On June 9, 1842, the Prophet (Joseph Smith) “said he was going to preach mercy[.] Supposing that Jesus Christ and [the] angels should object to us on frivolous things, what would become of us? We must be merciful and overlook small things.” President Smith continued, “It grieves me that there is no fuller fellowship—if one member suffer all feel it—by union of feeling we obtain pow’r with God.”
That small sentence struck me like lightning. By union of feeling we obtain power with God. This world isn’t what I want it to be. There are many things I want to influence and make better. And frankly, there is a lot of opposition to what I hope for, and sometimes I feel powerless. Lately, I have been asking myself searching questions: How can I understand people around me better? How will I create that “union of feeling” when all are so different? What power from God might I access if I am just a little bit more unified with others? From my soul-searching, I have three suggestions. Maybe they will help you too.
I can’t believe how informally this message comes across – how familiar her words feel. A message of how to achieve more unity is very much in line with what our family needs.
Jacob 2:17 reads, “Think of your [brothers and sisters] like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.” Let’s replace the word substance with mercy—be free with your mercy that they may be rich like unto you.
We often think of substance in terms of food or money, but perhaps what we all need more of in our ministering is mercy.
My own Relief Society president recently said: “The thing I … promise … you is that I will keep your name safe. … I will see you for who you are at your best. … I will never say anything about you that is unkind, that is not going to lift you. I ask you to do the same for me because I am terrified, frankly, of letting you down.”
I like this idea of expanding how we think of substance to include our treatment of others in words and feed, not just our access to resources.
I will keep your name safe. I will see you for who you are at your best. I will never say anything about you that is unkind, that is not going to lift you.
There is a thing that sometimes happens (in rowing) that is hard to achieve and hard to define. It’s called “swing.” It happens only when all are rowing in such perfect unison that not a single action is out of sync.
Rowers must rein in their fierce independence and at the same time hold true to their individual capabilities. Races are not won by clones. Good crews are good blends—someone to lead the charge, someone to hold something in reserve, someone to fight the fight, someone to make peace. No rower is more valuable than another, all are assets to the boat, but if they are to row well together, each must adjust to the needs and capabilities of the others—the shorter-armed person reaching a little farther, the longer-armed person pulling in just a bit.
Strength is valuable but better synchronization will outperform greater strength consistently.
And then comes instruction that can be applied to all of us trying to dig about and find good fruit in our own little vineyards: “Ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow.”
Unity doesn’t magically happen; it takes work. It’s messy, sometimes uncomfortable, and happens gradually when we clear away the bad as fast as the good can grow.
… Each of us is going to have deeply wounding experiences, things that should never happen. Each of us will also, at various times, allow pride and loftiness to corrupt the fruit we bear. But Jesus Christ is our Savior in all things. His power reaches to the very bottom and is reliably there for us when we call on Him. We all beg for mercy for our sins and failures. He freely gives it. And He asks us if we can give that same mercy and understanding to each other.
We don’t celebrate the bad but it is often in our long-term best interest to tolerate it least we create deeper and more laying around than we have the capacity to heal.
Jesus Christ is our Savior in all things. His power reaches to the very bottom and is reliably there for us when we call on Him. We all beg for mercy for our sins and failures. He freely gives it. And He asks us if we can give that same mercy and understanding to each other.
Jesus put it bluntly: “Be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.” But if we are one—if we can spare a piece of our pie or fit our individual talents so the boat can swing in perfect unison—then we are His. And He will help clear away the bad as fast as the good does grow.
Christ alone knows perfectly how fast the good is growing and how fast the bad can be cleared away.
I believe the change we seek in ourselves and in the groups we belong to will come less by activism and more by actively trying every day to understand one another. Why? Because we are building Zion—a people “of one heart and one mind.”
Relief Society and Young Women are not simply classes. They can also be unforgettable experiences where very different women all get into the same boat and row until we find our swing. I offer this invitation: be part of a collective force that changes the world for good. Our covenantal assignment is to minister, to lift up the hands that hang down, to put struggling people on our backs or in our arms and carry them. It isn’t complicated to know what to do, but it often goes against our selfish interests, and we have to try. The women of this Church have unlimited potential to change society. I have full spiritual confidence that, as we seek union of feeling, we will call down the power of God to make our efforts whole.
These statements are just as true of priesthood quorums and the men of the church. The difference is that I think the men believe it more even if they do it less.
Our covenantal assignment is to minister, to lift up the hands that hang down, to put struggling people on our backs or in our arms and carry them. It isn’t complicated to know what to do, but it often goes against our selfish interests, and we have to try.
When the Church commemorated the 1978 revelation on priesthood, President Russell M. Nelson extended a powerful prophetic blessing: “It is my prayer and blessing that I leave upon all who are listening that we may overcome any burdens of prejudice and walk uprightly with God—and with one another—in perfect peace and harmony.”
Prejudice is a burden not only to those who receive discrimination but to those who carry the prejudice as well.
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