In mission prep one Sunday our Stake President, Pres. Mortensen, was the "instructor". He related a parable of a jewel collector. He spent a large portion of his life and money searching for the perfect pearl. The man wanted to display the pearl so he had the finest craftsman carve a superb jewel box and line it with blue velvet. The box still was not magnificent enough for such a wonderful pearl so he covered the box with jewels.
The man put his pearl on display so others could share his treasure and watched as people came to see it. Soon he turned away in sorrow. It was the box they admired, not the pearl.
President Mortensen related this to the church and encouraged each of us to teach the people we come in contact with about the "pearl" and not the "box". We don't go to church for mutual or enrichment night or ward activities. We don't go for the lessons or even the friendships. We don't even go to hear the talks. We go to church for one reason: to partake of the sacrament.
And they (the church) did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.Moroni 6:6
Yes, those other things are great and they are there for a reason, but I can't count the number of times people have guilted me for not attending a ward activity or enrichment and completely skipped the fact I wasn't at church.
Anyway, this isn't meant to be a guilt trip or a sacrament talk - it's just my random thinking. I don't even know that it all makes sense, but it's what I've been thinking about lately. I hope you all appreciate the time the sacrament gives us to think and reflect on our Savior. For one moment we are all equally clean and pure. It's a great time to be alive!
No comments:
Post a Comment