It’s been a roller-coaster ride in our home this week. Our
feelings have been near the surface and still are. My daughter’s boyfriend
entered the MTC yesterday. Frankly, I didn’t expect the rush of emotion I felt.
This fine young man has become a beloved member of our
family and cherished like one of my own. We don’t bid him adieu with regret. Of
course we are excited, pleased, and supportive of his decision to faithfully
serve the Lord. I know from personal experience that this is the best decision
for him, his family, and my daughter.
Yet that knowledge doesn’t make it easy. It makes it bearable. Let me
explain.
My whole life, I have planned and prepared for a mission. It
was a goal that my parents established in my heart as a child. Through both the
good and the bad, a mission has been a beacon and a goal for me to which I
could aspire. So naturally when I became a new father, I wanted this privilege
for my own son. Since his infancy, we prayed that he would have the opportunity
to serve a mission. We shared experiences and told stories from our own lives
and experiences to inspire, encourage, and motivate our son. His mother told
him stories of stripling warriors, faithful sons, and sacrifice from the
scriptures and real life examples. She is a convert to the Church and two young
missionaries found her when tracting her childhood neighborhood at the time.
Because other fathers and mothers faithfully reared their sons to serve the
Lord and were willing to be separated from them during the prime of their
lives, my sweetheart was taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which ultimately
enabled us to meet, fall in love, and get married. I owe a debt of gratitude to
these young men which I cannot even articulate.
But admittedly, I wasn’t ready for the swell of emotions I
felt when I sent my own son into the mission field. We had such a great time
during his high school years—baseball, music, concerts, and friends—it went all
too fast. So when we considered the reality of sending our boy away for two
years at the prime of his life, it was an emotion that I never anticipated. I
prayed for this event my whole adult life and taught him to plan for this day
since the time he was just a little boy. But I never anticipated the depth of feeling
that would come to the surface when I was actually facing his leaving us for
two years at the prime of his life. It was stark, unexpected, and raw. But I
knew it was the right thing to do, so I held my emotions in check and encouraged
him as any father would. These sentiments were revealed again this week as we
sent another missionary into the mission field—my daughter’s missionary.
It has been years now since my son arrived home from his
mission. Upon his return, he selected a school, declared a major and completed
his education. Now he has a beautiful wife and family of his own. He is teaching
his son to serve the Lord and prepare for a full-time mission. He, too, will
experience the tangible emotion and personal longing associated with sending
your finest into the service of the Lord. But I have perspective now that I
didn’t know then when I was young. My commitment is more than faith. It is
borne out of a life of experience seeing the blessings of service in the Lord’s
Kingdom. Now I know from personal experience the efforts we expend in the Lord’s
behalf will be returned with blessings a hundred fold even now in this life,
coupled with the greatest of all the gifts of God in the world to come—eternal
life.
Others give valiant gifts through noble hardship, lost loved
ones, or service in the Kingdom of God. He appreciates these gestures all and
stands ready to open the windows of heaven to bless those who serve and
sacrifice for Him. Malachi 3:10
“Rise from mediocrity to competence—from failure to
achievement—to be our best selves.”
President Thomas Monson
“Each of us has a part to play in the plan. And each of us
is equally valiant in the eyes of the Lord.”
Sister Bonnie Oscarson
“Find happiness in ordinary things and keep your sense of
humor.”
Elder Boyd K Packer
“Strive to be that kind of disciple of the Father and the
Son and your influence will never fade.”
Elder D Todd
Christofferson
“The enabling power of the Atonement strengthens us to do
and be good and serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity.”
Elder David Bednar
“We never need feel
we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service, because we never are.”
President Dieter F
Uchtdorf
“Defend your beliefs with courtesy and compassion, but
defend them.”
Elder Jeffrey Holland
There is no tomorrow to remember if we don’t do something
today.”
President Thomas S
Monson
And perhaps my favorite scripture with respect to the privilege
and blessings of serving in the Kingdom of God can be found in the New
Testament. We needn’t wait for a distant time to see the fruits of living and
serving the Lord. He begins blessing us immediately and throughout eternity.
29 And Jesus answered
and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for
my sake, and the gospel’s,
30 But he shall
receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and
mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come
eternal life.
Mark 10:29,30
Mark 10:29,30
It’s an honor to give your finest to the Lord, and the
fathers and mothers in the Lord’s kingdom all across the world do it every time
they send and support their sons and daughters on missions as ambassadors for Jesus
Christ.
VICTORY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
“Every man born into the world will die. It matters not who
he is, nor where he is, whether his birth be among the rich and the noble, or
among the lowly and poor in the world, his days are numbered with the Lord, and
in due time he will reach the end. We should think of this. Not that we should
go about with heavy hearts or with downcast countenances; not at all. I rejoice
that I am born to live, to die, and to live again. I thank God for this
intelligence. It gives me joy and peace that the world cannot give, neither can
the world take it away. God has revealed this to me, in the gospel of Jesus
Christ. I know it to be true. Therefore, I have nothing to be sad over, nothing
to make me sorrowful.
Joseph Fielding Smith
You served me well my little child. Come into my arms to
stay. When
He Comes Again
