"The Joy We Are All Waiting For"
Elder F. Enzio Busche
February 8, 2005
In my soul there is burning a light of the knowledge of the living Christ. I feel blessed and humbled to be invited to be with you at this time, so that we can share together the understanding and blessing of this beautiful gospel.
In the book we call the Old Testament we read an interesting statement which has amazed me since I read it the first time nearly 50 years ago. I don’t believe it would be an oversimplification to say that this scripture may have become a catalyst for me to test myself, to see how I am doing. Let me read to you Deuteronomy 28:47-48:
Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
What is this that we hear? Enemies?-hunger?-thirst?-nakedness?- in want of all things?-under a yoke of iron until we are destroyed? Because of what?
Serving Him without gladness of heart and without joy. When I read this the first time, I remember I was shocked and only when I put my mind to it, under the influence of the light of the restored gospel, could I begin to see and understand it. When we come to this state of awareness that we know that Heavenly Father wants to help us by trying to speak to us all the time, we are beginning to come unto the road that leads to light and joy. When we are not filled with this light, when the deep satisfying joy of being under the influence of the Spirit is not with us, we are empty, and even our words and deeds are without lasting effect.
I want to share with you one experience that I had in the early days of my membership in the Church that has helped me to become awake in a very dramatic manner. I became president of a small struggling branch with a handful of faithful, reliable members, and a large number of members who were completely inactive. I started my new calling with great enthusiasm and I was convinced that I was the one who could make the difference. I worked hard and determined to reach a goal to bring to life growing numbers of members and to become involved with the missionaries so that through convert baptisms and reactivation, we could soon grow to the level where we would become eligible to build our own chapel.
I started by working hard to have the attendance during our sacrament meetings improve. I dedicated four evenings each week to visiting members, trying to instill in them a desire to attend our meetings. As I had done this for several months in a row, I expected that things would change. Every Sunday before our meetings began, I would sit in the front with high hopes that our rented facilities on the 5th floor above a department store would soon be filled so that we could expand our vision. Always I was disappointed. My expectations were not fulfilled. Week after week I was sitting there realizing that nothing was accomplished. Everyone we had visited, even when they had promised that they would come, disappointed us by not showing up. Finally, on one day came the lesson I needed to experience in order to learn for myself.
It was Sunday and I was sitting in front of the congregation of my family and the handful of faithful, true members, who were always present as the nucleus of our branch. I noticed that the missionaries had brought a new investigating family, a couple and their little boy about four years old. But none of the many that I had visited in the past week had shown up. I was just about to start the meeting when something startling happened.
The little boy who was with his parents and the missionaries, sitting in the first row, just across from me, started saying in a loud voice for everyone in this relatively small meeting room to hear: “Mom, what is this man with this mean face doing up there?”
I was shocked. I was devastated. I was sitting there with the feelings of my own goodness, full of pride, how hard I was working to establish our little branch, and here comes for their first visit a new family with their innocent little child, and for that child, I’m nothing but a man with a mean face.
That evening and the following night I found reason to search my soul, and under the influence of the small but penetrating voice of the Spirit of the Lord, I learned a lesson.
This quiet voice frequently works with us so diligently by posing questions, such as: who do you think you are? What is that that you try to do? Why are you not understanding? Why is it so difficult for you to learn? Suddenly I became aware of what was wrong.
I saw very clearly what the first responsibility is for everyone in the Lord’s service: to make sure that we are under the influence of the Spirit, so that we can radiate the love and light of Christ. Anything that we do, when we are not under the influence of the Spirit, is eventually doomed for failure. Everything we do merely out of routine, our own ambition, or in order to receive praise, is doomed to fail. It will not bear fruit.
I needed to come to this level of awareness so that I could learn what to do, or how to be, in order to become eligible for the light of Christ to shine in my soul. When we really believe in the reality of the existence of Christ, we know that He came to the earth in order to bear witness unto the truth: John 18:37: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
When we want to be on the same wavelength with Him we want to learn to become committed, to become honest with ourselves. The more honest we become with ourselves, the more we know how small we are, and how little we know. In so doing, we eventually enter into that stage where, according to Christ’s words, we can be baptized with the fire of the Holy Ghost, as taught in 3 Nephi 9:20: “And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost.”
Since that time, I am striving every hour of every day to become aware of how it looks inside of me and what message comes from my countenance.
Instead of sitting there and observing the negative, from then on I went with my family each Sunday to the meeting expecting nothing from others. I planned in my mind the expectation that we would be there all by ourselves. We would partake of the sacrament, give joyful testimonies of the living Christ one to another, and would go home peacefully and satisfied. But of course we were not alone. Others came and I could welcome everyone enthusiastically, filled with the joy of Christ, member and nonmember, and suddenly everything changed. By and by, all the ones who had promised to come and never showed up, finally came.
I could soon see that things began to happen that we have reason to describe as being miracles. Yes, miracles began to happen on a daily basis. Miracles not only in the establishing of our branch but also in my personal life, in business and family relationships and even in the issues of personal health. In the area of our branch, our missionaries suddenly began to have success as they brought new investigators on a regular basis. Many of our inactive members began coming to Church meetings, and the Spirit of the love of Christ began to burn within the members of the branch. We started having beautiful conversions on a regular basis. We learned to jump over one obstacle after another. In a relatively short time we were able to build a full-size chapel, with our own hands, in the most beautiful spot of our hometown.
I remember just one tiny little incident to show how the Lord spoils us, even in little details, to strengthen our own awareness of the sacredness of this work. We were at the brink of building our own chapel and we realized that we did not have many who understood anything about buildings. We made it a matter of our focused prayers, and maybe not even to our surprise, we were able to find and baptize an architect and an educated master bricklayer within the next four weeks.
Yes, I believe that we as members are responsible for what we radiate from the depths of our heart, and without these feelings of the love of the Lord we cannot heal or bless or do anything to build His kingdom. We as members of the Lord’s restored gospel know that deep down inside of us we are all searching and longing for that which embraced us before we came to this earth: to feel the effect of the tender care of our Heavenly home, to be illuminated in all the fibers of our being by His unconditional love.
Living now for quite some time close to the center stakes of Zion, I am overwhelmed by the many wonderful, faithful brothers and sisters establishing the nucleus of the Church. I rejoice in their goodness, their good examples, their willingness to serve, to sacrifice, and their willingness to go the extra mile. I know, of course, how easy it is to get in the routine of things, to worry about thousands of details that seem to be so important in the moment. I also know it can be so easy to forget the weightier matters of the kingdom. With all our focus on the technical, the organizational, the details of a program, sometimes we overlook the yearning of the soul to become again embraced by the Light, to feel the fullness of His love.
I think it is time to remember that we are not earthly beings longing for some spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings, offspring of God, on a dramatic, but highly promising, earthly journey. We have also to remember that we did not come to this earth to fail, and that we can only succeed when we understand that we must never weaken the communication line with our Heavenly Father. He has established a huge, perfectly-equipped organization to provide connection with all of His children while we are in the state of our earthly probation. Everyone has the right to communicate with the Highest Authority, the Creator of us all, and to receive in the form of His small voice, His counsel and His suggestions. None of us will be able to function in the full dimension of our potential unless we learn to understand that our spirits, our divine entity, the real me, or the Child of God, is in urgent need to become all the time nurtured with the essence of our life’s energy, the love of God.
Yes, we seem to receive this life energy as a kind of starting fund when we are young and still in the phase of growing up, independent of whether we are members of His Church, or not. I remember what happened when I first became aware of the full impact of this divine power long before I could find the fullness of the gospel myself.
It happened in the Fall of 1944, several months before the end of World War II. I was forced to take a train from my home town in Dortmund in the northwestern part of the country to find my mother and my siblings. The panic of the upcoming defeat and the smell of desperation, fear and pain was to be felt all over the country. The only train I was able to take in order to find my family in northern Bavaria was driving a track line in the hinterland where still some transportation on the track could function. The main tracks and bridges had been destroyed and as you can imagine, the train was fully packed with people, like sardines in a can. As I managed to get into the train and got a little bit settled, I realized that I was standing next to a young girl and a young man, maybe 17 years old. To me, a 14-year-old boy, they looked like adults. I became aware that both had a glow in their countenance. They radiated feelings of joy and bliss. I could see that they were looking only in the eyes of each other, and they could not get enough of it. The train began moving, and in time I realized that they were still standing the same in the middle of all of this chaos, fear, and panic. They were standing in a chaste embrace, without kissing, just looking into one another’s eyes. I realized that all the others who were standing around were also captured with that phenomenon that overpowered these two people. They tried as much as possible not to interfere with them.
After we had traveled for about two hours, the train was suddenly attacked by two fighter planes. We came to a screeching halt and everyone was running out, seeking shelter the best we could. Our train had, behind the locomotive, a flat wagon with a four- barrel antiaircraft gun. As soon as they began shooting back, the two fighter planes disappeared, looking for easier targets and we could move back into the train. I, being the first one to get back on the train, found in the same place, in the same embrace, with the same blissful emotions in their countenance, these two young people. I was overwhelmed. What kind of message was this for me?
There is the power from another sphere that is so beautiful and divine that all the things of this world seem to disappear. What is war? What is destruction? What is hunger and thirst? What is death, when you are filled with this beautiful gift of pure, innocent, divine love?
I became aware that there was a sacred power working within these two young people, that everyone began to notice. I not only admired these two young individuals greatly, but I observed that I myself was yearning for being embraced with the circumstances that would allow me to be filled with this same love.
How little did I know at that time that I had just witnessed the universal divine power that every human being is deeply in need of, and that only when more human beings are capable to become the vessels to carry this divine energy are we on our way to build a new society, where people of this world will be able to live in peace together, even with our totally different ethnic or cultural or religious differences.
In my observations I know now that Heavenly Father seems to give the younger generation the substance of this holy ingredient that we call the love of Christ, freely. I also know that when we have grown older, to the age of maturity, we have to acquire this gift as our own achievement.
When I read the Bible for the first time I came across this scripture in Matthew where the Lord is asked: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36), and His answer has not ceased to amaze me since.
What is the Lord saying? As an answer to this question, He says: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37). And in the same way we should love our fellow man.
I had always assumed that love is something we have no control over. It comes and it goes. “Sorry, I don’t love you any more.” This, or similar sentences, confront many in their lives. But the Lord sees it differently. For Him, love is something we can learn to control. Otherwise, He could not command us to love. With that understanding it becomes our responsibility how we feel and what we feel, independent of our circumstances. In that way God wants to confirm us in our state of maturity. He wants us to become aware of our responsibilities and stewardships and that the first and foremost responsibility we have is to fill our heart with this divine love, or the love of Christ, which is the only thing that can fill our soul with the deepest level of satisfying joy.
So how do we do that, to fill our soul with love? In the Book of Mormon we find the answer. I quote from Moroni 7: 47-48:
But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love.
The things of God are never complicated. What He says may be the simplest of all: when you have identified what qualities you are missing, ask with all the energy of your heart and then you will receive it. Jesus is also teaching us what the full quality of this divine love is, that we have to learn to acquire. We read in the 5th chapter of Matthew, verses 43-46:
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same?
The love that mankind is usually dealing with is basically self-serving like: “because I need you I love you,” or “because you are behaving well, I love you.” But Christ is challenging us to grow into a totally different dimension. He wants us to develop the divine love, or the love that is independent of conditions or circumstances. The Redeemer expects more of us. He wants us, as His disciples, to grow to the level of that power that will enable us to become healers for the wounds of this world. This love is also the only power that can heal the wounds that we may have even in our own families and surroundings.
This love goes far beyond our own earthly understanding: loving not just the ones who are nice, that love us and behave well, but loving even our enemies.
We may think that we have no enemies, but we have to remind ourselves that even members of our own families or even our own spouse can have moments in our life where they behave like an enemy. According to my experience, when people have earned love the least, they need it the most.
To emphasize that what I just said, I feel I should share with you an experience that in a clear way may help us to understand the power of that energy, which is the divine love: the love that lets us go the extra mile and which is usually not in us in our mature age unless we have learned to sacrifice by overcoming the natural man in us,and by having learned to ask our Heavenly Father for it with all the energy of our heart.
In the first years of my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the branches of the Church in our area were so small, and the members so inexperienced, that young missionaries were acting as branch presidents. The members did not always feel comfortable to go to them with their personal questions. One day I was approached by a faithful sister, about 30 years of age. She had a solid academic education, but she was very frustrated about the apparent impossibility of finding a matching spouse. She asked me what I would think the purpose of her life might be. I was a little bit surprised by this question and I’m afraid my answer may not have been very convincing to her. Just a few weeks later, my wife and I were very surprised to receive from this young woman a wedding announcement. She announced her upcoming wedding with a young man whom we knew because he was a member of our branch. The reason we were so surprised can be found in the fact that this young man was about ten years younger than she, he had hardly any formal education, and he was nearly a head shorter than she. But we also knew that he had a very good character and that he was very faithful to his baptismal covenants. So we were glad and wished them well with a very happy heart.
A little more than a year went by and I was called, in the meantime, to be the branch president. One day I was surprised by her desire to have again a private conversation with me. As soon as the door was closed behind her, she started with heavy emotions to complain about her husband with a sheer endless list of things which she didn’t like about him. She complained about things like his lack of table manners, his smelling out of the mouth, his clumsy way of speaking, his clumsy way of reading and writing, and so on and so on.
I saw her pain and her suffering and I saw what she wanted. She wanted me to tell her that under the circumstances a divorce would probably be in order. I paused and I did not even need to listen to the still small voice, because under the light of the understanding of the Restored Gospel I saw marriage as something more sacred and with a much higher goal than we would normally find it in the secular world. After a few more moments of pause, I calmed down enough to feel prompted to say to her the following: “Dear sister, I have a couple of questions for you. Would you feel comfortable to answer them to me?” And she said, “Of course.” I said, “Question number one: Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” And she answered with a strong, convincing, “Yes.” I came with my second question: “Are you true and faithful to your covenants that you have made in the temple of the Lord?” Again she answered with a strong, convincing “Yes.” Then I said, “How about your husband? Tell me about him. Do you think that he believes in the Lord Jesus Christ?” Her answer was a little bit less firm, but it was clearly a “Yes.” Then I came to my final question: “Do you think that he is faithful to his covenants that he has made in the temple?” Her answer again was in the affirmative, maybe a little bit less enthusiastic, but still it was a clear “Yes.”
After a short little pause, I wanted to know whether she could remember our conversation from a little more than a year ago, where she was asking me what the purpose of her life could be, and where I could not come up with a convincing answer. She, of course, could remember that talk very vividly. I suggested to her: “Could it be that the purpose of your life would be to bring this fine husband of yours into the Celestial Kingdom? Could it be, that the Lord wants you to make the necessary steps to qualify for receiving the higher vibration of divine love by overcoming the temptation to see the negative, and instead to learn to focus on the hidden divine qualities that are in all of our Heavenly Father’s children, but specifically with a person like your husband, who according to your own words, believes in the Lord Jesus Christ?”
I remember that she was reacting as if she had been hit with a whip. Her face became long and sour and she looked as if she had just swallowed a frog. Without saying another word she left the room.
Soon after this I was called to serve in other capacities. Because of many hectic things happening in my life at this time, I finally forgot all the details of this early event in my membership in the Church.
Many years later, much more than a generation after I had my talk with this sister, I was with Sister Busche visiting in Germany to preside over a stake conference. I was sitting on the stand and I was impressed with the large audience filling that spacious stake center to the last seat.
Suddenly my eyes became glued to a nice elderly couple with an overwhelming glow of happiness and joy on their faces. He was holding her hand in one hand and gently, lovingly touching her hand with his other hand. On the left and on the right of them I could see children and grandchildren, as it was not difficult to recognize them by their resemblance. Then, when I noticed that he was much smaller than she, it suddenly struck me: my goodness, I know these people. And the full memory of my talk with this gentle lady from so many years ago came into my mind. My heart was rejoicing with the impressive awareness: SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT! Now I could see that she had made the sacrifice, that she had paid the price; she had overcome the natural man inside of her, and had obviously learned to love him without conditions. He had grown to become that impressive, gray-haired gentleman with aristocratic demeanor, and bliss radiating from his countenance, a radiation that can only be felt from someone who has learned to know God. And it was easy to see that now she would not give him up for anything.
I was filled with joy and I had reason to marvel about the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ. He watches carefully over us to teach us to live our lives in dignity, as we learn to understand and develop in us the capability to be filled with that immense and overwhelming power of the love of Christ. This is the power that will enable us to change the realities of this life so that even the burdens of our life become easy, and our service in His kingdom becomes a privilege and a joy, so that we will be able to serve the Lord our God with joyfulness and gladness of heart.
I bear to you my testimony, that I know from the bottom of my heart that Jesus the Christ is alive. He is not hiding in old books. He is waiting for us to surrender our lives into His arms so that He can be the Author and Finisher of our earthly time of probation. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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