But Zoë was fading away during sacrament meeting, so Rachel ended up driving her home (so that I could set up for primary).
The fast Sunday closest to the 4th of July is a Sunday that I approach with some dread because I really don't love it when all the testimonies wind up being about the constitution, for example, rather than about the gospel of Jesus Christ. But today's meeting was truly wonderful.
Many of the youth (including Rachel and Miriam) bore their testimonies about what they had learned about the gospel during the many retreats they've had this past couple of months (YM camps, YW camp, youth conference, FSY). A few adults bore their testimonies about their immigration or their ancestors' immigration, highlighting the love they have for their homelands in addition to the States. Only one sister spoke of the founding fathers directly—she read a passage from the Declaration of Independence, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."
She spoke a bit about traveling to Berlin pre-1989, of seeing that wall, of knowing that on one side there was oppression while on the other side there was freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and so forth. And how much joy there was when the wall came down and people were reunited and given the freedom to...you know...be. And how sad it is when we put up these walls and grant freedom to people on one side, while not allowing those freedoms on the other side, and that our Heavenly Father loves every one of his children no matter what side of the (human-made) wall they are on.
The word "unalienable" really stuck with me, and I thought about going up and connecting her testimony with Romans 8: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
We can try to alienate each other (and certainly humanity goes to great lengths to define others as alien), but the truth is that we are all children of God.
It would be better if we could remember that about each other, I think.
I also was thinking about Brother JoeBob's testimony. He stated something to the effect of needing to always be better, do better, get better, because we're all imperfect and nothing unclean can enter God's kingdom. And I understand what he was saying—truly I do.
President Hinckley would often say to "try a little harder to be a little better."
I think everyone has so much potential, and I certainly think moving forward is better than standing still. It is good to get better at things. There's some saying like, "If you're not moving forward, you're moving backwards." But I also think that standing still takes a fair amount of work—if you imagine life is like standing in a river and you need to be moving upstream...it takes work to stay where you are...it takes maintenance not to be swept away downstream. So I think sometimes our most valiant efforts can leave us feeling exactly where we started. Or sometimes we may slip downstream a bit while working so hard to move upstream.
And the funny thing is that as important as it is to "try a little harder to be a little better" (and I truly believe that such efforts are important), no amount of effort is going to grant us entrance into the kingdom of God. There is so much room for imperfection in our lives; we will never be perfect. And that's where the atonement comes in—where the pure love of Christ, the love of God—comes in. Nothing can separate us from the love of God (God still loves us when we make mistakes), but nothing you do can make God love you either (because God already loves you). I think it's important to remember that God's love isn't contingent upon our behaviour.
I think we're often happier when we're improving and growing and learning. And while it might be noble to keep working when you're weary...it is also noble to rest (to "not run faster than you're able") so that you can keep on keeping on or so you can be ready to lift others when they need it (rather than feeling so overwhelmed that you simply can't).
Anyway, something along these lines might have been what I said if I had gotten up to bear my testimony...which I didn't. For having such a small ward, we sure had a busy testimony meeting today.
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