To The Rescue

~ *Note* This is not a happily-go-lucky "look what I just put up on my wall to make it prettier" post. It's a personal gospel insight post that may or may not lead members of my church to take action in their own lives. If you don't know anything about the church I belong to, a lot of my references won't make sense. Feel free to leave me a comment if you want clarification or visit Mormon.org for more information. ~ 

I'm the 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency in our ward and lately I've really enjoyed having the opportunity to go to several leadership training meetings. At almost every one the theme seems to have been "Rescue".

At least three different speakers used this painting in one way or another in their presentations. The painting is called: *deep breath* 

Lifeboat and Manby Apparatus going off to a stranded vessel making signal blue lights of distress

Apparently, Joseph Mallord William Turner didn't understand back in 1831 that a picture is worth a thousand words and he didn't have to put those thousand words in the title. But me calling someone wordy would be the pot calling the kettle black and besides that's not really the point. The point is President Monson spoke about this painting in a general priesthood session back in 2001 and I'm told he has a copy of it hanging in his office today. You can read the whole talk here.  He "abbreviated the name of the painting in his mind" and refers to it as To The Rescue.

All the leaders who shared this painting talked about how he compared the people in the stranded boat to people struggling in the gospel, either because of sin or for any other reason. They talked about the men in the lifeboat as being members of the church who go out of their way to reach out and help those people back into activity. And the woman and children on the shore are those who are desperately praying for their family members to be brought home safely.

The most impressing note I remember was when Elder Duncan of the seventy spoke at our Stake Conference over the weekend. He talked about how he served many years in Chile and how when the earthquake struck there a few days ago, every missionary that he had served with there and that had since returned home, called his cell phone and practically begged for ways to help. They talked about leaving school and work and going to Chile to do what ever was necessary to rescue as many people as they could. Elder Duncan went on to say how he was impressed at the time with the thought that, as wonderful as it is that people are willing to sacrifice and travel immense distances to help others in times of natural disaster or other physical hardship, how many more people are there immediately around us that need all the spiritual help they can get. The love of Christ is universal and it's a basic commandment to assist the poor and needy, but temporal items are of little importance compared to lifting a downtrodden soul. 

His point really struck me. As I thought about it, it occurred to me that maybe part of why we like jumping to the rescue when physical disaster strikes is because we're not really putting much on the line then. Anyone can see the need, we don't have to explain ourselves, and we can pretty much expect our help to be welcomed because the recipient is humbled and out of options. On the other hand, when we see someone who is lost spiritually, we have a tendency to hesitate. "What if they are offended because they think I'm judging them?" "What if I don't know what to say and they ask questions I can't answer?" "What if it's hard for them to change something in their lives to follow a commandment?" "What if they get mad at me?" "What if they're just not interested?" 

"I might get embarrassed."

It's a difficult pill to swallow but I think if we really step back and compare our reactions to a regional natural disaster and a personal spiritual disaster we might have our priorities a bit skewed. I am not AT ALL saying that we should be less concerned and helpful when an earthquake or fire or hurricane hits, but just that we need to be that much more concerned about relieving spiritual anguish. This mortal life is fleeting, and as Elder Duncan pointed out, the resurrection is going to take care in the end of all the physical saving we'll need. But God wants more for his children than that. He wants us to come home and go into the family business. He wants us to grow and become all that He is. He wants us to be HAPPY. And he weeps as He looks upon his children and knows even better than we do how unhappy we are as we walk around ignoring one another. 

I feel that I'm the worst offender of all when it comes to this; getting caught up in myself and putting my comfort before the needs of others. I wouldn't have shared any of it if it didn't apply to me first and foremost. In my most honest moments I wonder if I'm really shy or just a snob. And my most frequently used excuse is that I can't presume to know what's best for other people and telling them the church is true would be stepping on their toes. The problem with that is, the church IS true and denying it won't do any good. God himself has shown the way and calls it the only way. He doesn't want me to just blow off people's true feelings but when it comes to sharing the gospel, his message is universally one of help; and making up excuses just to save myself face is pretty ludicrous. How can I expect to grow up to be just like my All-Knowing Father if I can't be bothered for the time of day to learn a person's name? Or to be like my All-Powerful Father if I can't speak with boldness as I testify of the truthful necessity of the principles and ordinances of the gospel? And how can I possibly hope to be anything like my Ever-Merciful Father if I can't look at a "less active" member of the church and forget all my stupid pride so I can fall down on my knees and beg them to allow me to wash their feet?

I might be wrong, but I don't think "I never got embarrassed" is going to be the password to get in at the "pearly gates" of the Celestial Kingdom. If it is, I definitely won't be getting in anyway.