty vessel, being one of the 2nd 5. I knew there was oil missing.
I then spoke about our General Conference that took place earlier in April. After some of the changes we've experienced in the Church lately, I think many of us didn't want to miss a thing. We anticipated some more announcement of change at conference. These are the quotes I shared from conference. See if you can catch the change they're all addressing.
Elder Ballard told us with all the recent changes we’ve had, let’s not forget the Spirit behind the change, real reason for the change.. “…even though we cannot control those external forces that impact our lives here on earth, as we strive to become faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can find peace, joy, and happiness despite the worldly troubles that swirl around us.”
President Eyring spoke of a Home Where the Spirit of the Lord can dwell….. “So building faith in Jesus Christ is the beginning of reversing spiritual decline in your family and in your home. That faith is more likely to bring repentance than your preaching against each symptom of spiritual decline.”
In President Oaks talk, titled 'Where Will This Lead?', he said, “Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives. … We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best.”
President Nelson said in the Priesthood session that we can do better and be better, but Sisters, do you really think we are excluded from that wisdom and counsel?? He said, “Does everyone need to repent? The answer is yes.” He also said, “Whether you are diligently moving along the covenant path, have slipped or stepped from the covenant path, or can’t even see the path from where you are now, I plead with you to repent. Experience the strengthening power of daily repentance—of doing and being a little better each day.”
I think we all fit into one of the 3 categories he mentioned.
Elder Renlund spoke of how a fire is started,…..with one small match. He said a massive wood pile is like heavenly blessings, but there needs to be kindling, wood chip, sticks come next, then a small log and finally huge logs. (sounds like all of these are blessings that build upon each other) Nothing happens to these items without the strike of a small match, a single small flicker and then a small flame. He said, “Striking the match and lighting the kindling are small actions that enable the potential energy of the wood to be released. Until the match is struck, nothing happens, regardless of the size of the woodpile. If the match is struck but not applied to the kindling, the amount of light and heat released from the match alone is miniscule and the combustion energy in the wood remains unreleased. If oxygen is not supplied at any point, the combustion reaction stops.” (I was reminded of my dream of the house with a fireplace and a fire burning in every room at this point in his talk) He also said, “In a similar way, most blessings that God desires to give us require action on our part—action based on our faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in the Savior is a principle of action and of power. First we act in faith; then the power comes—according to God’s will and timing. The sequence is crucial. The required action, though, is always tiny when compared to the blessings we ultimately receive.”
Elder Holland spoke of a more Christ Centered Sacrament Meeting. He wasn't speaking to our bishops about the way things are conducted, he was emphasizing that WE are the ones to make that happen in our dress, our attitudes, our actions, our early arrival, our reverence, and our thoughts of the Savior who we come to worship. He said, “By commandment, we gather for the most universally received ordinance in the Church. It is in memory of Him who asked if the cup He was about to drink could pass, only to press on because He knew that for our sake it could not pass. It will help us if we remember that a symbol of that cup is slowly making its way down the row toward us at the hand of an 11- or 12-year-old deacon.”
There was so much more that I could have quoted, but time did not allow, but did you catch the big change in all of that? Many of us turned to conference looking to our leaders for the Next Big Change. When in fact, they are looking to us for that Big and Mighty Change, perhaps the biggest change of all. We can all make changes. We can all go to the Lord and ask “What lack I yet?” Or if we know what we lack, and I suspect many of us do, we can desperately ask for help with that particular thing.
Sister Sharon Eubank (1st counselor in General RS Presidency) recently posted this:
I spent 2006 living in Paris. My apartment was just a few blocks from Notre Dame Cathedral, and I can’t count how many times I walked along the river and ended up staring at that stunning church. With the rest of the world, I watched in horror as the 850-year-old Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire. I read a news report describing the “forest” of lumber that medieval craftsmen used to build the great ceiling. Many of those trees, in order to be long enough, were 300+ years old. I can’t imagine how those laborers cut down those trees, dragged them to the little island in the middle of the river where the cathedral stands, hoisted them hundreds of feet into the air, and somehow attached them to the walls and roof. Tragedies like this one make us mourn what is lost. Much of it is not replaceable. There is no way to calculate the value of what a visit to that glorious edifice has meant to millions of people. Our hearts are with beloved Paris.
But I
also believe the cathedral can and will be rebuilt and will be even better
suited to serve as a reminder of God’s love—ancient and modern—to all who
visit. Most importantly, our Heavenly Father can make “cathedrals” of each of
us. We will probably have to suffer the scorching of our hearts to really know
the depth of His power and love. We long to keep the old-growth forest on which
we’ve built our lives. But He has a plan that is even better. When we call out,
Jesus Christ rushes to our aid to help quench the flames. Let us turn our
hearts over to Him and not be afraid to build with His beauty upon our ashes.
So…. let’s not settle into our testimony and feel that we’re ready with our vessels, only to find out they’re empty and no time to fill them. President Nelson also told us TIME IS RUNNING OUT. That came from a prophet of God. Regardless of where we’re at on the covenant path, we all have changes we can make. We can be better and do better. We can make changes, we can turn to our Savior to “keep the happy inside”.
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