"Living in Unity and Harmony"
Carla Ricks
July 6, 2004
These are the squares. They enjoy living all by themselves in Square City.
These are the circles. They enjoy living all by themselves in Circle Center.
These are the triangles. They enjoy living all by themselves in Triangle Town.
Here are the rectangles. They enjoy living all by themselves in Rectangle Ranch.
Each group of shapes thought the other groups were very strange and not as good as themselves. After all, they thought, anyone who was different couldn’t possibly be as interesting and beautiful as themselves. The squares felt that in order for your shape to be the best, you had to have all four of your sides look just alike, the way all of the squares did. If you didn’t, you certainly couldn’t do as many wonderful things as a square could – or so thought all the squares in Square City.
The circles, however, felt that you must be perfectly round–like them–so you could roll all around. If you were pointy or square or only had straight lines, you were boring and certainly not as nice - looking as the circles were - or so thought the circles of Circle Center.
The rectangles felt that to be really important and nice looking, you must have two short sides exactly alike and two long sides exactly alike. If not, you must be most confusing to look at – or so thought the rectangles of Rectangle Ranch.
The triangles, on the other hand, felt that the only group to be a part of was one where everyone had nice sharp points and only three sides. After all, what could you possibly need four sides for – and rolling all around was just plain silly – or so thought the triangles of Triangle Town.
The squares didn’t like the circles. The circles did not like the triangles. The triangles certainly didn’t like the rectangles. And the rectangles didn’t like any of the squares. Each group of shapes didn’t want to play with any shapes that were different from themselves. In fact, if any other shape came near their group, they would make fun of it and chase it away!
One beautiful summer day, the little squares and the little circles and the little triangles and the little rectangles went outside to play – but NOT together! While they were playing a strange thing happened.
The little circles were playing on top of the hill. Some of them rolled a bit too far and before they could stop, they had rolled right down the hill and smack into the middle of the game that the little squares were playing. The little squares were very upset. Not only was their game ruined, but they were mad about having the circles come rolling into THEIR playground. The squares yelled and made faces at the circles trying to chase them away. The circles were very frightened and tried to roll away, but they became confused and kept bumping into the little squares.
The rectangles and triangles heard all the yelling and the crying. They all stopped their playing and hurried as fast as they could to see what was happening. Soon everyone was hollering at everyone else. It was a terrible commotion! Suddenly, a few of the little circles became so frightened, that they leaped up into the air and came right down on top of some of the little triangles! Oh, wonder of wonders! Everyone was absolutely quiet. No one moved, even an inch. They just looked and looked at what had happened. The little circles and the little triangles had made some ice cream cones – beautiful, big ice cream cones!
Some of the circles rushed over to get a closer look at the ice cream cones. They didn’t even notice that they had rolled right next to a big rectangle. But then everyone began to cheer and clap because the circles and the rectangle had made a very nice wagon! Then everyone became very excited about their new discovery. Because there were so many different shapes, they were able to make all kinds of new things. Everyone wanted to help, and they all had to work together to create the special shape pictures. The squares and the circles made a train. A little rectangle made the smokestack, and some tiny circles made the puffs of smoke. Soon they were all working together to make a sailboat and many other fun things. Everyone was happy and enjoyed working together. They had discovered that each shape, because it was different, added just what was needed to make special things they could all enjoy.
When playtime was over, all the shapes were very glad the little circles had accidentally rolled down the hill. It gave them all a chance to get to know each other, and to see how much more fun it can be to play with those who seem different from yourself. They worked together to make a lovely new house and many pretty things to go with it. Now that all the shapes had all become friends, they didn’t want to live apart from each other, so all of the shapes moved their little groups into their lovely new house where they could all live together, happily ever after. They often went sailing on their new sailing ship and even renamed their new home the Friendship Farm.
I tell you this story to illustrate the theme of my message today on the importance of unity, cooperation, and living in harmony with one another. In Doctrine and Covenants 38:27 we read: “If ye are not one ye are not mine.” Throughout history and in our scriptures, we can find many examples of the importance of unity and being one. In his October 1997 conference address, Elder Dallin H. Oaks talked about some of the great qualities of the pioneers. He referred to their qualities of obedience, unity, and cooperation. He said: “We know of the great examples of the Saints who responded to President Brigham Young’s call to rescue the stranded handcart companies, or to pull up roots in settled communities and apply their talents and lives to colonizing new areas.”
Elder Oaks explained that the pioneer legacy is a legacy of inclusion. When the Saints were driven out of Missouri, many were so poor that they lacked teams and wagons to move. Their Church leaders were adamant that none of the poor would be left behind. The response was the same in the exodus from Nauvoo. At a conference of the Church in October 1845, the membership entered into a covenant to take all the Saints with them. Thereafter, in the initial epic struggle across Iowa, the companies that arrived first at their stopping place on the Missouri River sent rescue wagons back toward Nauvoo to gather those who had been too poor to leave earlier. The revelation that guided their next exodus on the trip west directed each company to “bear an equal proportion … in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone into the army” (Doctrine and Covenants 136:8). When the wagons and handcarts moved west, their movement was always one of inclusion, and no day’s journey ended until every straggler was accounted for.
When the Saints settled in the valleys of the mountains, they promptly established a Perpetual Emigrating Fund to assist the poor to move from Winter Quarters, and later from the nations of Europe. At least half of those who journeyed to join the Saints could not have come without the help of leaders and members who were determined to include everyone who desired to gather to Zion.
One of my ancestors answered the call from Brigham Young to help rescue members of the handcart companies. Other ancestors who joined the church in Europe and were able to come to America through the benefit of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund.
On 22 August 1847, a month after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, President Young and Elder Heber C. Kimball formally asked the few Saints there some important questions that helped shape the Church. Were the new settlers going to be motivated by narrow personal profit? Or were they willing to act as a group and help each other? The Saints responded by formally pledging to serve each “man, woman, and child” and not simply themselves. They also agreed to settle on the land differently than most western settlers of the time: Homes and gardens were to be placed on village lots, with agricultural fields and livestock nurtured outside of town up to several miles away. The Saints would learn, play, and worship together as part of a close-knit community. These values continue in LDS wards and stakes throughout the world.
You may remember President Faust telling of his great-great-grandparents who were among those thronging the temple to receive their temple blessings on the eve of leaving Nauvoo for their perilous trek west. In response, President Brigham Young kept the temple open late into the night to administer the ordinances.
The covenants and ordinances given to the Latter-day Saints involved gospel principles of obedience and sacrifice, purity and consecration. Making these covenants helped prepare them spiritually to endure their journey to Zion. President Faust taught that like the early pioneers, when we receive the covenants and ordinances of the gospel, we too begin a journey toward Zion - for Zion is not only a place, it is also a Christ like purity of heart (see Doctrine and Covenants 97:21). The ordinances not only help us become pure as persons but also unite us as a people. In the days of Enoch, “the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them” (Moses 7:18). It was in this spirit of unity, President Faust said, that most of the pioneers came to the mountains of the American West. The Saints were organized into companies, with a covenant to keep the Lord’s commandments. Each company had its own captain, and all travelers shared equally in the resources of the wagon train so the “poor, the widows, [and] the fatherless” would not suffer (see Doctrine and Covenants 136:6–8).
The family of Mary Goble Pay, (President Faust’s ancestor) who was 13 years of age, owned an ox team and wagon but promised to stay with two handcart companies. Though a handcart could usually travel faster than a wagon pulled by oxen, when the pioneers’ strength began to fail as early snowstorms engulfed the group, the ox team could have forged ahead. But “we had orders not to pass the handcart companies,” Mary wrote. “We had to keep close to them to help if we could.” Gospel covenants bound them to their fellow Saints, and they were “willing to bear one another’s burdens” (see Mosiah 18:8–10). At great sacrifice, they stayed with the handcarts, helping as best they could. Mary’s sister, brother, and mother died from exposure, illness, and lack of nourishment.
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, in his October 1997 conference address, talked about valued companions. One group of valued companions he referred to was the handcart companies. He said: “Our pioneer celebrations have reminded us of the strength that our forebears found in working together. They had a great spirit of cooperation. It took a companionship to pull their handcarts. These wagon trains and handcart companies were communities on wheels. By revealed design the pioneers traveled in well-organized companies with clear lines of responsibility. The strong helped bear the burdens of the weak. Through the spirit of cooperation they overcame great hardship and established Zion in the West.”
Many of our assignments in the Church are shared with companions. Ever since the Lord sent out His disciples two by two, companionships have advanced the work of the Kingdom. Elder Wirthlin also referred to the valued companionships of home teachers and visiting teachers in watching over the members of the church. Each of us have the opportunity to serve as home teachers or visiting teachers in serving our friends and neighbors.
Elder Russell M. Nelson, in his April 1994 conference address said:
On every continent and across isles of the sea, the faithful are being gathered into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Differences in cultural background, language, gender, and facial features fade into insignificance as members lose themselves in service to their beloved Savior. Paul’s declaration in Hebrews is being fulfilled. He said: “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Elder Nelson said: “Only the comprehension of the true Fatherhood of God can bring full appreciation of the true brotherhood of man. That understanding inspires desire to build bridges of cooperation instead of walls of segregation.”
The ancient moralist Aesop used to illustrate the strength of synergism by holding up one stick and asking for a volunteer among his listeners who thought he could break it. Of course, the volunteer was able to break one stick easily. Then Aesop would put more sticks together until the volunteer was unable to break them. The moral to Aesop’s demonstration was simple: Together we generate synergism, which makes us much stronger than when we stand alone.
President Spencer W. Kimball, in a conference address, talked about Becoming the Pure in Heart. He said: Zion is “every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 82:19). As I understand these matters, he said, Zion can be established only by those who are pure in heart, and who labor for Zion, for “the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish” (2 Nephi 26:31).
President Kimball said as important as it is to have this vision in mind, defining and describing Zion will not bring it about. That can only be done through consistent and concerted daily effort by every single member of the Church. No matter what the cost in toil or sacrifice, we must “do it.” That is one of my favorite phrases: “Do It.” He then suggested three fundamental things we must do if we are to “bring again Zion,” three things for which we who labor for Zion must commit ourselves.
First, we must eliminate the individual tendency to selfishness that snares the soul, shrinks the heart, and darkens the mind.
Second, we must cooperate completely and work in harmony one with the other. There must be unanimity in our decisions and unity in our actions. After pleading with the Saints to “let every man esteem his brother as himself” in Doctrine and Covenants 38, the Lord concludes his instructions on cooperation: “Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:27).
Third, President Kimball said, we must sacrifice whatever is required by the Lord. We begin by offering a “broken heart and a contrite spirit.” We follow this by giving our best effort in our assigned fields of labor and in our callings. We learn our duty and execute it fully. Finally, we consecrate our time, talents, and means as called upon by our file leaders and as prompted by the whisperings of the Spirit. In the Church, we can give expression to every ability, every righteous desire, every thoughtful impulse. Whether a volunteer, father, home teacher, bishop, or neighbor, whether a visiting teacher, mother, homemaker, or friend - there is ample opportunity to give our all. And as we give, we find that “sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!” And in the end, we learn it was no sacrifice at all.
Elder Hugh W. Pinnock told the following story about the blessing of being unified:
There were two ranchers living side by side in southwestern Montana. They bickered and fought because each thought a rusty barbed wire fence that separated their ranches was not the true property line. Each felt the other was encroaching upon his land. The real estate records were unclear at the county courthouse.
They forbade their children to play with one another. The conflict became worse. Finally, after years of exchanging words and threats, one of the ranchers said to himself, “Enough of this.” He drove down the land from his place onto the county road and then down the long driveway to his neighbor’s place.
“What do you want?” his adversary asked.
“Look, you take your hired men and your sons, and I’ll take mine and we’ll put the fence wherever you’d like it. I’ve had enough of this. I want us to be friends.”
His raw boned neighbor softened, and tears rand down both of their faces. The neighbor responded, “Hey, let’s drive to Virginia City and record that the present fence is where both of us want the property line to be.”
They did and the problem was solved. Why? Because a neighbor wanted to be one with the family next door.
In the Book of Mormon, we read about Lehi who was told to take his family and leave their home in Jerusalem. They encountered many challenges in their journey to the promised land. In 2 Nephi 1:21, Lehi counseled his family saying,
And now that my soul might have joy in you, and that my heart might leave this world with gladness because of you, that I might not be brought down with grief and sorrow to the grave, arise from the dust, my sons...and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity.
Lehi knew that they must be united if they were to flourish in the promised land. We know from our study of the Book of Mormon about the division of Lehi’s children and all the troubles between the Nephites and Lamanites.
We also have the history of the Jaredite nation in the Book of Mormon. The Lord blessed Jared, Jared’s brother, their friends and their families by not confounding their language and taking them to a promised land. Eventually, their descendants turned against the gospel teachings. They also turned against each other and had numerous contentions and wars to gain power over one another. Soon the spirit of the Lord ceased to be with the people. Satan had full power over their hearts. In the end, rather than seek peace, they chose to fight until their entire nation had perished. Only Coriantumr remained to tell their story.
Are we one with our family and neighbors? Is the street or apartment complex where you live a little more peaceful because you dwell there? Are you one as roommates – kind and considerate of each other’s needs? When I first came to college here, the women’s dorms were not completed so we had to double up for a few weeks. So in a four-person apartment, where two people share a bedroom, we had bunk beds with four people sharing a bedroom and eight girls in each apartment. It was very crowded. I grew up in a large family, sharing a big bedroom with five sisters. I also have five brothers. So I was used to sharing space as were most of my roommates. A few years ago, one of them came to visit me and we talked about our crowded, crazy apartment was what a fun time we had together. I am grateful for the consideration my roommates had for one another as I went through college and the unity we shared.
I would like to close with one more little parable that demonstrates how accepting differences and living in harmony can bless our lives.
Once upon a time, and not so very long ago either, there grew a daisy in a hidden valley. This daisy wasn’t so very different from other flowers except for one thing. He was very lonely because there were no other flowers in the valley. Every night, he looked up at the moon and stars and wondered if maybe somewhere in the big world outside there wasn’t a pretty red rose that could keep him company.
One day, the daisy felt very strange, as if something wonderful was about to happen. As he was gazing up into the sky, he saw a small pure - white seed floating down toward him. The seed soon disappeared into the ground next to him. The daisy was quite confused and perplexed at this happening. However, the next day, something wonderful had happened. Where the seed had fallen, a beautiful red rose had grown. The daisy could see that this rose was a little different from the other roses he had heard about. First, this rose had no thorns. Also, it was just a bit more beautiful.
Now the daisy was very, very happy because the rose had come to keep him company. Soon their roots began to intertwine and after a while it was hard to tell that they were two different flowers. Sometimes, when the sun was too hot, the rose began to wither, but the daisy shaded her with his leaves. And when the rain beat down and the daisy began to lose his petals, the rose protected him with her red petals.
And so it was. All the weeds in the valley died in time . . . but the daisy and the rose lived on together in eternal happiness.
In our journey through life, we have the opportunity to meet many different people, perhaps live and work in a variety of areas and situations. We may not always choose our traveling companions or conditions. But making and keeping our covenants and receiving the ordinances of the gospel prepares us to assist others in our company. Let us strive to work together to become one that we may be a Zion society.