Week 3: Glass Tools

Hello all you lovely people,

Moroni 7:47 "But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."

We've got a lot to be thankful for. I know that's a pretty generic way to start out an email being written the day before the holiday of thanks (or the holiday of gluttony, depending on what type of a person you are), but the idea of charity has been parading through my mind the past few days. Perhaps 'parading' is the wrong word, the word has been sticking out at me, using it's big bold meanings to subtly work it's way into my subconscious. The four people in my dormitory made a goal to try and find examples of charity in our lives and it's something that I've really taken to heart. 

Elder Monson

Charity is everywhere. Yet it is also nowhere. Charity can be like a diamond perched in the dirt: an object prized above all others, reserved for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. It all depends on your perspective. Some people just see the diamond- those charitous actions so blatant and obvious they can't help but make you feel a little bit inadequate or jealous for not having noticed it before. Some see charity like a blacksmith sees metal- the resources needed to make a tool, a means to an end. Whether that end be personal glory, glory for God, or glory for a cause, it is always a tool. Others don't see either. Others (I don't know who, precisely) go through life without an understanding of what it means to have the pure love of Christ in your life, to be blessed by miracles small and simple. Simple, yet bold. In a way that's how we all are at times; it's impossible for our human minds to comprehend just how much we've been given.

But I'm coming to understand something for each time I see charity's hands reaching out towards me I learn to understand it just a little bit better. Charity isn't a diamond, nor is it a tool, and it certainly isn't something to be ignored. It's stone. Firm, unchanging, powerful. Unbreakable. Below is a picture of Jesus Christ, a statue of stone, hands of stone. Charity truly is the pure love of Christ.

It's just a shame that human souls can be as fragile as glass.

Two and a half years ago, I went on a humanitarian trip through the HEFY organization. We went to help construct buildings for the elderly and disabled who had been abandoned by their family. We finished the roof. We put up thick granite crossbeams, laid down the roof's foundation by putting bricks on the top, and mixed concrete to finish it off. Overall the process took 2 weeks.

That trip was a first for me in more ways than one: it was the first time that my body couldn't cope with the pressure I put on it, the first time that I could glimpse how blessed my life is, the first time I realized that it's okay to cry- to weep. The first time for many many other things that may or may not come up in future emails. But, relevant to this email, it was the first time that I understood the meaning of three words, 'friend,' 'tool,' and 'miracle'. That trip was quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done in my life- for reasons too complicated and too personal for me to get into now. The entire time I felt as though I were treading water in the midst of a stormy sea, each wave threatening to push me under. Sometimes those waves succeeded. 

But when they did, there was someone there. Someone with hands- not of stone-  but of glass, slowly cracking under the strain and pressure, glowing brilliantly under the light of the sun, true nature obscured to my eyes.

Her name was Brynn. And she has been through some seriously terrible things in her life- ones that are again too personal for me to talk about here. But though serious and terrible I felt my struggles were at the time, her's were beyond my comprehension. And every time I was ready to give everything up, she was there, reaching through the veil of water down towards me. I don't even think she knew she was doing it. I love her for that. Not in any sort of romantic way, but in a way that's far more powerful. The same way we all ought to love our Redeemer, whose hands are always stretched down to us, should we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

 I haven't had much contact with Brynn in the past two and a half years. I can only hope that she is well. But she was a miracle from our Heavenly Father, a miracle meant just for me.Though I can only imagine that the pieces of her soul were cracked and falling apart, the Lord used her as a tool anyways.

Charity is the pure love of Christ. But Christ will almost always use others to do his work. So have a little more charity in your lives. Look for it. Have it. Be it.Because no matter how broken or whole you are, no matter how poor of a tool you think you are, let yourself be used by the Lord to help bless the lives of others. Someone, someday, will need your help. Yours, personally.

How much power one tool- when used with omnipotent precision- can have is staggering; broken and fragile though it may be.

Elder Brayden Hunter Monson

Elders in District B

1st branch and District B