The Staircase

I just got back from attending Stake Conference. We had a visiting general authority, Elder Enrique R. Falabella, who inspired me to write in here. I am going to try to paraphrase what he said (or what I heard and felt while he spoke). During his talk he asked us to visualize a staircase...

and at the top of this staircase is a sign that says "BLESSINGS". How are you going to get those blessings? Blessings don't have feet so they cannot come to you. You will have to do the work to get to where those blessings are, little by little, one step at a time. It will take work, but eventually you will be at the top of the staircase ready to receive all the blessings our Heavenly Father has promised you and has waiting for you. You just need to show up in person to receive them.

I love this analogy because it seems that many members want the blessings without having to do the work. That is how society in general is right now. Many have the entitlement mentality where privileges are rights and do not need to be earned or worked for. Are we entitled to something simply because we want it or need it? This is not how Heavenly Father works. He desperately wants to give us the promised blessings, but he will not reward us for bad behavior or for being idle when it comes to our participation and service in the church. It is only through our righteous actions that the reward will be realized. We will get exactly what we deserve...nothing more, nothing less. God is just!

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I liked another story that Elder Falabella shared with us. Again, I will be paraphrasing what I remember. He told of a time when he was living in Guatemala and he was the Stake President. The church announced that they would be building a temple in Guatemala and each stake was asked to earn $10,000 to donate to the construction fund. This might not seem like a lot to American members, but the members in Guatemala were very poor. Most families were living on only about $120/month! The Stake Presidency there decided to commit themselves to donate one month's worth of wages. They then asked the Bishops to do likewise, which they committed to do. The Bishops then personally asked each ward or branch member to do the same. Because of their faith and a desire to have a temple, the members exercised their faith, dug deep, and donated generously. Elder Falabella's stake ended up accumulating $27,000...well above the $10,000 that was asked of them. 

Guatemala Temple

Interestingly, before the donations were made, only about 4-5 people in the stake owned cars (mostly stake leaders) and had to walk, rely on public transportation, or ride bicycles to get where they needed to go. A few years later, when Elder Falabella returned to Guatemala after living in Costa Rica for a time, it amazed him to see how many cars there were in the parking lot at the church. The Lord had poured out his blessings upon the members for their sacrifice in donating funds for the temple.

The Lord will bless us, too, if we exercise our faith and do what is required of us. I plan to climb that staircase. How about you?