SEEK, ENDURE, ATTAIN
Girl's Camp 2014
When we were sent
here to earth, our Heavenly Father gave us the sweet gift of agency. Because we
have been given the ability to choose, it is ultimately up to us to decide our
final destination. I have often envisioned what it will be like to stand before
my Father in Heaven and be judged for my actions here on this earth. A few
months ago, I was taught a lesson on this topic. My mother-in-law entrusted my
husband and I with her most prized possession—a necklace made from her mother’s
wedding ring. She had left it at the cabin, and asked that we deliver it to
her. Knowing how important this item was to my mother-in-law, my husband and I
discussed ways in keeping it safe, and then followed through with our plan.
However, when it came time to deliver the necklace to my mother-in-law, the
necklace was no longer where it had been placed for safe keeping. This
realization ensued several weeks of searching and praying for the lost
heirloom. Throughout this time of prayer and contemplation, my soul longed for
a “redo”. My mind was relentless with the “if only’s”, and the “should
of’s”. I couldn’t help but think of what
I could have done, or what I should have done. In the midst of my turmoil, I
was taught a lesson. One evening while contemplating the lost heirloom, my mind
was opened to a new thought. In my mind I saw myself standing in front of my
Savior after I had completed my time here on Earth. As I stood, my mind
wondered—will I want a “redo”, or will I have done all that I could? In 2 Nephi
it states, “Therefore, lift up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to
act for yourselves, to choose the way of everlasting life, or the way of
everlasting death” (2 Nephi 10:23). President Monson has said that decisions
determine our destiny (President Monson, “Dare to Stand Alone”, Ensign, October
2011).
The theme for
camp this week is: An Island in a sea with the word sea being an acronym
standing for Seek, Endure, Attain. An island represents us in our journey back
to our Heavenly Home. An island stands out, an island is immoveable, and an
island weathers the storms. In order for us to make the choices necessary to
reach our ultimate goal, we must have the courage to seek the Gospel and endure
the challenges of this life, and as we do so we will attain exaltation.
President Monson
said, “Life’s journey is not traveled on a freeway devoid of obstacles,
pitfalls, and snares. Rather, it is a pathway marked by forks and turnings.
Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed…
(The Call for Courage, President Thomas S. Monson, General Conference, 2004).”
COURAGE~ SEEK AND
ENDURE
Each of us will
face choices that will require the courage. This last year my daughter switched
schools just as she was entering Middle School. She had always attended school
in the Boise School District; however, we felt impressed to switch her to her
designated school district, so rather than attending West Junior High with the
majority of her friends, she attended Lake Hazel. Right from the beginning,
there were blessings to our switch—the greatest blessings were perhaps the
young ladies who did reach out to her, and included her in their group of
friends. Despite these friendships however, she still felt much like a new
student. That is why it was so difficult for her when her Life Skills teacher
announced that the class would be watching a movie that Hailey knew she
shouldn’t watch. With pounding heart, a bit of dread, and a silent prayer, she
shot her hand in the air determined to not watch the movie. She explained to
her teacher her standards, and asked if there was something else that she could
do. The teacher insisted that the movie wasn't inappropriate, and further stated
that she wouldn't ask her to watch something that wasn’t beneficial to her
learning. With determination, Hailey again asked if there was something else she
could do? The teacher—a bit annoyed—excused her from the class. As she stood to
leave, one student said, “Come on…it’s just a movie”, while others didn’t
comment, but looked at her as if she were over-reacting. A bit embarrassed
Hailey excused herself, and then began counting the minutes until Life Skills
would be over. That night Hailey came home to tell me of her courage. As she
told her story, tears rolled down her cheeks—she so desperately wanted friends,
but she also wanted to choose the right. President Monson said, “As we go about
living from day to day, it is almost inevitable that our faith will be
challenged. We may at times find ourselves surrounded by others and yet
standing in the minority or even standing alone concerning what is acceptable
and what is not. Do we have the moral courage to stand firm for our beliefs,
even if by so doing we must stand alone?” (Thomas S. Monson, “Dare to
Stand Alone, October 2011).
The scriptures
are full of examples of courage, of men and women seeking the Lord and enduring
their trials. I am inspired by the example of Noah when he had the courage to
build an ark. Can you imagine his courage as he built a boat on dry land? It
took Noah 120 years to build an ark. In that time, he was mocked and ridiculed.
How many times in our lives are we mocked for doing what we feel is right? One
of the key themes in Noah’s story that I believe relates to us, and our theme
for camp is that Noah cared more about what the Lord thought, then what his
peers thought. Noah was seeking the Lord. The Lord was very much a part of his
life. I think of Noah’s example to stand out, to stand alone, to choose the
Lord no matter the consequence, and then I think of my life—am I doing that? I
think of Noah’s courage to follow through with a prompting, and then I wonder
if I am doing the same?
I love the
example of courage shown by David when he fought Goliath. When I was a young
girl in primary, we would often have to declare our favorite scripture
hero—mine was always David. Even as a young girl, my heart wanted to have
enough courage to face anything the Lord required. When speaking to Goliath,
David said, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield:
but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of
Israel, whom thou hast defied. [1 Sam. 17:45].
David had courage not only to fight a giant, but also courage in the Lord. He
knew the Lord would help him defeat Goliath. The only possible way for David to
have had such an unshakeable knowledge of the Lord’s presence in his life was
for David to have allowed the Lord to be a part of his life. Because he had been seeking the Lord, he knew
he could expect the Lord to be with him. Just like David fought Goliath, we
too—will face many Goliath’s in our lives. They will not be 9-foot giants, but
Satan will most certainly put Goliath’s in our way in hopes of distracting us
from our ultimate goal. We must do as David did—we must seek the Lord
I have always
loved the courage of Esther when she faced the king on behalf of her people
even when it could mean death for her. I am sure that none of us will be facing
death, but how many of us have to defend who we are? In today’s world we are
becoming more and more peculiar. It takes courage to stand out, to be
immoveable, and to choose to be peculiar. Just like the scriptures state that
Esther was born for “such a time” (Esther 4:14)—President Monson said, that “He
has saved you to come to the earth ‘for such a time as this.’ With His
help, you will have the courage to face whatever comes. Though the world may at
times appear dark, you have the light of the gospel, which will be as a beacon
to guide your way” (“May You Have Courage”, President Thomas S. Monson, General
Conference, April 2009). I like how President Monsoon said that “with His
Help”; we will have the courage (“May You Have Courage”, President Thomas S.
Monson, General Conference, April 2009). When we are seeking Him, and choosing
to live by the light of the Gospel, is when we will be able to face or endure
any trial that comes our way.
There are numerous
accounts of courage in the scriptures. There is the story of Moroni when he
declared that he “would not deny the Christ” (Moroni 1: 2,3), the story of
Daniel thrown into the Lion’s den for praying (Daniel 6), the story of the
stripling warriors when they declared that “God is with us” (Alma 56:46-48),
the story of Samuel testifying on a city wall (Helaman 16:1), the story of
Pahoran when he declared “you have censored me, but it matterth not” (Alma
61:9), and the story of Abinidi testifying to his death (Mosiah 17). I cannot begin to name all of the accounts of
courage—these are just a few of the examples in the scriptures. As I studied
the scriptures seeking courage accounts; however I noticed that every story
with a positive lesson had an element of courage. Every scripture story that
ended in failure or sadness was lacking that element of courage.
TESTIMONY ~ SEEK
AND ENDURE
In all the
scriptural accounts of courage there is a common theme—each of these heroes were
seeking the Lord, and they were then strengthened to endure any trial that they
faced. And so it is with us. President Monson said, “In order for us to be
strong, and to withstand all the forces pulling us in the wrong direction or
all the voices encouraging us to take the wrong path, we must have our own
testimony” (“Dare to Stand Alone”, President Monson, General Conference, October
2011). We must seek to have a testimony in order to endure the temptations that
surround us.
Elder Bednar said
that, “A testimony is a gift from God and is available to all of His children.
Any honest seeker of truth can obtain a testimony by exercising the necessary
“particle of faith” in Jesus Christ to “experiment upon” (Alma 32:27)
and “try the virtue of the word” (Alma 31:5),
to yield “to the enticing’s of the Holy Spirit” (Mosiah 3:19),
and to awaken unto God (see Alma 5:7)”
(“Converted Unto the Lord”, David A. Bednar, General Conference, October 2012).
Therefore, as we seek, and experiment upon the word—we build our testimonies,
and as we build our testimonies—we are more able to endure the trials. As we
exercise our agency to choose to seek, we are making the daily decisions that
build our reservoir of testimony that will help us endure the trials to come.
When I was a
freshman at Ricks College, I had a professor that opened my eyes to the
importance of our individual testimonies. She told us that we were all in dire
circumstances, and in order to survive—we had to be willing to give up “the
less important” things in life. And then, she had each of us pick from cards at
the front of the room. A few of the cards were: fax machine, computer, boat,
radio, iPod, email, camera … At first it seemed pretty easy to take a few
things from our list, but the lesson didn’t stop at a few things. After one
round, she stood again, and said people were dying—circumstances where dire,
what else are you willing to give up? And then each of us was required to again
choose from the list of items: close friends, sense of sight, the living
prophet, church organization, priesthood blessings, immediate family, temple
ordinances… I remember that as we got down to the last two items: testimony of
Jesus Christ, and a living prophet; an argument broke out in our class. One
girl was extremely upset at the choice that was being made by the student who
was last to choose. This girl begged our teacher to have the lesson stop;
however, the point of the lesson was to eliminate all but one. The student who
was last to pick was choosing to remove a living prophet arguing that if we
didn’t have a testimony, then we wouldn’t need a living prophet anyway. The
last card was a testimony of Jesus Christ. My professor then said to the class,
“If a testimony is the most important thing each of you has, then why is it so
easy to spend your time in pursuit of things that are not as important”. She
was right. My time was constantly filled with important things, but perhaps not
as important as working on my testimony. In our process of seeking and
enduring, we must have a testimony. It is our most prized possession.
In John Hilton’s
book, Essential Skills in Living the Gospel, an object lesson is described on
the basis of testimony, and I’d like to do it with you now:
There are many
levels of testimony:
I hope it’s true
. . .
I think it’s true
. . .
I believe it’s
true . . .
I know it’s true
. . .
What if we told
you that your ring finger is less flexible than your other fingers? Do you
hope, think, believe, or know that is true? What is the only way to move from
“hope” to “know”? We must experiment and test it out. Do the following:
1. Put your hands
together, palm to palm
2. Keeping your
palms together, see if you can separate your pointer fingers. Can you do it?
Good, now keeping your palms together fold your pointer fingers over.
3. With your
palms together and pointer fingers folded over, try to separate your pinkey
fingers. Can you do it? Good. Now fold those over.
4. What about
your thumbs, and your middle finger? Good. Fold those over.
5. Now with your
palms firmly pressed together and all your fingers folded over except your
ring finger, try to separate your ring fingers from each other.
Interesting, isn’t it?
So how many of
you now “know” your ring finger is less flexible than your others? Gaining a
witness of spiritual things is much the same: When we first experiment and act
in obedience, then the testimony comes.
Give students the
options of some “experiments” they could try (or let them come up with their
own). Experiments like, “Say 10 nice things to your mother today,” “Write in
your journal every day this week,” etc. so that they can do something
and increase their testimony of those principles as a result.
ATTAIN
In each and every
one of our lives’ we will have trials. It
is what we do with those trials, which will make all the difference, One of the
greatest trials of my life happened when I was a teenager. When I was 17, my
elder brother drowned in the Snake River. I still remember vividly the days we
spent on the banks of the river searching for his body. I felt like I was in a
dream, and that at any moment I would wake up. After three days of searching,
his body was found and identified. The process of picking out a casket, and
talking about a funeral left me feeling numb to my reality. Despite my unbelief
at my situation, I felt an unmistakable peace and reassurance—I knew the Savior
was carrying me. However, as the time
drew nearer for the viewing, that feeling of peace began to dissipate for me. I
still remember my father pulling me from the viewing line, tears rolling down
my face, and admonishing me to SEEK peace. I don’t remember where I went in the
funeral home, or much about what happened surrounding my prayer, but I do
remember reading in Matthew 11: 28-30. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soul.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” As I prayed and read the
scriptures, peace began to fill my heart once again. I named this scripture my
“Eric Peace Scripture”, and every time I struggled, I would again turn to this
scripture and remind myself to seek the Savior. As we seek the Lord daily, and
build our testimonies of faith—we will be better able to endure our trials. Because
I had a strong testimony of the plan of salvation, I was able to endure. This
was not the case for all of my family.
Sister Dalton
said, "Take a few minutes to envision where you want to be in one year or
two or five. Then take action to prepare yourselves. People don't just run a
marathon when they decide to do it. They must train daily, slowly building
stamina and endurance to run the 26.2-mile distance. So it is with life. It is
daily diligence…that will help you reach your goals. Your daily decisions will
influence generations" (Elaine S. Dalton, "Press Forward
and Be Steadfast," Ensign, May 2003, p.105). Are we courageously
seeking the Lord? Are we choosing daily to courageously endure? If so, there
will come a day when we will pass through on the other side of our trials, and
we will be on the pathway to eternal life.
It is my prayer that we will be like an island. Let us stand out, be
immoveable, and weather the storms of life with courage, and then someday as we
stand in front our Savior to be judged—we will not desire a “redo”. As we seek
and endure—we will attain. I have a testimony of these truths. I know that our
Heavenly Father loves us. I know that He wants us to succeed. I know that this
Gospel is true. I know that when we live by its teachings, we are blessed. I
know it, because I have lived it! I have experimented on the word.
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