Moses 1:6
From the earliest of years in my life, I've been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This membership has brought so many blessings into my life, particularly a knowledge of the fatherhood of God, that my life has a purpose, that there is life after death, and that decisions truly do determine our destiny. So many priceless treasures!
But, like many church members, I came to learn rather quickly that there were some aspects of being actively involved in The Church that were not what I classified as obviously positive. In my young youthful years, I was involved in the young men's organization. And, seemingly unlike everyone else, I did not have any close friends in that organization besides my older brother Tayson. As a matter of fact, the large majority of the other young men with whom I was compelled to associate were, in my eyes, justifiably classified as enemies! They treated me with anything but respect. Why was this? Looking back with now-adult eyes I can see that at least part of the reason was due to me, but my then-young eyes perceived it all as a reaction against my unique characteristics; I had epilepsy, I ate more than the normal teenage boy, I wasn't a very social person, and there were no young men close in age to me.
Due to all of this, I initially did not enjoy a single aspect of mingling with the other members of the young men's organization. And since the majority of the three hours of Church each week was spent with them, I rarely looked forward to attending church each week. Fortunately, my parents had established weekly church attendance as an absolute norm from before my memory took place. Therefore, I didn't question whether or not I should continue going to Church. But I frankly still did not enjoy it hardly at all, solely because of my negative interactions with the people who I perceived as strongly disrespectful and unwelcoming. While I now see more clearly and can at least partially make sense of the not-so-intentful actions of the other young men, this was not the case for me at that time.
Eventually, the time came near the summer of 2007 when I, at the age of 14 reasoned that I could take it no longer. I needed to find some other reason to continue remaining actively involved in The Church that would somehow eliminate, or at least distract from, the other young men. And before I even realized it, the Lord had a plan for teaching me greater light and truth. All within a few months, I was going to learn a major lesson that would change my life forever.
As the school year started in late August, I entered 9th grade at South Davis Junior High. Along with this being the first year when my grades would actually count, it was also my first year of attending the scripture-study seminary class. In this year we were to study the Old Testament of the Bible, which included some special divinely-translated documents called The Pearl of Great Price. One of these special translations was an expanded view of the first few chapters of Genesis, which is now referred to as the book of Moses. The first chapter of Moses was among the first required readings for the class. And while, on average, I didn't tend to do all of the required readings, I at least started off each new year by doing so. As I read the first chapter of Moses, a phrase in the 6th verse caught my attention:
Upon reading and pondering this, I came to understand that indeed the Lord did have a work for his servant Moses. His work was to liberate the children of Israel and lead them safely towards their promised land. And it seemed as if nobody else besides Moses had an ability to complete this assignment from God. And, with my very "young-boy" mind, I viewed such a responsibility as exciting! How great would it be to be given an assignment from God that nobody else could complete.
Later on, in one of the first seminary lessons, the teacher briefly talked about how we always get more out of the scriptures when we personalize them to our own lives. And to my surprise he illustrated this concept by going to Moses 1:6 and asking us to read it to ourselves with our own name replacing that of Moses. As I did so, I felt a great confirmation that indeed the Lord did have a work for me to do, and one that nobody else could accomplish with quite the same effectiveness. And in less than a couple months afterwards, this was greatly reaffirmed in the words of my patriarchal blessing. I learned from the words of the scriptures and through revelation that there was a work that the Lord needed me to do.
While I didn't know what exactly this work was in its entirety, I at least knew what a probable portion of it was at that time: worthily passing, preparing, and blessing the sacrament each week along with preparation for a full-time missionary. And for the first time in years I felt a strong obligation to attend and participate in church every week, the magnitude of which greatly overshadowed the feelings of annoyance, unwelcomeness, and isolation from my peers in young mens. Church attendance was no longer a faith-testing storm in my life, propelled forward by the negative interactions with other imperfect church members. Rather, church was my opportune moment to fulfill the work that the Lord had given me to do.
As years have rolled by, the deep feelings of having responsibilities from the Lord have never left. While I rarely know exactly what work the Lord would have me do, I at least have gained many instances of assurance, the greatest of which is finding out that I was an answer to someone else's prayer.
Many times I meet, or hear of, friends and acquaintances who, like I did as a young boy, feel unwelcome or unaccepted in The Church. Whether they feel alone, too different, unappreciated, or unimportant, there seems to be a solution of distancing themselves from The Church. The thought that the only solution to eliminate the trial of mingling with imperfect church members is by eliminating The Church from their life becomes a strong consideration. From my experience, I have come to learn that a much better solution is to read Moses 1:6 with your own name inserted. Hopefully, you will come to learn, as I did, that the Lord truly does have a work for you to do. And it is a responsibility that you, and only you, can complete. Nobody else has quite the same set of experiences, talents, abilities, and perspectives as you. And your set is exactly what that responsibility needs. Once you learn that work and responsibility you've been given, you will hopefully learn, as I have, that The Church just won't be as good as it could be without your unique contributions. Yes, the Lord has a unique work for you and me, everyone, to do.
But, like many church members, I came to learn rather quickly that there were some aspects of being actively involved in The Church that were not what I classified as obviously positive. In my young youthful years, I was involved in the young men's organization. And, seemingly unlike everyone else, I did not have any close friends in that organization besides my older brother Tayson. As a matter of fact, the large majority of the other young men with whom I was compelled to associate were, in my eyes, justifiably classified as enemies! They treated me with anything but respect. Why was this? Looking back with now-adult eyes I can see that at least part of the reason was due to me, but my then-young eyes perceived it all as a reaction against my unique characteristics; I had epilepsy, I ate more than the normal teenage boy, I wasn't a very social person, and there were no young men close in age to me.
Due to all of this, I initially did not enjoy a single aspect of mingling with the other members of the young men's organization. And since the majority of the three hours of Church each week was spent with them, I rarely looked forward to attending church each week. Fortunately, my parents had established weekly church attendance as an absolute norm from before my memory took place. Therefore, I didn't question whether or not I should continue going to Church. But I frankly still did not enjoy it hardly at all, solely because of my negative interactions with the people who I perceived as strongly disrespectful and unwelcoming. While I now see more clearly and can at least partially make sense of the not-so-intentful actions of the other young men, this was not the case for me at that time.
Eventually, the time came near the summer of 2007 when I, at the age of 14 reasoned that I could take it no longer. I needed to find some other reason to continue remaining actively involved in The Church that would somehow eliminate, or at least distract from, the other young men. And before I even realized it, the Lord had a plan for teaching me greater light and truth. All within a few months, I was going to learn a major lesson that would change my life forever.
As the school year started in late August, I entered 9th grade at South Davis Junior High. Along with this being the first year when my grades would actually count, it was also my first year of attending the scripture-study seminary class. In this year we were to study the Old Testament of the Bible, which included some special divinely-translated documents called The Pearl of Great Price. One of these special translations was an expanded view of the first few chapters of Genesis, which is now referred to as the book of Moses. The first chapter of Moses was among the first required readings for the class. And while, on average, I didn't tend to do all of the required readings, I at least started off each new year by doing so. As I read the first chapter of Moses, a phrase in the 6th verse caught my attention:
"And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son..." ~ Moses 1:6
Upon reading and pondering this, I came to understand that indeed the Lord did have a work for his servant Moses. His work was to liberate the children of Israel and lead them safely towards their promised land. And it seemed as if nobody else besides Moses had an ability to complete this assignment from God. And, with my very "young-boy" mind, I viewed such a responsibility as exciting! How great would it be to be given an assignment from God that nobody else could complete.Later on, in one of the first seminary lessons, the teacher briefly talked about how we always get more out of the scriptures when we personalize them to our own lives. And to my surprise he illustrated this concept by going to Moses 1:6 and asking us to read it to ourselves with our own name replacing that of Moses. As I did so, I felt a great confirmation that indeed the Lord did have a work for me to do, and one that nobody else could accomplish with quite the same effectiveness. And in less than a couple months afterwards, this was greatly reaffirmed in the words of my patriarchal blessing. I learned from the words of the scriptures and through revelation that there was a work that the Lord needed me to do.
While I didn't know what exactly this work was in its entirety, I at least knew what a probable portion of it was at that time: worthily passing, preparing, and blessing the sacrament each week along with preparation for a full-time missionary. And for the first time in years I felt a strong obligation to attend and participate in church every week, the magnitude of which greatly overshadowed the feelings of annoyance, unwelcomeness, and isolation from my peers in young mens. Church attendance was no longer a faith-testing storm in my life, propelled forward by the negative interactions with other imperfect church members. Rather, church was my opportune moment to fulfill the work that the Lord had given me to do.
As years have rolled by, the deep feelings of having responsibilities from the Lord have never left. While I rarely know exactly what work the Lord would have me do, I at least have gained many instances of assurance, the greatest of which is finding out that I was an answer to someone else's prayer.
Many times I meet, or hear of, friends and acquaintances who, like I did as a young boy, feel unwelcome or unaccepted in The Church. Whether they feel alone, too different, unappreciated, or unimportant, there seems to be a solution of distancing themselves from The Church. The thought that the only solution to eliminate the trial of mingling with imperfect church members is by eliminating The Church from their life becomes a strong consideration. From my experience, I have come to learn that a much better solution is to read Moses 1:6 with your own name inserted. Hopefully, you will come to learn, as I did, that the Lord truly does have a work for you to do. And it is a responsibility that you, and only you, can complete. Nobody else has quite the same set of experiences, talents, abilities, and perspectives as you. And your set is exactly what that responsibility needs. Once you learn that work and responsibility you've been given, you will hopefully learn, as I have, that The Church just won't be as good as it could be without your unique contributions. Yes, the Lord has a unique work for you and me, everyone, to do.
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