Each Life That Touches Ours For Good
Remember primary? Back in the good old days when we all went to sunbeams. I love those little kids; they are so cute. And everyone always fights to sit by the teacher. Oh, how popular are Sunbeam teachers.
Which brings me to a question that was hotly debated by members of my extended family at a gathering. If no one calling is more important than another, why does everyone revere the prophet so much. Why do people wait for hours to shake his hand, or tell stories decades after his death of when there got to be in the same room with the man? As might be deduced by a previous post, I don't hold with these opinions much. I figure that a man is just a man, and should be treated with respect, but I'm not one to join any followings of famous people. Except occasionally. And so I have come to the following conclusion.
President Monson gave a talk in May 2004 Conference about your personal influence. No one can escape the responsibility of werf's personal influence. For a sunbeam teacher, that is werf's class. For a big sister, that is her siblings. For a bishop, that is his ward. For the prophet, that is the entire church and much of the world. The honor that is given to the president of the church does at times come because as humans we struggle with pride issues. We aspire to certain positions and give praise to those who occupy those positions. This is not the kind of the love the prophet seeks. But for most of us, I think the reason we love him so much is much like the sunbeams love their teacher. He loves us and serves us. By virture of his calling, his personal influence streches to include many people, but it is the same in many ways as my personal influence and yours.
I think mostly I was reminded of this little discussion because lately I have often been in a place where it would not been entirely unheard-of to meet a General Authority. I keep having these little day-dreams of being introduced to Elder Holland or President Packer and the thrill such a meeting would give me. Mostly because of my Teachings of the Living Prophets class, I have in recent months come to love the Bretheren very much (and these two are special favorites of mine), and have been reminded of the unkind way I spoke in this family discussion about those who ooh and ahh over shaken the prophet's hand. It's just his personal influence. He is an amazing man, and we love him because he loves us, and he encourages us to be our best.
Which brings me to a question that was hotly debated by members of my extended family at a gathering. If no one calling is more important than another, why does everyone revere the prophet so much. Why do people wait for hours to shake his hand, or tell stories decades after his death of when there got to be in the same room with the man? As might be deduced by a previous post, I don't hold with these opinions much. I figure that a man is just a man, and should be treated with respect, but I'm not one to join any followings of famous people. Except occasionally. And so I have come to the following conclusion.
President Monson gave a talk in May 2004 Conference about your personal influence. No one can escape the responsibility of werf's personal influence. For a sunbeam teacher, that is werf's class. For a big sister, that is her siblings. For a bishop, that is his ward. For the prophet, that is the entire church and much of the world. The honor that is given to the president of the church does at times come because as humans we struggle with pride issues. We aspire to certain positions and give praise to those who occupy those positions. This is not the kind of the love the prophet seeks. But for most of us, I think the reason we love him so much is much like the sunbeams love their teacher. He loves us and serves us. By virture of his calling, his personal influence streches to include many people, but it is the same in many ways as my personal influence and yours.
I think mostly I was reminded of this little discussion because lately I have often been in a place where it would not been entirely unheard-of to meet a General Authority. I keep having these little day-dreams of being introduced to Elder Holland or President Packer and the thrill such a meeting would give me. Mostly because of my Teachings of the Living Prophets class, I have in recent months come to love the Bretheren very much (and these two are special favorites of mine), and have been reminded of the unkind way I spoke in this family discussion about those who ooh and ahh over shaken the prophet's hand. It's just his personal influence. He is an amazing man, and we love him because he loves us, and he encourages us to be our best.
posted by Chicken Dust at 12:13 PM
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