Seminary Diaries ~ Are We Not All Beggars?

I recently had a humbling experience while preparing for a seminary lesson. I was teaching a lesson on helping the poor and needy and I used a talk by Jeffrey R Holland, entitled, Are We Not All Beggars . In this talk he references the Savior and how he was essentially homeless for most of his adult life. I totally get why that was. He had to live in humble circumstances for the whole plan and atonement and everything to have worked the way it did… I totally get that. That is not a new idea for me.

But what struck me about that concept was the contrast in that situation and how very blessed I am in my life. My husband and I ahave been kind of looking around for a home to buy and I have recognized that we have turned down several really nice homes because they don’t meet our requirements. They don’t have a large kitchen with lots of cabinets to store all my “stuff”. Or they don’t have a 5 piece master bath. Or the master bedroom isn’t big enough for a king size bed and a living room set (insert exaggerated expression here). We have been looking for certain characteristics in a home because we felt that we have sacrificed over the years and that we have “earned” the right to have certain comforts in our next home. Then I watch a video where someone is pointing out that the Son of Man had no place to lay his head. WOW!!! I feel sufficiently humbled.

It makes me take a step back and recognize that we are so truly blessed. Abundantly blessed with so many temporal blessings that I can’t even begin to count them all. Blessed that we have an income and a roof over our head and food to eat and warm clothing and a soft place to rest my weary body at the end of the day. Those are 5 basic things that the Savior did not have on a regular basis. Who am I to complain about the things that I have not been blessed with. It doesn’t matter how many bathtubs are in my home or how many cabinets are in my kitchen. What matters most is if I am willing to share what is in my home with anyone who is in need.

We also watched a video that was a social experiment by a couple of guys. One dressed in a suit and looked like a successful business man and took a set of crutches and hit the streets and purposely stumbled and every time, people stopped to help him. The other dressed like a homeless man and also took a set of crutches and did the exact same things, but time after time, people just kept walking and going about their business. Finally someone went to his aid… and get this… it was another homeless man! It was so hard to watch the homeless man be so invisible to those around him and the moment was very tender when one of his own stood to give him aid. I recognized my own weakness in being somewhat selective in who I offer service to. I feel sufficiently humbled by this “ah-hah” moment as well. If you want to view this social experiment you can see it here. The Little Things

I have realized that we are ALL beggars in some way. We are all in need of something. At the very least we will one day find ourselves begging for mercy at the feet of the Savior as we ask him to make up for our shortcomings and what we have failed to do in this life.  I am more committed now to look around me and recognize “the least of these” and withhold judgment rather than compassion when someone around me is in need.  I am refocusing my priorities and instead of looking for the things that I lack in my life, I am now focusing on the things that I have been given and “because I have been give much, I too must give!”