Area Leadership Message
The Warmth of the Gospel
It is June already and here in New Zealand, there have been a few early morning frosts and the flutter of falling snowflakes in the deep south to remind us that the chill of winter has arrived. While a young boy in my Te Aroha home, nestled beneath an evergreen mountain, the kitchen fire was started each winter’s morning to heat the kitchen and to cook a hearty and warmly welcomed pot of porridge for breakfast.
I have reflected on what else can keep us warm—not just in the winter months—and have settled on the warmth of the gospel.
Gospel teachings help us to understand who we are and that gives us a warm sense of belonging. I am, as you are, a beloved child of heavenly parents who care for us and who want us to succeed in our journey through mortality. They knew from the beginning that the journey would be demanding, and they also knew that it needs to be that way for us to grow and to become more like our Saviour. At all times, and especially in those moments of desperation, we can feel the warmth of loving heavenly parents.
An added warmth comes as we make and keep sacred covenants, made possible through the restored Priesthood of God. No matter what the trials might be around us, and there are many, we know that as covenants are made and kept, we can live again in the warm embrace of the Lord.
As cold as a Sunday morning might be, we feel warmth as we enter the chapel, whether it be made of bricks or palm fronds. We also feel a warm welcome from fellow members. None of us is perfect but all of us want to be better and we see that desire radiate from each other. Members come to meetings prepared to share their insights, to give an encouraging smile, and to testify, if by no other means than by their presence, that we belong with them in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us always be sure in our branches and wards that there be “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).
Our hearts are further warmed as we sit in our weekly sacrament service and partake of the emblems of the sacrament in remembrance of the Lord’s sacrifice of His flesh and blood which He gave for each of us. To be loved so much by Jesus Christ that an atoning sacrifice would be made by Him for us, certainly warms our hearts.
The scriptures also lighten the way and warm the souls of all who will consecrate a little time each day to learn of Him. Learning the teachings of Christ pushes back darkness and lets His warming light into our souls.
We enjoy an increase of peace that the Saviour promised us and are enlightened by the words of the prophets as we hear the guiding voice of the Lord.
As our temples return to full operation, we see their lights at night as a warm invitation to qualify to enter the house of the Lord where we feel the warmth and comfort of the Lord as we learn more of Him and make sacred covenants.
How very grateful I am for a little wooden house under a mountain that reminds me that even on cold winter mornings, you and I can have the warmth of the gospel in our lives.