Sacrament meeting talks are kind of tricky. Some people make an outline and speak as they feel inspired. Other people write out every single word and read it carefully. Yet others write a talk and then decide not to use it at the last minute. I have always been a write-out-every-single-word kind of person, but each time I give my talk I have managed to ad-lib a little bit here and there (we’re talking 2 or 3 word comments). For example, in my first talk back as a lowly 13 year old, I had to write “look up” every sentence or two to remind myself not to hide behind my paper, but on my most recent talk, 13 years later, I did NOT have to put those clever little reminders in. Progress!
A few weeks ago on January 20th, I gave a talk about the Godhead. I thought about posting it on here but at the time I felt too…vulnerable, for lack of a better word. I despise standing in front of people and talking for 20 minutes straight, so even if my talk was substantial and spiritual, I needed time to get OVER it after it was done, you know? Plus, lots of people in our ward read this blog and it made me feel even more vulnerable to have my talk up in the spotlight again. I know, it makes no sense. But that’s the best way I can explain how I feel!
Well, I have mailed this talk to my missionary brother Kyle, and today I sent it to my Dad. He liked it so much that he asked me to send it to my other siblings. That made me think that maybe a few other select folks that I know and love may want to read it. But I’m too chicken to decided which of you to force it upon in an email, so I decided to just post the thing here.
[I did omit the “brief introduction of your family” that I was asked to give, because that’s the main part that I added to at the last minute and the part I did write out really looks lame on paper]
The day I gave this talk, I managed to stretch it into 20 minutes with measured pauses and an easy reading pace, because the youth speaker was home sick. Also, I blushed, trembled, and cried intermittently throughout the whole thing, of course. Well, ok, here it is:
The Godhead
by Shaina White
My topic is the Godhead. The youth have this same topic for all of their Sunday school and young men/young women lessons in the month of January. So this month they have at least 8 hours to discuss and learn about the Godhead. I only have 15 minutes to talk about it!
The first article of faith says, “We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” The Godhead is made up of 3 separate beings: Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. They each have distinct roles but are united in purpose and doctrine. Joseph Smith said “It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God.” (Quoted in July 2006 Ensign, Pres. Hinckley: “In these three I believe.”)
This is information we need to know FIRST and foremost in the gospel. Everything else in the gospel stems from this vital knowledge. When we know God’s character, we understand ourselves and our own purposes: where we come from, WHO we come from, where we’re going, and WHO we want to become. That gives us direction and peace in our confusing, crazy world.
Like many tourists, Jeff and I got a kick out of the recorded voice on the London Underground that said “mind the gap,” every time the train stopped, warning us not to trip on the edge of the platform on our way out of the train. I think that’s one of the challenges of the gospel: “minding the gap” between knowing the doctrine and applying it to ourselves. Like the different stops on the Underground, some gaps are bigger than others. It’s easy to see how to apply some points of doctrine daily, like the Word of Wisdom. Don’t drink or smoke. Got it. But how can we apply our knowledge of the Godhead into how we live each day? Since there are well over 8 hours’ worth of things to say about the Godhead, I’m going to focus on WHO they are and some things we can DO with our knowledge of their divine attributes.
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are perfect examples of unity, love, and service. The Holy Ghost helps us learn of their ways and follow their example.
First, Unity. 3 Nephi 11:36 says, “And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one.” The Godhead is made of 3 distinct beings who work in perfect unity toward the same goals. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, “We believe these three divine persons constituting a single Godhead are united in purpose, in manner, in testimony, in mission. We believe Them to be filled with the same godly sense of mercy and love, justice and grace, patience, forgiveness, and redemption.” (Oct 2007 Gen Conf)
We are all separate beings in the church/our ward, but we need to work together to build faith, serve, and welcome others. Unity allows us to be instruments in the hands of the Lord. We are commanded to be one over and over throughout the scriptures…
Like it says in Mosiah 18:21 “And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.”
And Doctrine and Covenants 38:27 “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.” We have lots of different “levels” of unity. When we are unified with our spouse, we can lead our families the right way and have daily joy from a sturdy, loving relationship. When we are unified as a family, we qualify to have the spirit in our home. When we are unified with our home/visiting teaching companion, we can serve our assigned families effectively, be their friends, and meet their needs. When we are unified as a ward, we can establish our own little version of Zion right here through missionary work, service, and love. The Godhead is a perfect model for us of how well unity works, and what it really means to be ONE.
Love and service go hand in hand so I’ll put them together. They are two of the Godhead’s main defining qualities. When we look at how they serve with love, we can learn how to do the same more often every day.
Moses 1:39 “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Heavenly Father’s main work is serving and helping us, his children. One way we can act on this knowledge is to serve our kids like he serves us. He is the perfect parent—literally! We can model our parenting on his example. For example, He works constantly for the welfare of his children [us]. He lets us know what is right, but he always lets us choose for ourselves, whether we choose right or wrong. He sends us comfort through the Holy Ghost when we are sad, and he rejoices with us when we’re happy. He always wants us to talk to him, and he wants us to ask him for help.
Heavenly Father’s selfless devotion to his children is my biggest inspiration as a parent. Now that I’m a parent, I know that it takes constant effort to be even half as selfless at serving and helping my family as Heavenly Father is at serving us! I’m glad that I get to experience what it feels like to love my children so much that it’s worth all the effort to devote myself to them unselfishly. When I think about how much I love my own kids, I can sort of start to understand a little bit of how much Heavenly Father loves all of us.
Three of the times that I feel Heavenly Father’s love the strongest are when I’m in the temple, when I see a newborn baby, and when I serve others. Doing temple work for Heavenly Father’s other children helps me feel his Fatherly love for them and his approval for me strongly. In the temple the Spirit is unrestrained, and heaven feels closer. When I see a newborn baby, I feel Heavenly Father’s love through the huge amount of trust and confidence he has in us when he gives his sweet, pure spirits to our care. When I serve others, I feel closer to the Lord because I know I’m doing what he would do. I know he loves us because I have felt his love many times. If we follow his example of love and service, we will draw closer to him and have his spirit with us more strongly.
Jesus Christ is also a perfect example of loving service. Acts 10:38 says that Jesus “went about doing good.” During his earthly life, Jesus always took time to help and show love to all in his path, like when he was going to help Jairus’s daughter. The story is in Luke 8: “And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him” (v. 41-42). Right here I always think that Jesus will go straight to the dying girl, but even while he’s on his way to help her urgent needs, he makes time for another.
The next few verses say, “And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.” (Luke 8:43-48) Even when Jesus was on his way to do good, he didn’t rush past another person in need. He was never too busy for anyone.
In last October’s General Conference, President Uchtdorf said: "Isn’t it true that we often get so busy? And, sad to say, we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life. Is it? I think of our Lord and Exemplar, Jesus Christ, and His short life among the people of Galilee and Jerusalem. I have tried to imagine Him bustling between meetings or multitasking to get a list of urgent things accomplished. I can’t see it. Instead I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day. When He interacted with those around Him, they felt important and loved. He knew the infinite value of the people He met. He blessed them, ministered to them. He lifted them up, healed them. He gave them the precious gift of His time."
The Savior’s gift of time is such a powerful example to me. It’s so easy to get caught up in daily tasks when we need to be stopping along our busy way and taking time to listen for promptings and help others in need. Most of you know that I went through an intense pregnancy sickness last August and September. I felt the Savior stop to help me and my family through that ordeal every time one of YOU dear ward members stopped by to visit, clean my house, bring us food, drive me to the hospital, or take care of my kids. I think I cried more out of gratitude during that sickness than I ever did over the physical discomfort. Every time I thanked people for their help, they always said it was not a big deal. If you look at each act of service alone, it doesn’t sound like anything to tear up over, but I laid limply in my chair and became increasingly overwhelmed at how a hundred seemingly small acts of service added up to equal something enormous. We are instructed to slow down and take time to listen to the Spirit because that’s how the Lord takes care of us—through each other. It’s one of the most important ways we can follow Jesus’ example.
Every day I have to work at remembering to pause and decide if what I’m doing is the best way to use my time. I know when I slow down and take the time to give my attention to the best things, like my family, we are all happier, I feel the Spirit more in our home, and our love for each other grows.
I can’t talk about loving service without mentioning the biggest act of loving service ever to occur in the history of the world: the atonement. The Living Christ says, “None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth.” Jesus Christ is our shining example of pure, loving service. Our challenge is to let his example profoundly influence us and “purposefully live each day,” “going about doing good.”
The Holy Ghost, or the comforter, helps us do this. He helps us gain a testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and guides us as we try to follow them. The handy True to the Faith book says, “You can receive a sure testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ only by the power of the Holy Ghost. His communication to your spirit carries far more certainty than any communication you can receive through your natural senses.” (p.82) I really like how that is worded: the way the Holy Ghost speaks to us is the most effective form of communication!
D&C 130:22 says, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.” Because the Holy Ghost is a spirit, he can dwell within us and speak to our spirits. He speaks straight to our hearts. When we are open and willing to listen to the Spirit, he helps us do what is right through promptings and feelings.
How do we tell when the Holy Ghost is communicating to us? Doctrine and Covenants 8:2 says, “Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.” When our mind agrees with our heart, then we know that the prompting is coming from the Spirit.
John 14:26-27 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Moroni 10:5 “And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things.”
Because he is our constant companion after baptism, the Holy Ghost comforts us and helps us in both small and big ways. About 2 weeks ago, my little boy Jay lost one of his beloved homemade toy soldiers. It was just an old medicine bottle with a picture of a toy soldier taped on the front, but he loves those things, and one of them got lost. Monday night this week for family home evening, we had a lesson about prayer. We told Jay that Heavenly Father helps us find things when we pray and ask him for help, and we said he could even help Jay find his one missing toy soldier. SO, that night in his prayers, Jay said “please help me find my toy soldier.” It was completely sweet to hear him ask for something that was so small, yet so important to his little 3 1/2-year-old self. All the next day, Jay kept asking me if Heavenly Father was looking for his toy soldier. I kept explaining that JAY had to do the looking, and Heavenly Father would help him know where to look. Tuesday ended with no sign of the toy soldier. Tuesday night, Jay prayed again for help finding his toy soldier. And when Jeff and I said our prayers together, I prayed for help to find the soldier too! On Wednesday after lunch, Jay asked me if I would help him look for his toy soldier again. It felt like a good idea to start by looking underneath the couches. We looked under the upstairs couch, and there was nothing there. We went to the basement and looked under that couch and Jay shouted, “I FOUND MY TOY SOLDIER!!!!” He was so completely excited and happy. After we had hugged and celebrated a little, I encouraged Jay to say a prayer of thanks for the help. So Jay and I knelt down together and he said the dearest, simplest prayer; “Heavenly Father, thank thee for helping me find my toy soldier.” It was such a tender moment to see my little boy’s prayer answered through the promptings of the Spirit. I know that the Lord loves us enough to send his Spirit to help even the smallest person with the smallest concern.
During my sickness last August, I got pretty used to handling my queasy physical weakness. When my pregnancy ended in a miscarriage in September, I thought I was done with the hospital and all that physical agony. Well, I ended up making one more trip to the ER, when I almost passed out one night. The triage nurse found that my blood pressure was very low, and suddenly an army of nurses whisked me away to a bright room and hooked me up to a bunch of machines. Lying there feeling so completely helpless and on the edge of consciousness, I felt a huge wave of fear. I was used to going to the hospital for IV fluids. I was even used to needing a wheelchair to make it all the way back to the outpatient services. But I was NOT used to feeling like I was going to pass out! It was a new, scary feeling! I remember—vaguely—saying a little prayer for comfort while I laid there. I am so very thankful for the peace that the Holy Ghost gives when we ask for it, whether it’s for a little thing like finding a toy soldier, or for a big scary thing like being in the hospital.
I am so thankful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the Godhead is made up of three separate beings: Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. They work together in unity. They have shown us how to love and serve each other. I know they love us, and I love them. When we turn to them and follow their example, they will help us through our trials and build our faith along the way.
