Speaking in Church

Kent and I were asked to speak in church and I felt like we both did really well. I just wanted to share my talk with you. If Kent had actually written out his talk I would share it with you too, but he doesn't do it that way. Enjoy and feel free to leave comments.

I did omit some of the first of the talk which was just personal introduction that I didn't feel needed to be on here. I've tried to put it together to make sense without those parts. I appologize if I have missed anything.

ENDURING THE RACE TO GAIN ETERNAL LIFE
INTRODUCTION

There are a few things I grew to love in my life as a young person. I loved children and the idea of becoming a mother. I loved going to Grandma’s and picking many of her beautiful flowers to make floral arrangements. I learned to love and appreciate good music, and finally I absolutely learned to love the gospel of Jesus Christ and learned to recognize the blessings that come from keeping his commandments. I did not love anything athletic or sports related. In fact when we had to play baseball in PE I was often yelled at because I would get bored in the outfield and sit down to pick grass and play with it. I was so fearful of physical activity that one year I faked a headache in order to get my mom to let me stay home from school on a day we were to run the mile. I was not athletic and I was definitely not a runner.

WE CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING…I CAN RUN

I tell you these things about me because it illustrates a point that I have learned in the last year. We are all capable of ANYTHING! There is nothing and no one that can stop us from having what we want except ourselves and our lack of believing in ourselves. I did not believe I was athletic or capable of doing physically challenging things, but if I let go of that idea I can accomplish amazing things. One of the things I have accomplished is I have learned to run. I do not believe I have the body type of a runner, but I know that even that cannot stop me if I want something bad enough. This brings me to the more important subject of my talk which is entitled, “enduring the race to gain Eternal Life.”

WE ARE ALL RUNNING A RACE

In our lives we are all running a race. The finish line is eternal life or living with God. We have to know that we can make it to the end of this race, but only if we will commit to keep running in it. We have to choose to follow God and keep Him as our finish line goal. The most important part of getting to this finish line is determining that we want to make it to that finish line and no cost is too high to reach that goal.

ELDER MARVIN J ASHTON QUOTE

Elder Marvin J. Ashton gave a talk entitled, “If Thou Endure It Well” found in the November ensign in 1984. I would like to share his words, “The Apostle Paul likened life to a great race when he declared: “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain.” (1 Cor. 9:24.)

And before the words of Paul fell upon the ears of his listeners, the counsel of the Preacher, the son of David, cautioned: “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” (See Eccl. 9:11; Matt. 10:22; Mark 13:13.)

What does it take to endure in the race for eternal life, to become a champion?

To become a winner in the race for eternal life requires effort—constant work, striving, and enduring well with God’s help. But the key is that we must take it just one step at a time.

The ingredient that is essential in learning to endure is consistent effort. In our race for eternal life, pain and obstacles will confront all of us. We may experience heartaches, sorrow, death, sins, weakness, disasters, physical illness, pain, mental anguish, unjust criticism, loneliness, or rejection. How we handle these challenges determines whether they become stumbling stones or building blocks. To the valiant these challenges make progress and development possible.”

WE NEED FOOD; PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL

To run this race our bodies need just enough fuel and rest. Physically we need to give our bodies’ proper care. We need plenty of water and the right amount of good foods.

Tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy foods, and too much or too little food can damage our physical bodies, but they also damage our spiritual bodies. These things take our focus away from God. They make it nearly impossible for us to feel how much God loves us.

Just as our physical bodies need fuel our spiritual bodies need fuel also. That fuel comes as we “feast upon the words of Christ.” The first weekend in April we were all given the opportunity to have a wonderful spiritual feast. Our leaders give us opportunities to gain spiritual growth but they cannot force us to partake of these blessings. If we are to make it to the end of this race we need to take EVERY opportunity possibly to be spiritually nourished. That includes but is not limited to, scripture study, seminary, firesides, ward/stake/general conferences, ward activities and any other spiritual opportunities to feel the spirit of meeting with the saints.

WE NEED REST

Our physical bodies need rest to function and so do our spiritual bodies. The race of life is grueling. It is very difficult for us to keep going and feel bombarded by the world without spiritual rest. Our spiritual rest comes as we attend church meetings, keep the Sabbath day holy, attend the temple, and pray to our Heavenly Father. We are not asked to do these things to add another burden to the demands on our time but rather to unload our burdens and rest from our labor for a time in order to rebuild our energies.

STRENGTH TRAINING

Another part of training for a race is that of strength training. It is vitally important that you build your muscles so they can be strong and carry you further. When you train for this spiritual race you have to strength train. Spiritual strength training comes when we listen to the promptings of the spirit. The more we listen to the promptings of the spirit the stronger we will be spiritually.

THE SPIRITS CALL TO ACTION

This fall the women had an opportunity to attend a Relief Society social. The topic was centered on listening to the promptings of the spirit. One of the comments made by a sister has been profound to me. She said that when the spirit directs us it is usually connected to an action. As I have focused on that aspect over the last six months or so I have felt an increase in spirit. I have tried to follow every action I have been impressed to do. Some of those actions have included saying hard things to friends as I lovingly reminded them to come unto Christ. At times those actions have resulted in bringing others peace. Some have not so easily accepted this offer and are still experiencing sorrow because of it. Other promptings have included making dinner or something for someone or alerting someone’s visiting teacher of a need they have. Whatever the action has been it has blessed my life abundantly.

As we follow these promptings to action we are building spiritual muscle and strengthening ourselves so, “that when the devil shall send for his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo…”Helaman 5:12

WE CANNOT JUDGE THE PACE AT WHICH ANOTHER RUNS THE RACE

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend some time with my family in Albuquerque, NM. I asked my family if anyone wanted to go for a run with me. My younger brother and sister agreed to go. As we started out my younger brother took off ahead of us without much effort. For those of you who don’t know my brother Erik, he is 6’9” and plays basketball for Southern Virginia University. If someone were to judge my pace by his I would easily come up short, “literally”. On the other hand my younger sister was struggling to keep up with me because she hasn’t conditioned herself to run. We cannot judge the pace at which others are running the race. For me a 9-10 minute mile is quite fast. For my younger brother it’s barely a jog. That same pace for my sister right now is nearly impossible. We must be careful that we don’t judge others by the pace we have set for ourselves.

THE RACE STARTS

Just three weeks ago I ran my first official 5K race in the race for the cure. A 5K is a 3.2 mile race. It was one of the most spiritually charged things I have done. At the start of the race we all lined up. As I looked around there were people lined up across the entire 5-6 lane road for many blocks. In the race of life we all start this race at different times and run different paces throughout. It doesn’t matter when we finish just that we do finish.

WE START OUT FOLLOWING…

As I started my race I was running with some friends from Kent’s work. Two of them were running just ahead of me and I did my best to keep up with them for a while. When I realized that I wouldn’t be able to keep up that pace I backed off and ran at my own pace. In life we start out following other runners. We learn how to push ourselves and we learn to keep pace, but at some point in life we do have to learn to set our own pace. We have to learn to run for our own reasons and not just because someone is running.

SOMETIMES WE LEAD, SOMETIMES WE FOLLOW

During my race there were times that I felt like I was struggling because so many people were beginning to pass me. At first it was discouraging to me but then I realized that I was actually doing much better than I thought, and it was ok if others were able to progress faster than I was. At one point I realized that I was keeping pace with a slender woman in a blue jacket. I decided to watch her and keep up with her pace. She had no idea that she was inspiring me to keep on moving at that pace, but she was. At one point I gained strength and I was able to pass her up. In the gospel sometimes we are the ones who lead and set the pace for others. Other times we have to follow and keep pace with others.

CHEERLEADERS

One thing that really hit me in this race was the inspiration that comes from cheerleaders. At many points along the road there were groups set up to cheer us along. I didn’t know any of them, but as I came to them I felt the energy they were radiating and I drew from it. It gave me that boost of energy just when I needed it. We have so many people cheering for us. Some we don’t know and some we do. I know that there are many who have finished the race and are cheering us on every step of the way.

KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING AND SET GOALS

Near the end of the race I thought I knew where we were going to be running, but I was wrong. As I got to what I thought was the end I was a little discouraged to see that I had more left to run. When I do my everyday runs I have it mapped out as to where my mile markers are and I know what my times should be. Brothers and sisters we must set goals and track them so we know if we are making the progress we need to be. When we can see how far we have come and we can see where we are going it makes our run that much smoother. It was very discouraging to not know where I was or how much longer I had to run.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS ARE THERE TO HELP US THROUGH HARD TIMES

At that time when I was becoming discouraged I saw Brother__________ from the stake who was working the route. Seeing him gave me more strength to keep going than I would have imagined. When he yelled at me to hurry up it gave me the strength to push myself even more. It’s those good friends and family that we have to rely on when we feel that we just can’t go any more. They are there to support us and keep us going when the race becomes too hard. There will be those times that we think ‘Father I can’t run anymore. I thought I was almost done.’ It is those times we have to use our resources and rely heavily on the Lord to help us through.

WHEN WE FINISH THIS RACE

Finally I was nearing the end of the race and I looked for Kent’s face to cheer me on. There were many people there waiting for their friends and family to finish. I was a little sad to get to the finish line and not recognize any faces. I had passed Kent along the route and we hadn’t seen each other. While I did find him later I had really hoped that he would see me cross the finish line. As I was running I thought about this and realized that when we cross that finish line at the end of this life we will know those who come to greet us. We will be so joyful knowing we have made it and they will be proud to welcome us. In the end we will be able to say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” 2 Tim. 4:7

TESTIFY

I promise that the finish line at the end of this race, the race to eternal life, a life with God is worth all we must do to make it there. It will be much more fulfilling than any pastime or temptation Satan has to offer. I promise that as we are obedient to the Lord’s commandments and we follow our leaders that we will finish this race and that the reward will be sweeter than anything this life has to offer. I so promise and leave this witness with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.