Savior of the World

Here I go again, with another resolve to write on this blog.

In January, I was asked to direct a local production of {Savior of the World}. I had 12 weeks to put together the show; anyone who has been part of a production knows that’s not a lot of time. Plus, I broke my toe in the middle of production. I had plenty of opportunities to be frazzled and break down, however, every time I felt about to hit that point, I would feel a calm reassurance that everything would work out. I knew that was from the Lord. There were times that the only thing keeping me going was this blessing; because I only saw the big picture with my mortal eyes, He saw what our potential was and kept me moving.

From the beginning, my focus was meant to be on Jesus Christ, after all, it was a play about His Resurrection. So, every time, any one of us got together we’d say a prayer and have devotional. I can testify of the power of the Spirit in this production. I can’t begin to number the times where myself or someone else in the production felt the guidance of the Spirit. We came together, as a group, and became a family; a family one with our Lord and Savior. I know this came from inviting the Spirit through prayer and focusing our minds to who we were representing, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Another big decision was to take the performance area off the ‘stage’ and put it in the audience; it’s called ‘Intimate Theatre.’ I felt, and the Spirit confirmed, this was the best way for an audience to take the world away and focus completely on their feelings toward the Savior. And focusing on their feelings came from the characters in the play. Through the characters’ own personal journeys to the Savior, our audience was able to, hopefully, gain a deeper appreciation for these people who had a first-hand witness to the reality of the Savior’s resurrection and deepen their own. This was my goal… for all of us involved to REMEMBER HIM and I saw that in the audience reaction on performance nights.

Everyone involved worked tremendously hard on this performance and it was because of our individual connections to the Savior. I felt of His love and understanding for us; we wanted to invite others to come unto Him, so He was with us. He knew of our little production and what we were trying to accomplish. During production I kept repeating, ‘if one person involved (cast, crew, audience) draws closer to Christ because of the production, then we did our job.’ I know we did our job because I’ve drawn closer to Him (and I know others did too because they told me), and for that I’ll look back on this experience and be forever grateful.

Developing our Talents

My lesson today in Sunday School was on Developing our Talents. Sometimes I have wondered what our talents are for and I found this quote while preparing my lesson.

"The Lord has said that we shall be tested and tried to prove if we will do all things that he shall command. We are striving for perfection. The Lord has given us the admonition: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' (Matt. 5:48) Life offers us many challenges that make this achievement difficult. How will we meet these challenges? God has granted to each of us gifts, talents, and abilities, with the hope and expectation that we will increase and use them - not for selfish purposes, but for the benefit of others."

I love this quote because it tells us that we can become perfect by developing our talents and sharing them with others. Heber J. Grant's motto was this: "That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing is changed, but that our power to do is increased." I am going to try to make this my motto as well. Our talents are so important. By seeking them out, developing them, and sharing them with others our relationship with our Heavenly Father and our Savior will grow. We will become disciplined and have more self-control.

I encourage us all to take the time to seek out a new talent this week. The best way to do this is to first pray for guidance and then try something new. Once you discover one of your talents take the time to develop it and then don't forget to share it. Remember this: Practice makes permanent, perfect practice makes perfect!

Okay, so those were a lot of random thoughts all jumbled together. I hope that they make a little bit of sense! Happy Sunday to you all!