Last week was just learning, learning, and even more learning. Though my focus was on college, I feel like I've learned things that confirm spiritual principles. One of the the things I learned was how a computer CPU chip is made to have the greatest efficiency and speed. When the original architects of the modern computer made the first chips, they did everything one at a time. They executed computer programs line by line, doing everything associated with a single instruction before going on to the next. They were relatively simple - the chips never did anything outside of the order that they were told to do things, completing everything before continuing to the next item of work.
Today's computers don't follow this same pattern. The chips have very specialized parts, which are dedicated to specific tasks. They let a modern computer be thousands, if not millions of times faster than older computers. A processor that does everything without these parts can execute individual instructions more quickly, but they make it so that the processor can do many at the same time. As I think about this more and more, I notice that we are like those parts of the computer chip, except in the work of the Church of Jesus Christ. The work that the Lord has commanded to be done by the Church is great, and very complex. It's like the millions of instructions that a computer needs to execute to render the services that we depend on nowadays. By dividing the work into small pieces, the Lord does the work very efficiently by setting apart people that can do these parts well. In an EFY song called "Glorious", the beginning lyrics are like this:
There are times when you might feel aimless
And can’t see the places where you belong
But you will find that there is a purpose
It’s been there within you all along
And when you’re near it
You can almost hear it
It’s like a symphony just keep listening
And pretty soon you’ll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it’s glorious
I want to affirm that each one of us has a part in the Lord's work, and He is aware of our potential and our challenges. He has always taken care of me in my circumstances, and I have always seen how He takes care of the needy. The way He cares for them is through His workers in the vineyard - representatives that carry His blessings to them. This calling is for each one of us. We should remember the words of King Benjamin, who said the following about our doing our parte and seeking to relieve the needy:
For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?
And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.
And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.
In conclusion, I want to affirm also that every effort to share the gospel to others - family, friends, neighbors, strangers - is worth it. I was able to see the efforts of many members and missionaries accumulating in many individual lives while I served a full-time mission in Brazil. Eventually many of those people progressed, though those members and missionaries were not able to see the progress that happened after their having shared. Elder Holland also mentioned in last Saturday's General Conference a quote by Mother Teresa that has to do with this:
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
I bear my testimony that I know that what you do is important. Perhaps you are only one person to the world, but to one person perhaps their world might become the Church because of your contribution. Remember the good that you do, and the happiness that you feel because you are part of the Church. Heavenly Father has definitely given me the joy mentioned by King Benjamin - sometimes I cannot find appropriate words to express the feelings of wonder and peace that I have because of the restored Church. And this gives me strength to continue firm.
I love you! I hope that you are finding success, and that you are wearing yourselves out doing a good work with your time. I want to hear your experiences always - write me so I can know!
-Erich
