Monday, October 20, 2014

Difficult Companions and Gifts From God

When serving as a missionary for the LDS Church you are assigned a companion to work with. Your companion is with you at all times, closer than a spouse or child. Almost the only separation comes when one of you needs to use the restroom. Usually the companionship works well, but sometimes it doesn't. And as I mentioned, you don't choose your companion.

I had several companions over the course of my two-year mission, and I learned something from all of them. And I liked almost all of them. I had one that really rubbed me the wrong way, though. And because I was doing my best to serve faithfully, I felt like the issues I had with my companion needed to be resolved. I did everything I knew how to do to develop charity (the pure love of Christ, as explained by an earlier post) so that I could love my companion. I prayed for him, and for us, and for charity; I fasted for him, and for us, and for charity; I served him in small ways that I thought would help me develop charity, like polishing his shoes or waking up early to make a good breakfast. After making these efforts I would almost immediately relapse into unkind feelings toward my companion once we had to interact. It was really discouraging. Then one day while studying charity in the scriptures I came across this verse in the Book of Mormon:

Moroni 7:48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love [charity], which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. 

What struck me as I read this verse is that charity is bestowed by God, which means to me that it is given how He sees fit. I had made a major mistake in trying to develop charity: I had assumed that by going through a list of good or recommended practices I would just end up having charity, like it was inevitable. Essentially I believed I would be blessed for being good. Now, I believe God does bless all His children for being good, but it happens the way He thinks is best, which may not correspond to what they think is best. I know God was teaching me a valuable lesson, which is that He blesses me because He is good, not because I am good; and my dependence on Him for everything is absolute.



Forrest
--Who always has a hard time with these one-line things

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