Be more committed
Don't put off duties- Give heart to the Lord
One of the many needs of the Church is for people who will do what they have agreed to do, Elder F. Burton Howard of the Seventy said during the Saturday afternoon session.
The need is for people "who will quietly, patiently and consistently do what they have agreed to do - for as long as it takes - and who will not stop until they have finished," he declared.
Elder Howard of the Seventy said that stake presidents regularly tell him their members need to be more committed and more dedicated.
He began his address by telling the story of a 10-hour car trip that he, his wife and his young son took several years ago to visit his parents. In an attempt to get their son to go to sleep in the car, the parents told him they were going to play hide and seek. They told their son to close his eyes until they had time to hide and then they would call him. They went through the process several times, each time waiting longer before calling him.
Finally, the parents waited for several minutes before whispering congratulations to each other on their success.
Elder Howard related: "Then, from out of the back seat came the sobbing voice of a heartbroken little boy. `You didn't call me and you said you would.'
" `You didn't do what you agreed to do,' " Elder Howard continued. "What a terrible accusation. It was a defining moment in our lives. We knew that we could never play that game again."
Then he reminded Church members of some of the things they commit to do: "We agree to serve one another, to mourn with those that mourn, to comfort those that stand in need of comfort. We promise to visit each other. We make covenants. We agree to share the gospel and do vicarious work for the dead. Just like the incident in the car many years ago, we sometimes fail to do what we have promised to do."
Reasons for that failure, according to Elder Howard, include putting off commitments, considering other things to be more important, feeling inadequate and wanting to avoid being fanatical.
Members of the Church are a covenant-making people, Elder Howard said. Then he added: "We need to be known as a covenant-keeping people as well."
He told of a funeral he once attended where Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke. Elder Howard remembered: "He said, Life isn't over for a Latter-day Saint until he or she is safely dead, with their testimony still burning brightly.'Safely dead' - what a challenging concept. Brothers and sisters, we will not be safe until we have given our hearts to the Lord, until we have learned to do what we have promised to do."
