Happiness

While I didn't use the source talk a lot, there was one part that I did.

Remember, the talk was "Joy Through Covenant Discipleship" by Elder John A. McCune:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/04/46mccune?lang=eng 

He told various stories, about a mission president who carried warmth with him that people felt, and a woman who responded to that warmth when that mission president invited her to church. He told about how happy that woman's children were as they learned about commandments like tithing and felt that they needed to live them. 

He also told about the kindness and love extended by President Nelson on the same day that he lost a daughter to cancer. 

Many of these posts have been about how we are imperfect and that is normal and fine and it works out. As I think has also been clear, that can still be hard. 

I have heard people talk about how church membership gives you a lot of work. I don't see that as a downside, but I guess I do get that. When there are too many things that I want to get to, and I don't feel capable, that is frustrating.

There is also a lot of joy.

I had mentioned in one of the earlier posts how I can see hitting a plateau being a problem with spiritual growth, but as you keep getting new callings there is the opportunity for continued growth.

Again, it has been such a delight to get to know various women better and to relate to them.

Often we are relating about struggles. That's okay. I believe the struggle feels easier when you no longer thing that you are the only one. 

We'd had a member of the stake presidency visiting us when I spoke. He came up to me after and said that a lot of people felt the same way, worried about being enough. It is easy to not know that, but then once you become aware, you see it everywhere, and you also see that their efforts can be blessed and be enough, regardless.

I was at a meeting last week and a scripture came up that mentioned serving "with all your might".

My initial thought was that I have no might, but then, instead of "might" I gravitated on the "your".

Okay, my might is that while there are often things that I can't carry, I can sometimes still get them into place by shoving them.

I can be remarkably stubborn, which we can also call persistent to make it sound nicer.

My gift is not stamina, or smoothness or great musical skill or physical beauty or any kind of athleticism.

I am really smart, and good at working with data, and I love easily and listen well and I actually do have a lot of gifts that I can use to serve the people around me and God.

That brings me joy.

There are things that get me down. One pretty bad one that has been ongoing for a while now kicked up a notch last week. Do not think I didn't feel it.

I have still been strengthened and cared for, and life goes on.

Actually, one of my gifts is a fairly resilient emotional health, where I can roll with the punches pretty well. I know that there are people who have a harder time, and I am sorry for that.

I hope that there are people who care for you and help you.

I believe that you have your own gifts that can also help in different ways.

Those may not always be easy to figure out, but the joy in that is worth at least trying. 

 

Serving imperfectly

In general, the second counselor in the Relief Society presidency is over the activities during the week, with the first counselor focusing on the Sunday meetings. You have other people you work with, like teachers and music people for Sundays, and the Relief Society activities committee activities during the week.

(I hope all of this lore is interesting, as well as making some of these stories make more sense.)

I mention that because the head of the activities committee moved shortly before an upcoming activity (and shortly before I spoke). The new committee leader had not been called yet.

For that interim, I was in charge. There wasn't too much planning to do, but it felt very important to me to work on inviting more people. We don't get a lot of people at the activities. The ones who come seem to enjoy them, and that's the most important thing, but are there people who would benefit from coming that aren't there?

Anyway, inviting people seemed important. 

Normally my pattern is that there will be announcements and flyers on Sunday, an e-mail announcement two weeks before, a post in the Facebook group one week before, and then one last e-mail the day before. Is that the best way of doing it? I don't know, but it seems like a good amount of reminding without being too much.

This time I also sent cards to some people with flyers in them, and I talked to people and gave them flyers, and I think there was at least one text and one Facebook message to individuals too. What I know for sure is that of those extra steps, three people whom I personally handed flyers to came. Of those three, two of them are always there anyway. Did I sway one person? Probably not.

I mentioned this part in the talk, because if my purpose was to get more people to come to that activity, I failed.

However, if my purpose was to reach out to people to let them know I was thinking of them, or to remind them that these activities exist and attending is an option, or even for me that, "Hey, sometimes you're a little socially awkward and you could use the practice," then maybe I was successful.

It could be all of those.

Like I said, I will want to write more about ministering, but I was talking with one person who ministers to someone who was going through a bout of depression, which has been a recurring problem for her. No matter what she does, the person she is ministering to will still have depression. They can still have depression and know that you thought about them.

We have imperfect means and imperfect knowledge, so our attempts are most likely also going to be imperfect. 

They can still be helpful and beautiful.

Sometimes they can even be exactly right for the need at that time.   

Empathy

One of the most important parts in my talk, I think, was referencing the man in the Gadarenes from whom the demons were cast out. I did not remember writing about it before.

In fact, I had referenced it twice, in May 2017:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2017/05/trying-to-be-like-jesus-time-to-heal.html 

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2017/05/trying-to-be-like-jesus-potential.html 

Naturally, this was when I was writing about trying to be like Jesus, so I went over many, many things; I wouldn't expect to remember them all. Some incidents struck me more at the time, while I was aware of other incidents and people that related.

I am going to try and recreate the thinking, and where it changed. Remember, the talk was about discipleship. Sometimes just looking at things through a different lens makes the difference.

One thing I had noticed before was how the method Jesus used for healing blind people changed multiple times. I did write about it in 2017, but I had noticed it earlier:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2017/04/trying-to-be-like-jesus-healing-blind.html 

While I can't rule out that they had different forms of or causes for their blindness, I tended to think it was more about giving them spiritual as well as physical healing.

For example, the man who kept clamoring more loudly (and there are some details that blur between the two men and Bartimaeus, so I don't want to be too specific there), that indicated he already strongly believed in the Lord's power and had a desire for healing that would persist in the face of opposition, as people told him to quiet down.

Maybe that's why it was so instant, whereas the man blind from birth did not know what was happening. Instead, he had a chance to grow in knowledge and testify of it gradually.

Regardless, it was looking at that that made me look at any interactions with Jesus knowing that he knew the other person's needs and intent on their welfare. This also meant empathy and an understanding of what they were ready to accept.

So when he is discouraging people volunteering to follow him, or telling the Syrophenician woman he will not heal her daughter (though he does, just with some more teaching), there are things that can seem harsh to us as onlookers. They quite possibly felt harsh to the people in those encounters, but that I have to believe were ultimately designed for their good.

That is loving as Jesus loved.

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2025/09/as-i-have-loved-you.html 

Then, the other thing that I had really taken to heart back in 2017 was writing about 3 Nephi 17:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2017/02/trying-to-be-like-jesus-3-nephi-17.html 

The people had taken in as much teaching as they could absorb, so he wanted to give them a rest, but they didn't want him to leave. With compassion he found another way to engage with them, healing, ministering to their children, and loving them without taxing their minds further, even though there was going to be time for that later, after they had rested.

That is what led me back to the country of the Gadarenes.

We don't know anything about him, or how he became possessed in the first place, but we do know that once healed he wanted to follow Jesus. He apparently was not in any shape to do so, but, from Luke 8...

38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying,

39 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.

40 And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him.

He still did what he was asked.

He was asked only for something of which he was capable.

He still did good things with his assignment.

Is that not being a disciple?