Earlier this year, Disney+ released a stage production of Hamilton. Having never been to Broadway or New York City outside of an airport, we took the opportunity to watch it. There were several layers to the shows which I could appreciate, but one of the opening songs called My Shot had Alexander Hamilton insisting he and his friends not throw away the chance they then had of becoming an independent nation because he certainly was not throwing away his shot. This resonated with me because I related our shot to this mortal life, and are we throwing away our shot by not focusing on the most important things?
What are the most important things? Have we identified them? Have we set goals for ourselves and do we strive toward reaching them? We could and should make goals. Short term and long term goals. Make them measurable so you can check on your progress.
In 1952, Florence Chadwick attempted to swim the 21 miles from Catalina island to the California coast, a feat never accomplished by a woman. She began the swim, minute after minute, hour after hour. Through bone chilling waters, sharks, and utter exhaustion, she swam on. Ultimately, fatigued and chilled to the bone, Florence stopped, lifted her goggles and looked for land. Not seeing any through the fog, she became discouraged. Her support staff had encouraged her to continue, knowing where she was, but from her vantage point in the water, she could not see where she was and lost her perspective and will to continue. She quit and got into the boat. She was exhausted but was devastated to learn she had quit less than 1/2 mile from the coast. She was quoted as saying, ‘I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land, I know I could have made it, I was licked by the fog.” Florence renewed her efforts and completed the swim two months later, knowing the fog would work to discourage her. She was resolute in her effort to continue. Not only was Florence the first women to complete the swim, but she beat the men’s record by more than two hours.
I want to relate setting goals to this mortal life and how do we achieve our desired result, which is hopeful to return to live with our Heavenly Parents. To do that, I’ve identified the Five R’s of discipleship. These are hardly comprehensive, but I’m confidant if we do them, we will not go astray in reaching our goals.
1. Build a Relationship w/ God
The first R is essential to our growth. You might call it foundational. We need to build a relationship with God. We cannot be better without our Heavenly Father and we cannot attempt to know Him without effort on our part. These are not rocket surgery. The majority of primary children could list these off on any questions surrounding being better. They are the primary answers for a reason.
- Daily Prayer
- The greatest way to create and maintain a relationship with anyone, including God, is through communication. God wants to hear from you, and He is always available to listen. I can testify that personal, private, kneeling out-loud prayer everyday will change your life.
- Read the Scriptures
- When we want to talk to God, we pray. When God wants to speak to us, it’s often through the scriptures.
- Serve Others
- Gordon B. Hinckley has said, “The happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others.”
- Strive to be Better Everyday
- “All the Lord expects of us is to try, but you have to really try.” – J. Devn Cornish
2. Learn to Repent
Keep On Trying! Like Florence Chadwick, do we have the courage to try again? “Because of the Atonement, we can learn from our experience without being condemned by it!” (Bruce C. Hafen) Repentance isn’t the backup plan in case we failed, it is the plan for when we do. While we must do all things within our power to return to God, we can never do it on our own! We simply need Jesus Christ to play an active role in our lives by allowing Him to make us better! It’s His sacrifice that allow us to do so!
“When we choose to repent, we choose to change! We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. We choose to grow spiritually and receive joy—the joy of redemption in Him. When we choose to repent, we choose to become more like Jesus Christ!” – Russell M. Nelson
One of the great tests of life is to learn to lean on our Saviour, regardless of the distance we have to make up, we need Him. The greatest Prophets and the vilest of sinners need Him equally, in order to make up the difference between their effort and perfection. Our Faith demands that we put in our best efforts though in living as He would live and do as He would do. Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He is uniquely qualified to judge those efforts.
3. Become Resilient
I checked out the definition of resilience and it gave me these two options. I love them both.
- 1. The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
- 2. The ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape.
These definitions tell me a couple things, first, resilience is not built up through a lack of adversity, difficulty or trauma. Resilience can only be gained through experience! Second, we can expect to be return to our original shape after that difficulty. I think of it as the ‘bend and not break’ principle.
We can expect difficulty while in this mortal realm and I would caution that although the Lord does bless the righteous, there is no direct correlation between righteousness and adversity! You can bank on having challenges, persecution, heartache, mental health challenges, and other difficulties, all for your betterment and growth. The Lord will bless us to handle our adversities.
Joseph Smith did everything within his power to do all things he could to teach the Saints, lead the church and prepare the world for this latter-day dispensation. For his efforts, he got more than his share of grief. But despite it all, some of his most instructive and sacred experiences were had while languishing in Liberty jail, and we are all better for it. Just review D&C 122 for a spiritual boost. To quote Jeffrey R. Holland, “You can have revelatory, profoundly instructive experiences with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life.”
Look to Joseph Smith, Willie and Martin Handcart companies, the Jaredites floating across the ocean, Nephi and his family wading through tribulations in the wilderness, Alma and Amulek being jailed, Daniel being tested before the Lions den and countless others are examples of the struggle. You can especially count on your own sacred experiences to help you become more resilient.
“I pray that we as a people are using this unique time to grow spiritually!” (Russell M. Nelson) Many of us are just surviving through Covid, suffering from Covid Fatigue while the prophet is asking us to thrive and you know what, he’s not wrong. We have the opportunity.
If you want to go anywhere worth going, it takes time, energy, a willingness to overcome challenges and maybe most important of all, a personal commitment to getting there. Remember, there’s no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone.
So the question is, how do you prepare yourself to build resilience and not waste the experience. I googled it and here are many ways to help prepare yourself, with some additional comments.
- Maintain Perspective
- Remember who you are and whose you are and what your end game is.
- Prioritize Relationships
- Child of God, Spouse, Parent, Leader, Neighbour, Co-workers, Friend, Disciple of Christ
- “Of all the zealous social, religious, and political endeavours of our day, let Disciple of Christ be our most pronounced and affirming affiliation.” (Jeremy Jaggi)
- Be Intentional and Mindful
- There’s a difference between saying your prayers and talking to your Father in Heaven. There’s a difference between reading the scriptures and studying the word of God. There is a difference between sharing the Gospel and letting others recognize Jesus Christ through you. There is a difference between coasting in regard to your relationship with God and striving to hear Him and letting Him Prevail in your life. Be intentional not casual.
- Avoid Negativity
- Negativity is contagious. The line was said that Satan’s favourite tool is discouragement. Because once the seed of discouragement has been planted. It will take care of itself. It is a weed and it will overpower your garden of Faith unless you weed your garden and remove those things in your life that choke out the good.
- Set Goals
- Set Long term and short term goals for your personal, family and spiritual life. Make sure they are measurable, then review them and put in the work needed to reach them.
- Keep Faith
- “God continues to do all things necessary to prepare His people for that day!” – (Douglas D. Holmes) When life gets tough, and you are struggling to understand why, don’t forget that God is in control! He is at the helm. All things have been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things.” – 2 Nephi2:24
4. Become Reliable
I appreciated this last General Conference, There were several tender mercies that helped me in my struggle to be reliable to the Lord. W. Christopher Waddell encouraged us, he said, “The Lord does not expect us to do more than we can do but we can do what can do, when we can do it.”
When I was on Trek a few years ago, one of my Trek daughters sang a song I’d never heard and it resonated with my soul. It was titled ‘Someone He Can Count On’ and it was on the Mutual Album that year. I’ve since downloaded it and have on high rotation. A few of the lines read.
1.
- I feel something inside me
- Like I finally found my way
- I know my Saviour loves me
- And I want to show Him I feel the same
- So I’ll go wherever he may lead
- Be the person that I want to be
- And try to never let him down again
2.
- I’m changed, my heart is growing
- And I’m becoming more like Him
- I can’t think of anything more sweet
- than to follow where the spirit leads
- Be the answer to someone else’s prayer
Chorus
- I want to be someone
- Someone he can count on
- I want to be someone who can take on anything
- I want to stand up, be what I was made for
- I want to make it so it’s easy to see
- That he can count on someone like me
When we learn to trust in the Lord, we also learn to become more trustworthy. “You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then go and do whatever He asks.” (Henry B. Eyring) Now is the time that we must be found doing the right things, not for the sake of it, or to be seen doing it, but because it’s right and we want to do it! We cannot expect to partake in the Kingdom of Heaven without fully embracing the Kingdom of God on Earth! Learn the truths, embrace the faith, go to work and let God prevail! We will face difficulty, much like Florence Chadwick. The swim itself brought great adversity, but there were also sharks, cramps, fatigue and fog.
5. Learn to Receive Revelation
In preparing this talk, I started out with the 3 R’s. I was asked to stick to a ten minute talk and realizing the talk would be too long, I went to edit it. I went from a 3 ½ page talk to a 4 page talk and 3 R’s to 4 R’s. The morning of the talk, while talking with the Stake President, I added a 5th R. built every step of the way from building a relationship with God, to learning to repent, building up our resilience and becoming reliable to the Lord, but learning to receive revelation is nearly the pinnacle of discipleship. Do what you can to learn to hear Him in your life.
We know all too well that life is a test, and everything in life as a test. We will fall short, but we only fail when we choose to stop trying. Please, if you’ve fallen short, repent. Please don’t throw away your shot. Don’t let discouragement stop you from pressing forward. Repent and become Resilient. Remember that second definition, to return to previous state. That’s not quite right, because in life, when you do repent and commit to being better, you won’t just come back the same as you were before, but better, stronger. As you strive, you will become reliable to the Lord. Remember, everything in life is a test, but it is open book, and you have help. I pray we’ll each commit to being better and choosing to do better in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
~Todd Bruce
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