This week’s key topics are the cause of the church, the Lord leading us along, and learning to have a spirit of perpetual gratitude, no matter what happens in life.
Cause
In Doctrine and Covenants 78:3-4 the Lord refers to the cause we have espoused.
3 For verily I say unto you, the time has come, and is now at hand; and behold, and lo, it must needs be that there be an of my people, in regulating and establishing the affairs of the for the of my people, both in this place and in the land of —
4 For a permanent and everlasting establishment and order unto my church, to advance the cause, which ye have espoused, to the salvation of man, and to the glory of your Father who is in heaven; (emphasis added)
In case either of the two words being looked at here are unfamiliar, here are their definitions from dictionary.com.
Espoused – embraced or adopted, as an idea, principle, or cause. It also means to be married to.
Cause – a principle, ideal, goal, or movement to which a person or group is dedicated.
In other words, we, as members of the Lord’s church, have adopted or embraced a cause, principle, or ideal that leads “to the salvation of man and the glory of your Father who is in heaven.” The question in the manual is this – “What would you say is the “cause” of the Savior’s Church?”
Each of us may have a slightly different definition of what the cause is we have adopted or taken upon ourselves at baptism. The important idea here is that we recognize that we HAVE accepted a cause that now governs our choices and the direction of our life from here on out. If we don’t define the cause we have taken upon ourselves through our covenants then we risk wandering away from the church when things become difficult. We risk it because we haven’t defined yet why we are in the Church of Christ. We each need to know that we are here for specific reasons and purposes. All of us have something to accomplish through our membership in the Lord’s kingdom. Have you recognized your reason for still being a member, for still keeping the commandments, and for making the sacrifices being a member entails?
The Lord’s example
In the verses quoted above the Lord tells Joseph Smith that the time has come for the fledgling church to create a storehouse for the poor among God’s people. Interestingly, having a storehouse to help the poor is going to both glorify the Father and will lead to the salvation of God’s children. How does that work?
The Lord continues his lesson to the prophet in verses 5-6. The storehouse for the poor is needed for the following reasons.
5 That you may be in the bonds of heavenly things, yea, and earthly things also, for the obtaining of heavenly things.
6 For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be in obtaining heavenly things;
We don’t understand how commandments do what they do, for each commandment kept creates possibilities and opportunities for the person who keeps it that wouldn’t be available in any other way. This is why we can’t legislate righteous behavior. We simply don’t understand the underlying laws that govern personal happiness and societal bliss. God does. There is something about being on an even footing one with another physically that causes us to be on an equal footing to obtain spiritual blessings. That equal footing is important to God.
In Doctrine and Covenants 78:7, 13-15, 17-19 the Lord teaches the following things.
Doing what He has commanded us to do helps to prepare us for the celestial world. By keeping His commandments the Saints will be able to stand independent of all other creatures. The end result is that we will be able to be made rulers over many kingdoms and be crowned with glory. If it all seems overwhelming, “be of good cheer, for I will lead you along.” We simply cannot comprehend how great blessings the Lord has in store for us at this time. He intends for us to have these blessings, and this is His purpose for the commandments He gives us to live by.
7 For if you will that I give unto you a place in the world, you must yourselves by the things which I have commanded you and required of you.
13 Behold, this is the preparation wherewith I prepare you, and the foundation, and the which I give unto you, whereby you may accomplish the commandments which are given you;
14 That through my providence, notwithstanding the which shall descend upon you, that the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world;
15 That you may come up unto the prepared for you, and be made over many kingdoms, saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Zion, …
17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are , and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;
18 And ye cannot all things now; nevertheless, be of good , for I will you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the of are yours.
19 And he who receiveth all things with shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an , yea, more.
In a nutshell this is the Lord’s explanation as to why He does for us what He does. He intends for us to be joyous for all eternity, and that requires incremental steps be taken to achieve that purpose. Exalting us also glorifies our Father in Heaven. Everyone wins. Now it is up to each of us. Why do you do what you do? What goals or causes have you espoused or taken upon yourself to get you to your end goal?
Leading us along
Human arrogance, at least my human arrogance, always amazes me. For years I tried to “fix” myself and repent of my sins without having to involve the Savior. I really thought I could do it myself. Sometimes we are really no better than a toddler who insists they can do everything without adult help. God knows better. We shouldn’t be offended when He refers to us as “little children,” for when it comes to spiritual things we are definitely babes in the wood. We are ignorant of all the wonders, as well as dangers the woods of life contain. God’s direction and tender care is all that keeps us from being devoured by the wolves that roam mortality seeking their next meal.
The Church in 1832 was still but two years old. No one in the Church had any idea what was needed to secure the safety and prosperity of the Saints who had stepped up and made covenants with God to follow the Savior. With almost every revelation to the prophet the Lord was giving them more information as to what was needed to move the needs of God’s people forward and secure them in both mortality and in the eternities. So many of these steps seem purely physical in nature, but to God all things affect that which is spiritual, so He gave commandments to set up a storehouse for the poor, and promised to lead His children along towards the end goal of eternal life.
This process of Christ leading us along bit by bit has never ceased. He is still anticipating our needs and giving instructions to the prophet that prepare the faithful Saints for what is coming up. As an example, President Russell M. Nelson moved the Church into Christ-centered home instruction with the Come, Follow Me manuals more than a year before the pandemic hit in 2020. The rest of the world was blindsided by the disease, but the Lord’s church was prepared to continue growing and spiritually advancing within the walls of our own homes. The church already had the technology in place to broadcast church meetings over the Internet, so we were ready to continue our personal growth, despite the crash of society with the onset of the sickness.
We don’t see what the prophet is shown by God. The Lord shows him what we need to do to prepare for what is coming, and the prophet moves the resources of the church that direction. But when the rest of the world changes, and not usually for the better, God’s Saints are already prepared for the change. Just look at the Proclamation on the Family. It was given a good five years or more before society adopted new norms that threw every other church and social group into chaos. We were the only ones whose leaders had announced years in advance what we believed and why. This blessed us with a sense of security that wasn’t available to any other group in the world.
My point here is to trust the prophet. Follow the teachings of the apostles. When we do so we are blessed and prospered in ways we couldn’t imagine happening.
A spirit of gratitude
I found the section of the manual on receiving all things with thankfulness to be confusing. It took me a while to realize why. The manual recommends a great talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf entitled “Grateful in Any Circumstances.” As he gave his talk I kept thinking to myself, “Why are we supposed to be grateful even when we are miserable?” It took me a while before I began to see his point.
Have you ever known a person who is positive and upbeat even when life has dealt them a raw deal? Everything can be falling down around them and they still come across as happy and looking at the bright side of things. Then there is the person who can have everything in the world to commend them to be happy, yet somehow they always see the worst in every person and situation. These are personality traits that extend beyond circumstances to display the core of that person’s character.
To say that I should be grateful only because I received a blessing is to say that gratitude/thankfulness is situationally based. It’s almost as if I am saying that if you want me to be grateful it will cost you a blessing to be grateful for. No blessing, no gratitude. That can’t be right. Surely we’re not so shallow that we have to be bought with toys or blessings before we can muster any sense of thankfulness.
Look at Job. He had everything mortal life has to offer, but when it was all taken away from him in a day he was still grateful to God. He recognized that his gratitude toward his maker wasn’t something God paid for in blessings. His gratitude was a way of being, of recognizing that no matter what happened in life, God was always loving and desiring what was best for Job. So even in his time of greatest despair, Job was able to look up from his misery and bless God for His goodness. He recognized that God’s goodness and Job’s momentary happiness weren’t necessarily tied to each other. Sometimes life is just hard. There’s nothing we can do about that. But God is always good, and always deserves to be praised for that consistent goodness and love.
Do I need to be thankful in times of great blessing? Of course. Do I need to still be grateful to God when life is hard and nothing seems to be going my way? Of course. The toughness of life has nothing to do with God’s goodness and love. He has been through mortality before. He understands that it is a difficult experience. And being miserable about our difficult experiences isn’t going to help us feel comfort from God’s love if we tie our gratitude to His performance to bless us. We need to recognize that God always wants to bless us, but sometimes those blessings can only come at the end of a trial or after a period of suffering. That is the nature of the lessons we came to earth to experience. Our gratitude to God needs to be as consistent as God’s love for us, which is constant and never changing.
Living to be offended
Today’s society seems to yearn for the next big fix of offense. Look on social media and you will see that people are so ready to jump on anything they can to take offense and find misery in every opportunity. My wife was kind enough to forward on to me a couple of examples she just ran across in Facebook the other day. The first one is about how people are reacting to a needed road closure somewhere in Idaho, USA. Everyone is negatively impacted by the closure until it is completed. But this person points out that there is a way to look at that closure and find gratitude for those who are just doing their job.
I overheard a conversation today regarding the 17th street bridge closure. One of the workers happened to be in line in front of me at lunch today. He mentioned that someone honked, waved, and expressed gratitude, visibly touching him. These individuals have worked diligently. Despite facing frustration beyond their control, largely due to material and logistical issues. Should we initiate a movement? Everyone who crosses the bridge, between now and the completion should extend similar appreciation. They deserve it. We haven’t been sufficiently kind, and we are capable of better. Honk! Wave! Express gratitude! Idaho!
The next example is from a teacher who was buying classroom supplies and experienced some disgruntled parents. The teacher points out that the message we send to our children is vastly different if we take a different approach by expressing gratitude rather than inconvenience.
I was feeling pretty jaded this morning as two different sets of parents at Walmart stopped me in the school supplies aisle to complain about how much they had to get their kids this year. ‘This is just ridiculous, I don’t know how these teachers think we are suppose to get all this stuff.’
As they complained, they seemed to be oblivious to the fact that my cart was filled with a class set of all the supplies they were buying…which should have been a pretty clear indication that I was one of those greedy teachers they were complaining about. While I was checking out though, things took a very different turn. I noticed the man in front of me in the check-out lane was buying school supplies for his daughter. As he went to leave he said, ‘You are a teacher right? I just want to thank you for everything you do. I see your cart is full with supplies, and I just wanted to help out as much as I can.’ Then he handed me a $25 dollar Wal-Mart gift card, shook my hand, and walked away with his daughter smiling big at me.While I was extremely moved by the man’s generosity, the part that stuck with me the most was the difference in the message his daughter just heard from her dad compared to the other parents who had been complaining earlier.The kids who heard their parents complaining heard this message: ‘School is not important enough to spend money on it, teachers are not to be trusted and have bad judgement, and learning does not require investment.’The kid who’s dad handed me the gift card heard, ‘School is important enough that we should give more than required to make sure it is successful, teachers should be respected and valued, and learning requires us giving it everything we have.’If money is tight, and you struggle to buy your child school supplies, I understand. Don’t worry–more than likely your child will have a teacher and a school that makes sure they have the supplies they need to be successful this year. However, as a parent, do your best to send the right message to your child. The man who gave me the gift card not only made my day, but I know that his daughter will enter the classroom this year with a very different perspective about her teacher and her education, and that is extremely powerful!
Leland Michael
Every person in each of the above examples was being inconvenienced and was having to make sacrifices. But some were able to approach their situation with a grateful attitude. This made all the difference in how they were able to move through their day. God wants us to find joy in this life, despite all the trials, sorrow, and difficulties. We can, but we must first learn to face life with a heart filled with thanksgiving to God for His support and love. Only then can we find comfort even in the darkest of hours. The lesson I learned from all this is that gratitude should never be tied to someone else’s performance. I need to be grateful no matter what is going on around me. Only then can I be at peace with myself in all circumstances.
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