...to give talks. I'm currently in the middle of a 6 week period during the which I'm giving 3 talks in church. Public speaking certainly isn't my favorite thing, and 'the circuit' has been giving me some stress, although seeing so many wonderful people at my two farewells made everything worth it. Anyways, a few people have asked to get a copy of my talks, and since I wrote pretty much every word I was going to say, I'm happy to oblige. Starting us off is the talk I gave at the Wilsonville Farewell:
Good Morning Brothers and Sisters! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Aaron Wilson. I grew up in this ward and last summer my family moved to Provo. It is great there, but I must say that it feels wonderful to be back with you today.
Last summer, I was able to go on the High Adventure with the Priest’s Quorum. We chose to raft the Deschutes River, and we had a great time. However, there was one point in the trip where things got a little bit dicey… On this trip we had 2 rafts, and 1 river guide. I was one of the lucky ones who was in the raft without a guide. This wasn’t an issue until we came across what is known as “Whitehorse”, a class 3 rapid. Our guide had us beach the rafts and walk until we could look out over the rapids, and then explained to us exactly what we needed to do. His plan was for us to stay on the right side of the river, and then in between two rocky islands in the middle of the rapid, he instructed us to row quickly and get onto the left side of the river. We set out. The first raft with our guide easily threaded the rocks, and we figured it would be easy to follow them. Then we got into the rapids, and suddenly the water was swirling and raging around us. I was convinced that we were going to die if we didn’t make the maneuver, and so I paddled harder than I ever have before or I think I could again--I was convinced I was going to die. Despite all of our efforts though, the water was too strong. We got the raft pointed in the right direction, but our little adventure ended when we hit the rock. We were stuck.
I’d like to point out that there was absolutely nothing wrong with our plan to get through Whitehorse: it was sound, and it would have worked. But we didn’t actually DO our plan, and so we got into a little bit of trouble. The guiding scripture for my talk today is James 1:22, which reads: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.”The Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, has said: "We have been provided divine attributes to guide our journey. We enter mortality not to float with the moving currents of life, but with the power to think, to reason, and to achieve." This raises the question for each of us: are we "doers of the word" or are we "floating with the moving currents of life?"
I’d like to break down this question a little: what exactly are these “moving currents of life?” If our choice is to be a doer or be in the current, than it must be that these currents are the things that don’t lead us to become doers of the word. They are opposites. But I think that we can break these currents up even further, into two parts. The first of which are the things which directly lead us away from the gospel—sin and vice. You all know what I mean here: these are the things that are bad for us. Sin by definition is evil, as Mormon clearly shows us when he says:
“Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy to God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin and to do that which is evil continually.”
I think it’s fair to assume that everyone here knows that they need to stay away from evil. For that reason I’m mostly going to gloss over this category and move on to the second, more dangerous type of current: complacency.
Elder Donald Staheli of the Seventy said, and I quote:
“One of the greatest tragedies of our time is that so many people live so far below their potential. The word "potential" implies talent and ability. It remains "potential" because positive action has not been taken to develop and magnify those talents and abilities to their full potential. Generally we fail to achieve, not because we are engaged in evil acts or doing the wrong things, but rather we fail to fully do the important things that will support our personal development in things of a temporal and spiritual nature. While we call these sins of omission, I tend to think of them more as the tendency of the natural man to procrastinate or passively drift along with the events and happenings of the day. Without focus and priority this is so easy to do, and it is generally quite comfortable, too.” (endquote)
He then further defined sins of omission as “a passive or ‘too busy’ attitude to do many of the good and essential things that the gospel requires.”
These sins of omission are in my opinion the harder ones to handle. It’s rare that raging currents sneak up on us. More often, it is the water that is just a little bit faster that we get caught up in. At first it’s not a big problem, but if we continue in that path we will soon find ourselves in the midst of the rapids. When we stop doing the little things in our daily lives—the scripture study and the prayer that are so essential to living the gospel—it is like we have stopped rowing. We don’t really feel like we’ve lost control of the raft, because things are smooth and it doesn’t seem to matter, but we can’t be caught napping when the rocks and the rapids of life sneak up on us. Irish philosopher Edmund Burke summed this up when he said: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” I think this applies to our lives—evil will fill the gap if good isn’t present, thus we need to be especially careful to fill our lives with good instead of evil.
But what is it that that we should be doing?
To Quote Elder Staheli again:
“Periodically, the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles invite members of the Seventy to join with them in the temple for a testimony meeting and the sacrament. In one of those meetings a member of the Twelve stood and related his testimony of the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees found in Jacob 5. Like the Master of the Vineyard, he asked the rhetorical question, "What could I have done more?" relating the question to his life and calling as an Apostle. He then taught us how we might review our own personal stewardship with our families, our Church callings, and service to others. The reflection on "What could I have done more?" becomes a soul searching experience.”
I looked up the scripture he was referencing, and it reads as follows:
“But what could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh.”
So far, I’ve covered the currents—which are the “do not’s” of this topic. However, there is a reason James words the scripture the way he does: it is much easier to be “doers of the word”, not “do-noters of everything but the word”. Why then have I spent so much time on the “do not’s”? Because as Elder Staheli says, the improvements we need to make in our life are very personal in nature. He calls it a “soul searching experience.” Everyone in this room leads a different life, and each of us has something different that we can do better. I simply cannot tell of an application that fits for everyone here today. So I am going to ask for your help. I would invite you to consider—either right now, or sometime before the day ends—Elder Staheli’s question: “What could you have done more?” Or, if you’ll allow me to modify that question a little: “what can you do more?”
Maybe for some of us it is being more diligent in our scripture study and our prayers. Maybe for some of us it is to put more effort into our callings. Perhaps it is time to mend a friendship, or to reach out to someone in need, or to finally invite that friend to church. Again, I cannot tell you all of the good things that you could possibly do. But please, find something that you need to work on. Pray for guidance on what that improvement should be, and then set a goal to do it. But most importantly, I am here today to encourage you to then act.
President Monson said “It’s not enough to want to make the effort and to say that you will make the effort… It’s in the doing, not just the thinking, that we accomplish our goals. If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see them fulfilled.”
President Uchtdorf echoed this sentiment when he said: “Let us be the ones to act and not be acted upon. Preaching is fine, but sermons that do not lead to action are like fires without heat or water that cannot quench thirst… Thomas Edison, the man who bathed the world in glowing electric light, said that ‘the value of an idea lies in the using of it.’ In a similar way, gospel doctrine becomes more precious when it is put to use.”
Brothers and Sisters, I might add that the value of the gospel lies in the living of it. Without action, the gospel is meaningless. You can go to church for however many hours you want on Sunday, but if you are not a different person on Monday morning, there is no profit. If we are to become changed and improved, we must put in some effort, because change is never a passive process.
I’d like to wrap up with explaining to you why you should do this—why you should become a doer, and not a hearer. In life, action is hard. It is uncomfortable. It involves getting up instead of passively staying seated. The gospel is no different; at times, it can be hard to motivate ourselves to do good, to live the gospel. I can relate to this difficulty. In about a month, I will give up everything in my life right now: my family, my schooling, my friends, my job, my hobbies, my sports, and all of my time. I will travel halfway across the world to a country I’ve never visited, to teach people in a language that I’ve never spoken or even heard. I will be asked to work with a complete stranger for every minute of every day, and together the two of us will be asked to do more work and harder work than anything I have done before in my life. I will be asked to do all of this is an completely foreign environment, filled with strange food, blazing heat, and gross critters. I’ve often asked myself why I would do something that on the surface seems so crazy. Perhaps the answer to why I am leaving for Thailand and why you should take the next step in proactively doing the gospel are the same. In that hope, let me explain to you why I am going to serve the Lord:
I am going to serve because I know that God is real. He lives, and He loves me, you, and all of his children on this earth.
I am going to serve because I know that God has a plan for us, a plan that will lead us to more happiness than we could ever experience on our own.
I am going to serve because I know that God has set up his church on this earth today, and that His church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that God has called a prophet for us at this time, today, and I know that that Prophet is Thomas S. Monson, who leads this church.
I know that the Book of Mormon is the inspired word of God, and that by living the principles taught inside it, we can live a better life, a happier life. I know that the Book of Mormon was translated by the power of God, through the prophet Joseph Smith.
Lastly, I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that He lived a perfect life, endured the worst that Satan could throw at Him, and suffered and died for my sins. I know that because He did all of this, He has provided a way for me to return to live with Him, and a way for me to become perfected in Him.
A couple days after I received my mission call I wrote the following in my journal: “The reason that I'm going out there is my love for the Lord. He has given me everything that I have, everything that I ever will have. And I have been so richly blessed. Incredibly so. Unbelievably so. So for my Lord I will wade through the jungles, dodge the snakes, choke down the food, endure the heat, spend my all trying to grasp Thai, and testify to everyone that I meet about the reality of the Atonement.”
My question to you today is simple: what do you believe? If you’re not sure, find out. Pray and ask, because God answers prayers. And once you know, act on that. Don’t sit back, but a doer. I testify with all of my heart that in so doing you will blessed with a fuller and happier life.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
