Sometimes when we think about the New Year we may think about a new
semester in school or how the Superbowl is right around the corner, but the
thing that the New Year seems to revolve around is making resolutions and
trying to better ourselves. We talked last week in our Marriage and Family Relations
class about some of the most popular resolutions that are made each year and it’s
no surprise that some of the top ones are becoming more physically fit or
losing weight and gaining financial stability. While these are both resolutions
that will help us to become better while in this mortal life, what are we doing
to become better for the life to follow? I think about how often there seems to be an onslaught this time of year of advertisements to join a gym, but you never see a New Year's advertisement to
join a church. There seem to also be a lot of ads and tips online to help save
more money, but have we ever thought about trying to save more time for our
families or for service? I know that for me and for most of the world becoming
a better person physically or financially usually trumps becoming a better
person spiritually. Should we not make a more meaningful resolution to become more Christlike?
Elder Christofferson once gave a talk called “Give Us ThisOur Daily Bread.” It has been made into a Mormon Message and has several
sections. One section is about change. In it he said that “The Bread of Eternal
Life—the core substance that we need to become what we aspire to become—is in
the person of Jesus Christ…There is a purpose in life far beyond living
comfortably. The bread that is given us is to enable us to act, to help, and to
serve.” However, change does not happen in an instant or in a day. Change is a
step-by-step process that requires unwavering faith in the Lord. Elder Christofferson said that “Incorporating
new and wholesome habits into our character or overcoming bad habits or
addictions most often means an effort today followed by another tomorrow, and
then another, perhaps for many days, even months and years, until victory is
achieved. But we can do it because we can appeal to God for our daily bread,
for the help we need each day.”
My favorite example
in the scriptures of someone who had unwavering faith in the Lord is Nephi. How
often was he tempted by his brothers to murmur and question the Lord but
decided instead to pray and ask for strength and direction to be able to do
what he had been asked for he knew that the “Lord giveth no commandments unto
the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may
accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” We also can accomplish our
aspiration to become as Christ because the Lord has prepared a way for us to do
so. He is there to give us constant help and support. We may think that what we
are working on seems so impossible to do for a whole year, but it is not
impossible for a day. We can wake each day with a new hope to hold ourselves
accountable for a day to perfect ourselves, gaining strength from each attempt
for “out of small things proceedeth that which is great.”
Naturally, with making resolutions and goals also comes
failure. Failure is not new to anyone. We’ve failed since day one trying to
take our first steps, but now in adulthood failure seems daunting and
embarrassing, causing us to lose hope and give up all together. In fact, while
the resolutions to become fit or more financially stable are popular to make,
they are also popular to not finish. So what happens when we fail? In this
month’s issue of the Ensign, President Uchtdorf explains that “We almost
certainly will fail—at least in the short term. But rather than be discouraged,
we can be empowered because this understanding removes the pressure of being
perfect right now… When we approach our goals this way, failure doesn’t have to
limit us…Even though we might fall short of our finish line, just continuing
the journey will make us greater than we were before.”
I love a story that
Elder Holland once told:
Thirty years ago last month, a little family set out to cross
the United States to attend graduate school—no money, an old car, every earthly
possession they owned packed into less than half the space of the smallest
U-Haul trailer available. Bidding their apprehensive parents farewell, they
drove exactly 34 miles up the highway, at which point their beleaguered car
erupted.
Pulling off the freeway onto a frontage road, the young father
surveyed the steam, matched it with his own, then left his trusting wife and
two innocent children—the youngest just three months old—to wait in the car
while he walked the three miles or so to the southern Utah metropolis of
Kanarraville, population then, I suppose, 65. Some water was secured at the
edge of town, and a very kind citizen offered a drive back to the stranded
family. The car was attended to and slowly—very slowly—driven back to
St. George for inspection…
After more than two hours of checking and rechecking, no
immediate problem could be detected, so once again the journey was begun. In
exactly the same amount of elapsed time at exactly the same location on that
highway with exactly the same pyrotechnics from under the hood, the car
exploded again…
Now feeling more foolish than angry, the chagrined young father
once more left his trusting loved ones and started the long walk for help once
again. This time the man providing the water said, “Either you or that fellow
who looks just like you ought to get a new radiator for that car.” For the
second time a kind neighbor offered a lift back to the same automobile and its
anxious little occupants. He didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry at the
plight of this young family.
“How far have you come?” he said. “Thirty-four miles,” I
answered. “How much farther do you have to go?” “Twenty-six hundred miles,” I
said. “Well, you might make that trip,
and your wife and those two little
kiddies might make that trip, but none of you are going to make it
in that car.” He proved to be
prophetic on all counts.
Just two weeks ago this weekend, I drove by that exact spot
where the freeway turnoff leads to a frontage road…in my mind’s eye, for just
an instant, I thought perhaps I saw on that side road an old car with a devoted
young wife and two little children making the best of a bad situation there.
Just ahead of them I imagined that I saw a young fellow walking toward
Kanarraville, with plenty of distance still ahead of him. His shoulders seemed
to be slumping a little, the weight of a young father’s fear evident in his
pace…In that imaginary instant, I couldn’t help calling out to him: “Don’t give
up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and
happiness ahead—a lot of it—30 years of it now, and still counting. You keep
your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good
things to come.”
How important it is to strive to
become more like Christ, to help and serve those around us! How lucky we are to
have this New Year to act as a clean slate for us to refocus our attention on
the Savior and to try to emulate him more fully in our daily lives. While we
are helping others and this work to move forward, we are being helped and
blessed by the Lord to come closer to Him and gain an eternal home with Him. He
will always be there to reach out and support us as we try day-to-day to better
ourselves. I know that we will be blessed as we keep striving toward our
righteous aspirations to be able to accomplish them, even after failure. That
happiness can be ours if we keep walking with our chin up, for it will be
alright in the end. I am so thankful for
a loving Father in Heaven who sees my every effort and gives me the daily bread
I need to be able to move forward. I hope that we can all remember Him as we
make our resolutions this year.
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