This photograph makes me smile. Looking at the little house against the backdrop of the magnificent mountain and landscape reminds me of our tiny attempts at creation or accomplishment or performance compared to the grandeur of God’s work. And yet, I don’t think that home is diminished in the comparison. It is not pitiful or worthless. Rather, it seems to me to be a hopeful snapshot of our potential.
Our daughter is currently in the MTC at home, learning Spanish and learning how to teach the gospel effectively. As I have watched her, I have marveled at what the Lord is able to accomplish with mere mortals in such a short time. I have been trying to brush up on my Spanish in an attempt to support her, but my efforts have not produced nearly the fruits of hers. It is awe inspiriting (but not surprising) that the Lord can take young adults and make them proficient in a foreign language and in an understanding of gospel principles to such an extent that they can convey the most fundamental and important truths of eternity to others of a limitless variety of backgrounds, interests and communication levels. There are times when she naturally feels wholly unequal to the responsibility before her, but her faith and experience help her to trust that the process works-that her efforts, combined with the gifts of the Spirit, will allow her to do what she was called to do-in mountainous, miraculous, God-like ways.
The task of doing God’s work is as vast and everlasting as He is, so of course we feel small and woefully inadequate in the undertaking. If we didn’t feel at least a bit overwhelmed it would suggest we did not fully appreciate the gravity and the significance of the work. Pres. Uchtdorf said, “The history of God’s work is filled with people who considered themselves inadequate.” (“A Yearning for Home,” Gen. Conf., Oct. 2017) The scriptures are replete with examples of those called to do great things who felt their lack: Moses, Enoch, Moroni, Gideon. The scriptures are also full of situations in which those engaged in the work of the Lord are smaller in stature and number than those opposing–think of David and Goliath, or the 2,000 stripling warriors. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “. . . This feeling of inadequacy is . . . normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. . . .. . . This is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. (“Notwithstanding My Weakness,” Ensign, November 1976, 12, 14) The Lord’s response in all of these situations is comforting: “Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” (2 Kings 6:16) “I have a work for thee…and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten.” (Moses 1:6) “My grace is sufficient for the meek…” (Ether 12:26) “Be not afraid…for I am with thee to deliver thee…” (Jeremiah 1:8) “…if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them…” (1 Nephi 17:3) It seems He wants us to recognize that while we may be insufficient on our own, it is His power and His words and His strength that will allow us to do His work. Thankfully, in Him there is no inadequacy.
So it doesn’t matter if we’re asked to be a prophet, to raise a family, to teach the youth, to overcome our own weaknesses, to repent, to forgive, to love, to lighten someone’s burden, to learn a language, to give up worldly things, to preach the gospel, to live a virtuous life in the midst of darkness and corruption, or any other thing that is a part of God’s work–in our own strength we will be inadequate. Our limited, humble attempts will be met with His infinite goodness, His grace and power, though, and will be enough. As we trust in His word and continue learning in all patience and faith, demonstrating by our efforts that we desire to do His work above all other things, our tiny contributions to that work will help us become capable of more than we can imagine.
