A Small and Simple Talk

Our ward's RS presidency was asked to speak in sacrament meeting today. We were only given six days notice, and because my brain is like a sieve these days, for the first two days I completely forgot. Fortunately Heavenly Father has mercy on frazzled mothers of four kids and a newborn, because I found this to be one of easiest and most enjoyable talks to prepare.

(It was also my expand-o-talk--I had a three-minute version, a six-minute version, and a ten-minute version. You see, with four adult women speakers (I was third) and a choir number, I knew that the stated 10 minutes per talk was pushing it. Sure enough, when I rose to speak, there were 12 minutes remaining before the usual time for the closing song. So this is my six-minute version.)

I love President Monson. In the September 1997 Ensign, he shares a story about a stake priesthood leadership meeting he attended with another GA, named President Child. When it was Pres. Child’s turn to speak, he stepped off the stand and stood among the priesthood brethren.

Now, in President Monson’s words:

“What is the worth of a human soul?” He avoided calling on a bishop, stake president, or high councilor for a response. Instead, he selected the president of an elders quorum—a brother who had been a bit drowsy and had missed the significance of the question.

The startled man responded: “Brother Child, could you please repeat the question?” The question was repeated: “What is the worth of a human soul?” I knew President Child’s style. I prayed fervently for that quorum president. He remained silent for what seemed like an eternity and then declared, “Brother Child, the worth of a human soul is its capacity to become like God.”

All present pondered that reply. Brother Child returned to the stand, leaned over to me, and said, “A profound reply; a profound reply!”

It is no small thing to ask us—mortals—to become like God. In fact, it’s a pretty big, overwhelming thing. But as Alma says in chapter 37, verse 6, “…but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass…”

My grandfather taught me this principle by his example. He was a man who loved hiking. Hiking was his favorite form of exercise, and his favorite way to spend time with his grandchildren.

On these hikes, his motto was: “One Step at a Time”. You know how children ask “Are we there yet?” on long car trips? We grandchildren were no different on these day-long hikes. “How many miles left, Grandpa?” “One step at a time, kids.” We weren’t even supposed to ask other hikers we passed on the trail. “One step at a time.”

At the time, I found this mantra somewhat irritating. Why couldn’t I know how much farther we had to go? But my Grandpa was a wise man. When an 11-year-old girl is faced with a 14-mile-round-trip hike, it is easy for her to get overwhelmed. Instead of focusing on the seemingly impossible goal, it was, “One step at a time, Keryn. Put one foot forward, now the next. The end will take care of itself.”

The small and simple things of the gospel will strengthen our testimonies. My friend Tracy is an adult convert to the church. As a young mother, she had an intense spiritual experience that left her with a sure knowledge of God’s existence. She then began exploring churches to discover what God’s plan for her was.

While attending an LDS meeting on Sunday, she was given the Gospel Principles manual. Late that night, she idly flipped through it, and then decided to start reading.

It took six chapters before she was converted.

In her words:

“Chapter 2 talks about spirit life…We were all someone before we came here… Now this was good stuff- and it was nothing I had heard anywhere else. These were not amorphous answers about mystery and clouds- and something inside me was lighting up. Whoa! Hey! God wants me to learn and progress? That means there is not some end-game where I hang out with a harp for eternity… something I had not heard outside of eastern faiths, which I had also tried.

Chapter 3 introduces the idea that the Savior is my brother, and that he chose, of his own will, to come to earth and perform the Atonement…Chapter 4 introduces agency:

“Thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee” Moses 3:17

This was the first time I had read about choice and temptation being good things for us- that we had chosen this path, and not been unwilling pawns of a basic disaster. Now I was up and pacing the living room, the cover folded back on the book as I kept reading.

Then, in chapter 5, the doozy: “Worlds without number have I created; . . . and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten” (Moses 1:33). Whoa! Wait a minute- this was theology and cosmology that answers my questions about science and the universe and other worlds…This was filling in gaps faster than I could read, and answering questions I’d held most of my life.

The kicker came in chapter 6. The traditional Christian narrative of Adam and Eve had always sat just slightly askance with me, particularly the idea of a God who would allow his one world to be screwed up forever by a hapless accident. And here in the LDS narrative, we have Eve being beguiled, and then she and Adam making a choice, for the benefit of mankind…

I woke my husband up and read him all of chapters five and six.

And that was it. I went to church the next Sunday and asked to be baptized.

The small and simple doctrines of the gospel created a foundation for Tracy’s testimony that will lead her to exaltation, to becoming like God.

There are things we must do to change the “natural man” in each of us to become Godlike. Instead of becoming overwhelmed and giving up, let’s just take one small step at a time.

Just pick one small thing to improve, to work on. Maybe it will be morning prayer. Maybe it will be temple attendance. For our family, it is scripture reading. As a ward we are trying to read the Book of Mormon this school year. Because our family is young and rambunctious, we have decided to take the small step of reading one verse from that day’s chapter. It’s a VERY small thing, and sometimes we just read the verse, say the prayers, and get in bed already! But sometimes it has led to sweet gospel discussion that can strengthen us on our journey to exaltation.

By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.