Small and simple things....

Well long ago before I went on my mission while growing up in the Aaronic Priesthood I was very blessed to have an amazing Bishop! He patiently and willingly put up with us in so many meetings and activities, I really admire him for that, especially now as i look back and reflect on those days, haha. Anyways I wanted to just share something he really taught us all collectively as a group and something that has really stuck with me over the years! One of his goals as Bishop was to have the priesthood body as a whole to at least have the scripture mastery references memorized! Of course us young'ns all huffed and puffed and were upset at having to show forth any effort towards anything those days, haha....

So we went through those over a couple of years, but there was one in particular that whenever we went over it, he always talked about it and shared his testimony of its truthfullness. That is Alma 37:6 "But behold i say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." I still remember even though I didn't really want to memorize things or listen and was more interested in just chatting with my buddies near by, I still remember the spirit i felt and the sincerity he expressed when he would talk about this principle.

So I really began to understand this principle while being on my mission. Missionary work isn't sparatic spurts of going down into a subway and hollering at everyone to repent, and then 1,000 are touched by the spirit and get baptized the following weekend. I'm not in any way trying to limit God's powers, for I know that anything is possible with Him.

What I'm saying is a missionary does not simply do that once or twice a year then call it quits. No, its a constant "battle" of getting up every single day when your dead tired, spending 30 minutes exercising every day, studying 2-3 hours every morning while trying to fight to stay awake, then spending the 10-12 hours the rest of the day walking running and talking to every soul around you, patiently enduring the harsh things they may say or even the simple rejection of those you felt were ready to hear it. Being a strengt and inspiration to your companion when he is struggling and inside you need the same thing to sustain you and keep you going. Its ALL of those small and simple acts day by day that you do that bring about the miracles. That show forth to you heavenly father your love for the people and your willingness to do whatever it takes for Him to do the work you can't do and for Him to provide those who are ready to hear the gospel.

I could go on forever of miracle after miracle that I witnessed on my mission from me just trying to do my best, and the Lord always providing. And its funny, when those miracles come, you don't even feel like its anything that you've done that brought them to pass, because it really isn't because of anything that you do. You could do something so hard for so long, like lets say tract for hous and hours, and you might never find someone for weeks and weeks, and then all of the sudden because you just put forth that effort the Lord says "oh here you go, this guy who just walked into church this week is prepared." And depending on your attitude you might get frustrated and ask WHY did we do all that work, or you simply step back and think for a second, and a smile comes to your face so quickly as you ponder the lords mercy and infinite wisdom, of how hes teaching you EVERY moment of the day all through our lives, if we but pause and listen and reflect and remember whos in charge!

So I listened to a talk on my mission in one of my areas that really touched my heart. (I'll post a link to it at the bottom if you're interested in reading or listening to it.) So time goes by and didn't realy think much about the talk or the fact that I listened to it. Now i'm home from my mission, and I was offered a promotion at work. And I ended up not getting the promotion even though I was offered it, because of my schedule not being able to work with the promotion and going to school. And when I found out, my first feelings weren't a rush of anger and being upset at God and wondering why that would happen if i'm trying to live the life he wants me to, especially going to school and trying to educate myself to be a better employee and have more work available to me. (Emphasis on the try, i'm not perfect by any means or trying to imply that i am) Yes I was frustrated and hurt, but I simply shrugged it off,as the spirit spoke peace to me and brought the words of this talk back to me. It was something so simple as listening to a talk on my mission, but it brought about something great to me in my time of need!

(I included a portion of that talk)

"You sometimes wonder whether the Lord really knows what He ought to do with you. You sometimes wonder if you know better than He does about what you ought to do and ought to become. I am wondering if I may tell you a story. It has to do with an incident in my life when God showed me that He knew best.

I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and clipped it back until there was nothing left but stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying. I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it and smiled and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush say this:
“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’ ”

Years passed, and I found myself in England. I was in command of a cavalry unit in the Canadian Army. I held the rank of field officer in the British Canadian Army. I was proud of my position. And there was an opportunity for me to become a general. I had taken all the examinations. I had the seniority. The one man between me and the office of general in the British Army became a casualty, and I received a telegram from London. It said: “Be in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00,” signed by General Turner.

I went up to London. I walked smartly into the office of the general, and I saluted him smartly, and he gave me the same kind of a salute a senior officer usually gives—a sort of “Get out of the way, worm!” He said, “Sit down, Brown.” Then he said, “I’m sorry I cannot make the appointment. You are entitled to it. You have passed all the examinations. You have the seniority. You’ve been a good officer, but I can’t make the appointment. You are to return to Canada and become a training officer and a transport officer.” That for which I had been hoping and praying for 10 years suddenly slipped out of my fingers.

Then he went into the other room to answer the telephone, and on his desk, I saw my personal history sheet. Right across the bottom of it was written, “THIS MAN IS A MORMON.” We were not very well liked in those days. When I saw that, I knew why I had not been appointed. He came back and said, “That’s all, Brown.” I saluted him again, but not quite as smartly, and went out.
I got on the train and started back to my town, 120 miles away, with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. And every click of the wheels on the rails seemed to say, “You are a failure.” When I got to my tent, I was so bitter that I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, “How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?” I was as bitter as gall.

And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, “I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness and my bitterness. While kneeling there I heard a song being sung in an adjoining tent. A number of Mormon boys met regularly every Tuesday night. I usually met with them. We would sit on the floor and have Mutual. As I was kneeling there, praying for forgiveness, I heard their singing:

“But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I’ll go where you want me to go.”(Hymns, no. 270)

I arose from my knees a humble man. And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to Him and say, “Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.” I see now that it was wise that I should not become a general at that time, because if I had I would have been senior officer of all western Canada, with a lifelong, handsome salary, a place to live, and a pension, but I would have raised my six daughters and two sons in army barracks. They would no doubt have married out of the Church, and I think I would not have amounted to anything. I haven’t amounted to very much as it is, but I have done better than I would have done if the Lord had let me go the way I wanted to go.

Many of you are going to have very difficult experiences: disappointment, heartbreak, bereavement, defeat. You are going to be tested and tried. I just want you to know that if you don’t get what you think you ought to get, remember, God is the gardener here. He knows what He wants you to be. Submit yourselves to His will. Be worthy of His blessings, and you will get His blessings. "
-Hugh B. Brown

So i know everything will work out, i'm not worried one bit, and thats an amazing feeling, to just have peace even though you don't really kn0w whats going on!

So this all seemed to come to me as I was getting ready for work yesterday, there is an employee at work I really enjoy working with, he is a good man, I've tried to share the gospel with him, and I felt like I needed to give him a book of mormon. I didn't really feel like writing my testimony then, but I decided to heed the prompting and sat down and started writing, and thought about all the what ifs.....Like what if he doesn't look at it or want it, or something like that. And then the spirit seemed to speak to me through Bishop Smith's memory in my mind, "By small and simple things." I have no idea what may come from this, all I know is that if heavenly father prompts me to do something, then doing it will bring forth blessings and fruits later on!

Don't try to live a life full of complications and what not, just simply live by faith doing all of the small and simple things the savior taught us, and the things our living prophets, seers, and revelators teach us. I have a testimony that it will bring about great things!

(if you want to listen to that talk)
http://www.ldsvoices.com/index.php?id=29