Wednesday, January 27, 2016

How to Lighten Each Others Burdens

In Elder Hugo Montoya's October 2015 General Conference talk "Tested and Temped -- but Helped", he gives 4 ways we can lighten our burdens when we help others.

  1. Go the Second Mile
  2. Smile at others
  3. Express compassion
  4. Invite others to come to church
When asked to to do something, we should prepared before we do it. Prepare yourself spiritually before going to church, repent before partaking of the Sacrament, look for and print out family names to bring to the temple to work on, prepare your lesson before you have to teach it. Go the extra mile and put forth effort in what you are giving of yourself. 

When I was a kid, an old friend told me to "Smile! It's good for your complexion!" I believe that. When we smile, His love shines through us to others. So...go on and smile!

When we see someone suffering, we can help them by helping to lift that burden. Not by taking away the burden, but by helping them better endure it. Bringing meals? Being a listening ear? Sacrificing time to be there for them? Showing is doing.

The opportunity to repent of our sins can be done daily. But actually accessing the Atonement is done on Sunday when we are at church partaking of the Sacrament bread and water. That is when we can be wiped clean like when we were baptized and let the Atonement work on us. This is the whole reason why we attend church in the first place. The most important part of our church services IS the sacrament. Like the fruit of the tree in Lehi's dream, it is sweet to the taste and desirable above all. We should share this with those we love and invite them. 

I'm not perfect on these. That's okay. But what will I do with these words of counsel? That's what is important. Will I hear these words or will I listen to them and act upon them? Acting upon these words shows I understand them and is a witness that I want to do what is commanded of me -- "Ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light." (Mosiah 18:8)

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