Helaman 5:12 It's the Service that Counts

I want to continue what I started two days ago about "foundations." (I tend to rotate my study between chronological reading, in an effort to keep up with the Sunday School class, and study for the classes that I teach- thus the lack of order :)

President Monson had mentioned three ways to strengthen the depth of our foundations in Christ. The first was prayer.

"My second guideline: Let us study the scriptures and “meditate therein day and night,” "

The basics, prayer, scripture study... they always seem to be the answer.

It makes me think of a favorite set of scriptures in Alma 37. Alma compares the words of Christ (study of the scriptures) to the Liahona. He tells us that they will point us on a direct course in our lives- and then he compares scripture study to the serpent that Moses put on a stick, to save the people that were bitten and dying, all they needed to do was look at it:


46 O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.

So simple, yet so easy to not do. Just this morning, I was laying in bed, sleep deprived, I was up until 11:30 last night, and 5:00 came all too soon. Today I got up to study, but there have been many similar situations where I had convinced myself that I could never survive the day on such little sleep. It is so easy not to do. "Do not let me be slothful because of the easiness of the way."

Joshua 1: 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

President Monson did not just say to study, but also to meditate. What a great promise for the meditatiors found in Joshua, "then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

President Monson continues: "My third guideline for building a strong foundation of faith and testimony involves service.
While driving to the office one morning, I passed a dry-cleaning establishment which had a sign in the window. It read, “It’s the Service That Counts.” The sign’s message simply would not leave my mind. Suddenly I realized why. In actual fact it is the service that counts—the Lord’s service."

President Monson makes me want to pay more attention to signs. He gets some great analogies from signs in windows and on the road.

President Monson gives a terrific example:

Thirteen years ago it was my privilege to provide a blessing to a beautiful 12-year-old young lady, Jami Palmer. She had just been diagnosed with cancer and was frightened and bewildered. She subsequently underwent surgery and painful chemotherapy. Today she is cancer-free and is a bright, beautiful 26-year-old who has accomplished much in her life. Some time ago, I learned that in her darkest hour, when any future appeared somewhat grim, she learned that her leg where the cancer was situated would require multiple surgeries. A long-planned hike with her Young Women class up a rugged trail to Timpanogos Cave—located in the Wasatch Mountains about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah—was out of the question, she thought. Jami told her friends they would have to undertake the hike without her. I’m confident there was a catch in her voice and disappointment in her heart. But then the other young women responded emphatically, “No, Jami, you are going with us!”
“But I can’t walk,” came the anguished reply.
“Then, Jami, we’ll carry you to the top!” And they did.
Today, the hike is a memory, but in reality it is much more. James Barrie, the Scottish poet, declared, “God gave us memories, that we might have June roses in the December of our lives” (paraphrasing James Barrie, in Laurence J. Peter, comp., Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time [1977], 335). None of those precious young women will ever forget that memorable day when a loving Heavenly Father looked down with a smile of approval and was well pleased.
As He enlists us to His cause, He invites us to draw close to Him, and we feel His spirit in our lives."

D2 is crying, she had a bad dream- catch you tomorrow.