First things first. I hope the fact that I am studying Business Marketing doesn't decrease the value of this statement in any way: If you haven't read this book, you should read it. It has changed my life. There is nothing I find more joy in than reading this book, and that is a fact. I yearn to study it every day.
This Sunday was beautiful, with clear blue skies, and little snowflakes floating down to us. As I sat in the chapel this afternoon, a few thoughts came to my mind that haven't occurred to me before. As the sacrament was being passed, I strove to direct my thoughts toward my Savior, Jesus Christ, and the wonderful sacrifice he made for me. The sacrament hymn sung was hymn 194, There is A Green Hill Far Away. One line in the second verse caught my eye. "We shall not know, we cannot tell, the pains he had to bear". This line reminded me of something I had read earlier this morning in Mosiah chapter 2, King Benjamin's sermon to his people. Verse 21 says:
I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another - I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
And verse 24:
And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?
New favorite scripture, right there. I cannot even begin to imagine the pains that our Savior bore for me alone, let alone all of us. As the hymn I Stand All Amazed says, "Oh it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me. Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me." His hand is outstretched to us still, after all the sins and wrongdoing we indulge in. I know that we do depend on the Lord every minute of every day. He just asks us to serve others. He does not need our help.
This gospel is centered all around service. Serving others, and in turn, serving our God. As I partook of the Sacrament, I proceeded to pass the tray to the person sitting next to me. And then a strange thought occurred to me. I had never before realized that the first act we perform after partaking of the sacrament is an act of service to our fellowmen - passing the tray and holding it as they partake. It is so simple. But service really is what this gospel is about. About loving our God, and serving him by serving others.
As the Sacrament continued, I found myself thinking about a topic I have wondered about before - my baptism. I was baptized when I was 8 years old with two of my other cousins. I was dressed in a beautiful, lacy baptismal jumper, and I had a little red bob. But how on Earth did that little tiny Alissa know what she was doing? I didn't understand one eighth of the things I understand about baptism now. Was I even ready to get baptized?
As I partook of the water, I realized that as I partake of the Sacrament each Sunday, I am striving to become as I was that day I was baptized 11 years ago - that is, clean, and pure. But also some other traits I never thought about before - innocent, meek and submissive, as a child. As the child I was when I was baptized, submissively following my Savior.
When I partake of the Sacrament, I feel a power. It is an amazing thing. It is the power of the spirit, and the power of the Light of Christ that is inside all of us.
I cannot be more grateful for the day when I was privileged enough to be able to take the name of my wonderful Redeemer upon me, as small and insignificant as I am. King Benjamin put it best: "Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth, yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you."
Draw near unto God, and he will draw near unto you. Seek him, and ye shall find him. His hand is forever stretched forth to us. He lends us our breath. Don't take a single one of those breaths for granted.
I'm going to send this to Carolyn :)
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