I grew up in a rural part of Eastern Idaho and attended a small high school where you knew everyone in the high school. It was very similar to high schools in the Rexburg area, as a large majority of those in my high school were members of our faith. As happens when you have a large percentage of people with similar beliefs, some oft used words and phrases that are common to us as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became a part of our everyday conversations with no regard for those around us who may not understand the context in which they were used.
I learned of this challenge in an interesting way. After a team practice one evening as our team members were changing clothes, one of my teammates stood up on a bench in the locker room and announced that his younger sister was being baptized that night and we were all Invited to attend. I remember him saying, "It will start at 7 P.M. at the stake center, and we will have food afterwards." As this was something commonplace in my school, I didn't think much about it until my friend who was a member of another faith in the locker next to mine leaned over closer to me and said in a low voice, "It is so cool that you guys have your baptisms in a restaurant! It makes getting to the food part of it so much easier!" I looked at him confused until I realized that his understanding of a stake center was as a steak house restaurant! [1]
As the university chaplain for BYU-Idaho, one of my responsibilities is to interview and work with all students of other faiths who apply to and attend BYU-Idaho. Many come from different walks of life, but they all share in the same desire to receive an education in an environment that is spiritually rewarding.
They want to feel that they can gain academic knowledge in an environment that allows them to grow spiritually as well. They come here mostly because they have interacted with you, watched you and your families, and they want to be like you. You probably didn't know they were watching, but they were!
Please allow me to share with you the thoughts of three individuals who choose to come to BYU-Idaho as members of other faiths. I share these experiences with the permission of these students.
Giffty from Philadelphia shares her experiences with us:
The first time I came to BYUI and saw the culture of the LDS people, I thought I went to a different country. Coming from Philadelphia, everything is different in Rexburg. However, one thing that I have really grown to admire and love about the LDS people is the love they have for their families and the perspective they have toward family. Most of the rules I had to follow are very similar to my upbringing. The strength of praying, having strong faith in God, helping other people even though you don’t have a deep knowledge about them are similar with the way I grew up. [2]
Kaitlin from Colorado shares her experiences here on campus:
I was around a lot of members growing up, so I mostly knew what the members of the Church of Jesus Christ believed in. When I arrived on campus, I was very worried about what people would think of me. Would they accept me or try to convert me? I soon realized that I had nothing to be worried about. Although I had been to church on Sunday with my member friends at home, it was different at college. I realized what callings were and how important they were in the Church. I have always been given a calling, and it is awesome how smoothly the wards run when everyone works hard. October came rolling around, and all my roommates and friends started talking about general conference. All I knew was that general conference always kept my friends inside for the weekend and they loved it. I thought it was weird how everyone was taking notes on the things old guys were saying. I soon realized that what they were saying could change your life forever! On the Sunday session, I went over to my professor’s house and watched it with him and his family. It was honestly an unreal experience. Not only am I so lucky to be close with them but I also got to experience what general conference was with a "normal family" and not an apartment family. This whole experience changed my perspective of what general conference was and what it truly means. [3]
Lauren, also from Colorado, shares this:
Before I arrived at BYU-Idaho I already had a lot of background on LDS culture and a lot of phrases and terms that are used, so none of those were surprising to me. I was surprised that many felt that they had to be perfect around me. Most of the people I respect the most were those who were willing to share their shortcomings with me and allow me to see them as who they are. My favorite interactions at BYU-Idaho have been the ones with people who I genuinely felt were accepting and cared about me as a person regardless of where I stood on my faith or their faith or my journey. [4]
They may be coming to BYU-Idaho to be a part of a journey, one they perhaps don't know where it will take them. While their path may be different than the path on which you find yourself, please recognize that they are on the same journey as you, trying to find the path that will help them make correct choices, find happiness, and return to their Father in Heaven. As you look around you, there are many who want that same path, some members of the Church, some struggling with their faith, and some who may have had a few missteps along the way.
The journey to return to our Father in Heaven is often referred to as the covenant path. Most of us have heard about the covenant path at some point in our lives. We know that it involves key events that need to occur in our lives. Those events include receiving baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, preparing for and receiving priesthood ordinances, preparing for and receiving sacred temple ordinances, and weekly participating in applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ through partaking of the sacrament.
President Russell M. Nelson emphasized the importance of the covenant path in his first address to the world as our new prophet, seer, and revelator. Elder Paul A. Jarvis, reffering to President Nelson’s comments, stated:
“Keep on the covenant path.” Covenants are “. . . sacred agreements between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey these conditions.” Covenants are sometimes referred to as two-way promises with God, and “all the saving ordinances of the priesthood are accompanied by covenants.” [5]
In a devotional to the youth, President Nelson continued his comments concerning the covenant path:
Wherever you are on the covenant path—even if, at this moment, you are not centered on the path—I promise you that if you will sincerely and persistently do the spiritual work needed to develop the crucial, spiritual skill of learning how to hear the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, you will have all the direction you will ever need in your life. [6]
The covenant path is a journey we make individually, but not alone. We have family, Church leaders, friends, and others who can help us along this journey. As we continue this path, it truly starts becoming effective when we start recognizing and acting upon the spiritual promptings we receive. Many of you listening right now may feel that you don't have spiritual promptings, or that they are only about big and important things. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Many years back, a wise stake president extended a calling to a member of his stake. The member responded by saying, "I don't know if I can do that; I'm not very spiritual." The wise stake president pondered for a moment and then asked, "Do you ever have problems in your life?" The member replied he did. The stake president then asked, "Do you ever ponder them and try to find answers to those problems?" The member replied he did. Continuing his questions, the stake president asked, "Do you ever come up with ideas on how to fix those problems?" The member again acknowledged that he did. The wise stake president then paused and said something I find profound. He said, "Don't give yourself so much credit! Most of the spiritual promptings we receive are so quiet and soft spoken that we confuse them with our own intelligence."
One of the most important ways we can continue on the covenant path is to recognize the power that the Spirit can give us in that journey. As we recognize the Spiritual promptings in our life and the good that we can do in helping others along their path, we create spiritual power in our own lives. Strong, dramatic impressions do not come to us frequently, rather quiet promptings that help guide us.
As I served in a leadership position some time ago, I learned this principle through personal experience. As I drove home from work on a Monday evening, I drove past the home of a member of my ward. I remember thinking that I hadn't seen them in months and wondered if they were okay. But since it was Monday and if I stopped I would be late for family home evening, I continued my way home. I felt no spiritual promptings, just an ordinary thought of concern for ward members that I hadn't seen for a while. Tuesday, the same experience happened, only I didn't stop because It was Young Men-Young Women’s night. Wednesday, I thought we would stop and see them that night as I made ward visits with my counselors. Unfortunately, other emergencies came up and that family wasn't visited. Thursday came, and as I drove by them, I just felt guilty for not having stopped already, but needed to get to my children's school for an activity. Friday night I drove by feeling the same guilt but needed to hurry home for a date with my wife. As I neared home, I realized that it was ridiculous to continue feeling guilt about something that was just a compassionate thought. I turned my car around and went back to the home of that family. I knocked on the door and was let in by their 10-year-old daughter who went in search of her parents. After several minutes waiting, the mother of the family came into the living room, where I awaited. Upon seeing me, the tears rolled down her checks and she emotionally replied, "We have been praying for someone from the Church to come help us since Sunday." Can you imagine the weight I felt driving home that night after ministering to this good family? I had mistaken a spiritual prompting for my own intelligence and compassion. Had I recognized the quiet prompting of the Spirit I could have helped this family much sooner.
Last week Brother Harold Rose spoke to us in devotional about a similar topic. He shared many experiences from his life as to how he hears the Spirit. He reminded us of a wonderful primary song with the line "Sh, be still." He invited us to ponder how we hear the Spirit, and to use the words of that song to help us hear those promptings. I pray that during this past week, and today, you have taken time to listen and hear Him, written down those quiet promptings, and allowed the Spirit to bless your life.
As we continue to honor our covenants and seek the quiet promptings of the Spirit in our lives, we become more adept at recognizing those promptings and the guidance that they involve. Interestingly enough, many of those promptings will be to help others as they strive to find or return to the covenant path.
From the life of the Savior Jesus Christ we find many good examples of Him serving others as he journeyed down the covenant path: He ministered among men. He brought strength to the limbs of the cripple, sight to the eyes of the blind, hearing to the ears of the deaf, and life to the body of the dead. He extended compassion and forgiveness to those who wronged Him when from the cross He asked His Father to forgive the Roman soldiers. He called the children unto Him and blessed them, prayed with them and for them; He encircled them with fire as He taught them eternal principles.
His parables preach power. With the parable of the good Samaritan he taught, “Love . . . thy neighbor.” [7] Through His kindness to the woman taken in adultery, He taught compassion and understanding. In his parable of the talents, He taught each of us to improve and to strive for perfection. Very possibly He could have been preparing us for our journey along His path.
Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ isn’t just about the blessings you receive personally. It’s also about helping other people. In the Book of Mormon, Moroni tells us to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.” [8] For each of us, as we live the gospel, a desire will grow within us for others to be blessed by the gospel, especially members of our familes.
As we journey along the covenant path, we seek to emulate the Savior Jesus Christ in our lives. Many times, as we walk this path, we see others who are not perhaps centered on the path, or who are not yet on the path. Perhaps their path has not brought them to the covenant path yet, but they are trying to find it, sometimes consciously, sometimes subconsciously. As we listen to the spiritual promptings in our lives, many of them will be about helping other people along their path, whether it be the same path we are on or not. Please do not mistake what I am saying as permission to step away from the covenant path in order to help others. That experiment does not work! Rather understand the principle that the Savior taught us from His ministry: love them, help them, share with them the light of Christ that you feel. You cannot extend your hand and help someone advance in their path towards the covenant path without helping yourself advance on the covenant path. Your service, Christlike love, and example will help them see the way, as you yourself grow and develop. This week on the discussion board I have asked you, "How has helping others allowed you stay on the covenant path?" I have been touched by the many examples I have read.
Can you imagine walking down a sidewalk and encountering a young child who has fallen off a bicycle? Would you walk by without a second glance, knowing that despite the tears and scraped knees you observed, the child was capable of standing up, dusting themselves off, picking up the bicycle, and continuing their journey without any assistance from you? Are all of those things true? Yes. However, imagine the difference in that child's life if you stop, tend to their wounds and hurt feelings or embarrassment. Then you dry their tears, help them back on their bicycle journey. Your kindness and compassion will almost always put a smile on their face as they again pedal off into happiness. It will also put a smile on your face and love in your heart as you realize you did for that child what you hope a stranger would do for your child.
We all are quick to help the person who has fallen on the sidewalk or tripped on the stairs. I've seen you students run to the aid of someone sick, or hurt in an accident. These are "easy" helps because we can see the need that they have. Some of those around us, many of us, have needs that we can help with in the same way. Those needs are not as visible sometimes but are needs nonetheless. As we listen to the quiet spiritual promptings we receive, we will have insight as to how we can help those around us advance on their paths, and in the process become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. We are promised, if we are faithful, that we may live with Him in glory with our families forever in the world to come. That will be heaven, and eternal happiness for each of us.
I challenge each of you to this week not only to pay attention to the quiet promptings of the Spirit as you move through your week, but act upon those promptings to serve others around you. Like my friends of other faiths here on campus, the path they are on may not be the path you are on, but by extending a hand and serving each other, your ability to stay in the center of the covenant path becomes easier and allows you to grow more like our beloved Savior Jesus Christ. I add my witness to these things and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Picture of Smitty's Pancake and Steakhouse used with permission of owners.
[2] Edossa Giffty; comments used with her permission.
[3] Kaitlin Garnder; comments used with her permission.
[4] Lauren Anderson; comments used with her permission.
[5] Paul A. Jarvis, “’Keep on the Covenant Path:’ Prophet Looks to the Future with Faith”;
ca.churchofjesuschrist.org/keep-on-the-covenant-path-prophet-looks-to-the-future-with-faith.
[6] Russell M. Nelson and Wendy W. Nelson, “Hope of Israel,” Worldwide Youth Devotional, June 3, 2018.
[7] Luke 10:27.
[8] Moroni 10:32.