All Things Point to Christ
To be honest I
was having trouble writing this talk. I felt like I was given such a broad
topic, and I needed to talk about leaving on a mission? It wasn't until I spoke
to my dad about it, that it hit me. I don’t need to narrow down my topic, ALL
things point to Christ, and that’s not such a broad concept when you think
about it. Then I had to laugh, why they would give me this topic, because truly
if you are looking for it, all things can point to Christ, so, what’s preventing
me from spending the next few minutes talking about Star Trek and Doctor Who.
Alma testifies
this when he says “Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye
say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren,
and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and
all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are
upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which
move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.”
So, given a
broad topic let’s start broad, space, the final frontier. Robert Boyle once
said: “When with bold telescopes I survey the old and newly discovered stars and
planets- when with excellent microscopes I discern the inimitable subtlety of
nature’s curious workmanship; and when in a word, by the help of anatomical
knives, and the light of chemical furnaces I study the book of nature, I find
myself often times reduced to exclaim with the Psalmist, ‘How manifold are Thy
works, O Lord! In wisdom Thou hast made them all’!” Have you ever looked at the
pictures on the Hubble telescope page? If not you should. I could and have
spent hours on there just looking at these photos. My favorites are the ones where
you can see the other galaxies. Some with a very high potential of being just
like us. With the potential for eight planets orbiting around a massive yellow
sun, with a planet able to sustain life, and have humans with 32 teeth and 2
kidneys and a brain, some may have two hearts but I’m not here to judge. And
you just sit there looking at it, thinking of all the amazing things happening
and it just makes you feel so small, but then the words God spoke to Moses
echoes in the back of your head: “there are many worlds that have passed away
by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are
they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I
know them.”
Everything out
there used to be “unorganized matter” that Heavenly Father sent His Son to
organize for us, even though, right now, all we see are stars in the sky, the
occasional spot of sun to keep us warm. Just so one day we might fly out a
little further, touch the moon, and then a bit further, catch a glimpse of
Mars. Just so that one day we can make a massive machine to take photos for us,
just to see a microscopic piece of everything else He made for us.
But, that is out
there, something only super smart scientists with fancy telescopes can
understand. Let’s hit something a little closer to home. Let’s take it back
down to Earth. Something we look at every day when we step outside our doors,
and maybe even when we don’t step outside and spend the whole day watching The Lord
of the Rings just because we can, but let’s go back outside. We are so blessed
to be living in such an amazing area. If you go an hour out you can see all the
amazing natural resources that the Lord has provided us with, We have trees
that provide us fresh air, animals of all kinds to work with each other, and
rivers running through to support all life. This, to me is the most obvious way
to see Christ in our lives. Things as simple as the grass in our lawns are
there to provide a daily beauty. Small seeds grow into massive plants that
provide things to heal us and nourish our bodies.
Plants don’t
just help the human form but also the other animals He has created for us on
this Earth. He created many types of animals for us on this planet, some to
become companions to us, and help people get through tough times in their lives
but also for meat for us to get nutrients that we need for our bodies. He
brings live not only to people but to billions of animals, all helping keep the
Earth in a balanced state.
Shrinking
it down a bit more we look back at our telescopes. This time to see something
much smaller, Christ really did create everything from unorganized matter, and
this matter is the same atoms that make up our period tables today. There are
only 112 atoms that make up everything we see with our eyes. I will use water
as my example because we use it every day, we drink it, we wash with it, we
play in it, we use it to put out fires to keep us safe, we water our plants
with it, and it’s a scientific standard, made of only three atoms. 2 Hydrogen
and 1 oxygen, combined to run our entire planet. James Legge's translation of
the Asian philosophy- Dao De Jing states “The highest excellence is like water.
The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its
occupying, without striving, the low place which all men dislike. Hence is near
to the Tao”. The human body is about 65% water and the Earth is about 75%
water. It’s safe to say that we would be nothing without water. Christ created
this live sustaining molecule to be so simple, but also to be able to do the
most complex things. He took the time to organize everything down to its
smallest pieces, meaning every piece of us is important.
It is more than
things we can physically see that point to Christ. We can see him work in our
lives daily. I have had quite a few curve balls thrown at m the past through
months. From learning to live with roommates to being prepared for my mission
it has been pretty surprising figuring out what real life brings. In some of
the lower points of my past few months are the points where I have been able to
see Christ working the most. Just this December, I was driving back from school
in Rexburg when I was driving through North Powder I hit some ice and swerved
off the road. I was not the only one in the car, I was driving four strangers I
had picked up from the ride board also. It was late at night and by the time we
got back on the road the pass to La Grande was closed. We had to call a bishop
of a nearby ward and he happily took us in for the night. While all of us weren't too excited to have a major delay in our trip, I got to know these
strangers very well. The guys I was driving were able to talk to me about their
missions and give me advice that was really helpful and that I plan on using,
like having a journal separate for all the people you teach write their
testimonies in. Not only did I get some new friends from the experience but we
were able to gain a testimony of why having a worldwide church is so important.
Another moment
in my past few months that I have seen Christ in my life is while I was at
school this past fall semester. We have an apartment of six people, and when
one person gets sick, we all do. Usually we don’t mind with colds and such,
they happen, but this past semester, we had a strain of the stomach flu make
its way through our apartment. We got to see a lot of home teachers make their
way through our doors, and it was such a blessing to have worthy priesthood
holders in our ward who could come over when we called. The priesthood is an
amazing thing, but that wasn't the only blessing we saw out of this experience.
I was able to serve and get to know my roommates who I had only known for two
weeks, and we saw how willing our bishop, who drove 30 minutes to drop off
homemade soup, and our relief society president, who stopped by every couple
hours to help us out. It helped us see that callings put forth are by Christ,
and that even if we think we are incapable that in reality it is exactly what
we need.
It was almost 18
months ago that I decided to go on a mission. I knelt down and asked Heavenly
Father if it was right for me. I got an answer so strong, that it terrified me,
I had never felt an answer to a prayer so quickly or so strongly, and it was an
answer I was not expecting, an answer that future sister missionaries almost
never get. I knew it was where Christ needed me to be, since then, these past
18 months have given me some of the strangest and hardest trials I have had in
my short time on this Earth. To the point where that strong yes I felt when I
knelt down to pray was the only thing to keep me going, because I know Christ
is in all things. He was in that answer to my prayer, because He could see all
of the things that were going to happen to me in the next 18 months, and He
could see that it was the answer I needed so that I could go into my next 18
knowing that we have a loving Heavenly Father, who knows us and loves us.
I am going be
serving in the Peru Huancayo Mission for the next 18 months. I know it won’t be
easy. I know it won’t always be fun. I know that there is no turning back from
here. But I also know that the Lord is on my side, just as He is on your side.
In David Archuleta’s book he says this on trials, “At first I needed the help of
God to decide if I should take the first step to cross a critical bridge. Then
I needed His assistance to actually cross the bridge. And finally, when I got
to the other side of that bridge, it turned out I needed Him the most”. We
cannot see everything the Lord has prepared for us in this life. Our universe
is a testament of that, but of the things we can see, we can tell that it is
His hands and His works behind them all.
Brothers and
Sisters, today I stand before you to testify of Christ. He lives, and He loves
us. If we ask Him we can love others the same way He does. I am about to embark
on this crazy adventure, to a country I have never given a second thought too.
Yet I already love all the people there. There is something truly amazing about
this church, and the missionary work with in it. If you take the time to share
this gospel with your friends and family you will be deeply blessed and you
will feel God’s love. Brothers and Sisters, He loves you so much. You will feel
that love through your daily scripture study and prayers, If you don’t do those
things already, I challenge you to start today, because it will make the
difference you need in your life.
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