We don’t need to tell or children and spouse constantly how to improve – they know that already.
If you are wondering about your part, find a quiet place and ask Heavenly Father to show you what part He would have you play.
The first aid kit of the Lord has bandages big enough to cover all of our wounds.
I count on that.
During {a Tabernacle Choir} performance (in the Netherlands) I was thinking about what a tremendous undertaking it was to move a choir of that size. My mind was drawn to the big gong, which was difficult and probably costly to ship over in comparison with the violin, the trumpet, or other instruments you could easily carry under your arm. But looking at the actual involvement of this gong, I realized it was only hit a few times, whereas the other smaller instruments were involved for most of the concert. I reflected that without the sound of the gong, the performance would not be the same and so the effort had to be made to move this big gong all the way across the ocean.
Sometimes we might feel that we are, like that gong, good enough only to play a minor part in the performance. But let me tell you that your sound is making all the difference.
Sometimes we know that we are capable of playing a significant part but we must not lose patience when we aren’t asked to play more than a note or two.
What is the way? The way is to help each other understand who we are by ministering to each other.
To me, ministering is exercising divine love. In that way we create an environment where both the giver and receiver obtain a desire to repent. In other words, we change direction and come closer to and become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.
For instance, there is no need to constantly tell our spouse or children how they can improve; they know that already. It is in creating this environment of love that they will be empowered to make the necessary changes in their lives and become better people.
In this way repentance becomes a daily process of refining that might include apologizing for poor behavior. I remember and still experience situations where I have been too quick to judge or too slow to listen. And at the end of the day, during my personal prayer, I felt loving counsel from heaven to repent and become better. The loving environment first created by my parents, brother, and sisters and later by my wife, children, and friends has helped me to become a better person.
This is challenging doctrine because it is our natural inclination to offer verbal correction.
If you are wondering about your part, I would like to invite you to find a place where you can be alone and ask Heavenly Father to make known to you which part to play. The answer will probably come gradually and then more clearly when we have set our feet more firmly on the covenant and ministering path.
If you currently feel you are not able to be part of the orchestra and the path of repentance appears difficult to you, please know that if we keep at it, the burden will be taken from our shoulders and there will be light again. Heavenly Father will never leave us when we reach for Him. We can fall and get up, and He will help us brush off the dirt from our knees.
Some of us are wounded, but the first-aid kit of the Lord has bandages big enough to cover all of our wounds.
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