Be of good cheer.
The future is as bright as your faith.
President Monson
starts off his talk by mentioning some of the calamities in the world—the problems
with the economy, moral decline, wars, etc. Then he reminds us that we are to
have joy.
As we look at these
next few quotes, let’s see if we can pick out HOW we can have joy even in
troubled times.
President Monson said,
“It would be easy to become discouraged and cynical about the future—or even
fearful of what might come—if we allowed ourselves to dwell only on that which
is wrong in the world and in our lives. Today, however, I’d like us to turn our
thoughts and our attitudes away from the troubles around us and to focus
instead on our blessings as members of the Church. The Apostle Paul declared,
“God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a
sound mind.” 1
What stood out to me
here were the words “allowed” and “turn.” We need to remember that it is our
choice. We can make a conscious decision what to focus on.
President Monson
also said, “How might we have joy in our lives, despite all that we may face?
Again from the scriptures: “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I
the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.” 3
For me, that
scripture is about recognizing that the Lord is with us; He is the source of
our joy, and if we don’t focus on Him and realize His love for us, we’re not
going to have joy in our lives.
President Monson
also said, “The history of the Church in this, the dispensation of the fulness
of times, is replete with the experiences of those who have struggled and yet
who have remained steadfast and of good cheer as they have made the gospel of Jesus Christ the center
of their lives. This attitude is what will pull us through whatever comes our
way. It will not remove our troubles from us but rather will enable us to face
our challenges, to meet them head on, and to emerge victorious.”
What struck me here
was the phrase “they have made the gospel of Jesus Christ the center in their
lives.” We need to make sure that the Gospel isn’t an afterthought but instead
that it is the core of who we are and how we live. In order to have happiness,
we have to follow the plan of happiness, and that means that the Gospel of
Jesus Christ is in our hearts and minds, that it’s central to our entire
existence.
President Monson
went on to share three stories from church history with us.
First:
“My maternal
great-grandparents Gibson and Cecelia Sharp Condie lived in Clackmannan,
Scotland. Their families were engaged in coal mining. They were at peace with
the world, surrounded by relatives and friends, and were housed in fairly
comfortable quarters in a land they loved. Then they listened to the message of
the missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and, to
the depths of their very souls, were converted. They heard the call to gather
to Zion and knew they must answer that call.
“Sometime around
1848, they sold their possessions and prepared for the hazardous voyage across
the mighty Atlantic Ocean. With five small children, they boarded a sailing
vessel, all their worldly possessions in one tiny trunk. They traveled 3,000
miles (4,800 km) across the waters—eight long, weary weeks on a treacherous
sea, watching and waiting, with poor food, poor water, and no help beyond the
length and breadth of that small ship.
“In the midst of
this soul-trying situation, one of their young sons became ill. There were no
doctors, no stores at which they might purchase medicine to ease his suffering.
They watched, they prayed, they waited, and they wept as day by day his
condition deteriorated. When his eyes were at last closed in death, their
hearts were torn asunder. To add to their grief, the laws of the sea must be
obeyed. Wrapped in a canvas weighed down with iron, the little body was
consigned to a watery grave. As they sailed away, only those parents knew the
crushing blow dealt to wounded hearts. 4
However, with a faith born of their deep conviction of the truth and
their love of the Lord, Gibson and Cecelia held on. They were comforted by the
words of the Lord: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good
cheer; I have overcome the world.” 5
What does this story
teach us about being of good cheer?
The fact that they “to
the depths of their very souls, were converted” stood out to me. Again, I think
this relates to making the Gospel the center of our lives. We need to let the
message of the Gospel penetrate our souls.
Another thing I got
out of the story was a reminder of what the Lord has done for us. He has
overcome the world. Every trial, every struggle, that comes our way, He knows
the solution for. He has paid the price so that all things can work together
for our good.
The second story is
about Meli Mulipola, a blind Polynesian man:
“Brother Mulipola’s
vision had been normal until a fateful day when, while working on a pineapple
plantation, light turned suddenly to darkness and day became perpetual night.
He was depressed and despondent until he learned the good news of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. His life was brought into compliance with the teachings of the
Church, and he once again felt hope and joy.
“Brother Mulipola
and his loved ones had made a long voyage, having learned that one who held the
priesthood of God was visiting among the islands of the Pacific. He sought a
blessing, and it was my privilege, along with another who held the Melchizedek
Priesthood, to provide that blessing to him. As we finished, I noted that tears
were streaming from his sightless eyes, coursing down his brown cheeks and
tumbling finally upon his native dress. He dropped to his knees and prayed: “O
God, Thou knowest I am blind. Thy servants have blessed me that my sight might
return. Whether in Thy wisdom I see light or whether I see darkness all the
days of my life, I will be eternally grateful for the truth of Thy gospel,
which I now see and which provides the light of my life.”
“He rose to his feet
and, smiling, thanked us for providing the blessing. He then disappeared into
the still of the night. Silently he came; silently he departed. But his
presence I shall never forget. I reflected upon the message of the Master: “I
am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but
shall have the light of life.” 6
What does this story
teach us about being of good cheer?
I think we learn
that we need to be able to recognize the blessings that we have because of the
Gospel, rather than demanding blessings from the Gospel. He did come seeking a
blessing, but then, whether or not he ever received his sight again, he knew
that he already was blessed because he had the Gospel in his life. And we all
have that blessing as well, and when we realize that, we can be of good cheer.
The last story:
“In about March
1946, less than a year after the end of the war, Ezra Taft Benson, then a
member of the Quorum of the Twelve, accompanied by Frederick W. Babbel, was
assigned a special postwar tour of Europe for the express purpose of meeting
with the Saints, assessing their needs, and providing assistance to them. Elder
Benson and Brother Babbel later recounted, from a testimony they heard, the
experience of a Church member who found herself in an area no longer controlled
by the government under which she had resided.
“She and her husband
had lived an idyllic life in East Prussia. Then had come the second great world
war within their lifetimes. Her beloved young husband was killed during the
final days of the frightful battles in their homeland, leaving her alone to
care for their four children.
“The occupying
forces determined that the Germans in East Prussia must go to Western Germany
to seek a new home. The woman was German, and so it was necessary for her to
go. The journey was over a thousand miles (1,600 km), and she had no way to
accomplish it but on foot. She was allowed to take only such bare necessities
as she could load into her small wooden-wheeled wagon. Besides her children and
these meager possessions, she took with her a strong faith in God and in the
gospel as revealed to the latter-day prophet Joseph Smith.
“She and the
children began the journey in late summer. Having neither food nor money among
her few possessions, she was forced to gather a daily subsistence from the
fields and forests along the way. She was constantly faced with dangers from
panic-stricken refugees and plundering troops.
“As the days turned
into weeks and the weeks to months, the temperatures dropped below freezing.
Each day, she stumbled over the frozen ground, her smallest child—a baby—in her
arms. Her three other children struggled along behind her, with the
oldest—seven years old—pulling the tiny wooden wagon containing their
belongings. Ragged and torn burlap was wrapped around their feet, providing the
only protection for them, since their shoes had long since disintegrated. Their
thin, tattered jackets covered their thin, tattered clothing, providing their
only protection against the cold.
“Soon the snows
came, and the days and nights became a nightmare. In the evenings she and the
children would try to find some kind of shelter—a barn or a shed—and would
huddle together for warmth, with a few thin blankets from the wagon on top of
them.
“She constantly struggled
to force from her mind overwhelming fears that they would perish before
reaching their destination.
“And then one
morning the unthinkable happened. As she awakened, she felt a chill in her
heart. The tiny form of her three-year-old daughter was cold and still, and she
realized that death had claimed the child. Though overwhelmed with grief, she
knew that she must take the other children and travel on. First, however, she
used the only implement she had—a tablespoon—to dig a grave in the frozen ground
for her tiny, precious child.
“Death, however, was
to be her companion again and again on the journey. Her seven-year-old son
died, either from starvation or from freezing or both. Again her only shovel
was the tablespoon, and again she dug hour after hour to lay his mortal remains
gently into the earth. Next, her five-year-old son died, and again she used her
tablespoon as a shovel.
Her despair was all
consuming. She had only her tiny baby daughter left, and the poor thing was
failing. Finally, as she was reaching the end of her journey, the baby died in
her arms. The spoon was gone now, so hour after hour she dug a grave in the
frozen earth with her bare fingers. Her grief became unbearable. How could she
possibly be kneeling in the snow at the graveside of her last child? She had
lost her husband and all her children. She had given up her earthly goods, her
home, and even her homeland.
“In this moment of
overwhelming sorrow and complete bewilderment, she felt her heart would
literally break. In despair she contemplated how she might end her own life, as
so many of her fellow countrymen were doing. How easy it would be to jump off a
nearby bridge, she thought, or to throw herself in front of an oncoming train.
“And then, as these
thoughts assailed her, something within her said, “Get down on your knees and
pray.” She ignored the prompting until she could resist it no longer. She knelt
and prayed more fervently than she had in her entire life:
“Dear Heavenly
Father, I do not know how I can go on. I have nothing left—except my faith in
Thee. I feel, Father, amidst the desolation of my soul, an overwhelming gratitude for the atoning
sacrifice of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. I cannot express adequately my love for
Him. I know that because He suffered and died, I shall live again with my
family; that because He broke the chains of death, I shall see my children
again and will have the joy of raising them. Though I do not at this moment
wish to live, I will do so, that we may be reunited as a family and
return—together—to Thee.”
“When she finally
reached her destination of Karlsruhe, Germany, she was emaciated. Brother
Babbel said that her face was a purple-gray, her eyes red and swollen, her
joints protruding. She was literally in the advanced stages of starvation. In a
Church meeting shortly thereafter, she bore a glorious testimony, stating that
of all the ailing people in her saddened land, she was one of the happiest
because she knew that God lived, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He died and
was resurrected so that we might live again. She testified that she knew if she
continued faithful and true to the end, she would be reunited with those she
had lost and would be saved in the celestial kingdom of God. 8
If we’re going to be
of good cheer, we have to learn to submit our will to the Father’s even when it’s
heartbreaking. We have to trust that His plan works and that He will keep His
promises.
One thing that I
noticed as I listened to President Monson give this talk was that he didn’t
tell us the end—he didn’t tell us about some glorious blessing these people
received as a result of their faithfulness, something that happens to help them
be of good cheer. We don’t find out happens to the family once they reach Zion,
or if the man received his sight again, and we don’t know what happened to the
poor widow and mother. I think that was intentional—because it’s not about the
end. It’s about the journey, about having faith now, about letting that faith
grow and sustain us so that we can be of good cheer now. It’s about knowing now
that the Atonement is bigger than anything that can happen to us. Yes, it will
be glorious later, but the Lord wants us to learn how to be of good cheer now.
President Monson is
the Lord’s prophet on the earth, and this message is the Lord’s will for all of
us. The Lord has provided the way; He has overcome the world, not just so we
can have joy someday but so that our lives can having meaning now and we can be
of good cheer now. I also want to testify that the Lord loves us beyond our understanding.
He will be with us, and as we will put our faith in Him, that faith will buoy
us up and our futures will be bright. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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