Week #101

A Perfect Brightness of Hope by Scott Sligting

101 weeks.

707 days.

16,968 hours.

Is that a long time?

Some days I would answer yes.

Some days I would answer yes a little less quick.

Some days I MIGHT even say no, that it really isn't that long.

Because, at the end of any given period of time you don't remember everything, solely the few moments that burned themselves into your memory. 

Things like 

Debating about calling CPS on a family with 4 children,

Holding a bucket for an alcoholic to throw up into,

Seeing a grandma have a stroke and narrowly avoid hitting your car before crashing,

The first time you walk into a trailer that houses a family of 10 that's the size of your living room at home,

Hearing the cries of someone who just got the phonecall for a loved one's death.

101 weeks is not a long time after all, actually. But some moments seemed to last an eternity.

"[T]he time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream..." [Jacob 7:26]

I wonder sometimes how many people I've talked to here.

Let's say I talked to 10 people a day.

7070 people talked to. 

Most days we would aim for 30-50 contacts.

21210-35350 people.

I wonder how many of them remember me, or ever think back to meeting me. 

I was BOLD with some of them. 

I'm sure some man will look back at the end of his life and remember me telling him that he was on the path to destruction.

Some people I was so passive with;

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. Would you like a card? No? Well have a nice day ma'am."

I think it's so interesting how we would all like to be remembered, but we live our lives in such a forgettable way for the majority of it. We give into the temptation to just "pass by" when we could leave a mark.

What a difference it makes to be actively engaged in trying to be a person who "changes" things! 

I think that there is a danger in simply "existing", in that where there is no struggle there is no growth. 

["[W]e rationalize as we comfortably choose the course of least resistance, thereby burning fewer calories of needed change." (Becoming like Him, oct.2020 GC)]

Was anyone remembered for being ordinary?

Have you ever had someone threaten to shoot you for simply asking if you could teach a lesson about Christ? 

What kind of logic could a Christian present wherein they believe that Christ would be proud of that action?

People are so full of fury and hatred over events that are so trivial.

Why do we get angry at all? Haven't we all made mistakes? Or misspoken?

People are so quick to anger, so quick to be rude to another person; Why?

Imagine yourself in their shoes: wouldn't you like someone to be kind to you?

"But Elder Reginato, people can act however they want!"

That's true, very true. That doesn't change this from being true:

-"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." [Luke 6:31]

-"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." [Matt. 25:40]

-"For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory." [DyC 88:22]

You're still accountable for what you do, it doesn't matter why you do it. If you can't act the way you're supposed to then your "belief" isn't real. Christ can change any of us to be better, we just have to be willing to let Him.

Be kind.

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." [Matt. 5:9]

I love you all.

I'll see you next week actually.

E.R