High Council Talk just before my life changed drastically.

Enduring to the End

One of the things I enjoyed most growing up in Farmington was hiking in the mountains and seeing how the early settlers in this area developed the way of getting the water out of the creeks to water the fields. Then I would get to come down and set the water on the rows of corn. Often times in the late summer the stream flows just were not that strong. One experience that had a great impact on me happened on one of these hot summer afternoons. As the end of our water turn began to approach I realized that there was not going to be enough time to water all of the rows with the amount of water that was in the stream before our turn was over. I new that with heat of the day, the last rows might not be able to make it without water until our next water turn. I had promised my grandfather that I could take care of the farm while he was on his mission. So I walked down into the corn field and told prayed. With all the faith I had I went back to the head ditch and opened up the last rows so the water could flow their. But, the stream flow did not increase. Finally the time for our ward turn had ended and I set the water on the last rows. As I headed home our neighbor Rawl Rice was heading toward the Davis Creek to start his water turn. He got almost to the creek and walked back to Glover’s lane and weighted for me there. When I got there he said Brent, I was going to take my water turn, but I think that I will cut the hay in that field today so would you be able to use the water for a little longer. Brothers and Sisters of our Heavenly Father cares that a 13 year old boy gets his last eight rows of corn watered then how much more does he care about each of us and our struggles in life.
The Lord has said:
7 And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.

(Doctrine and Covenants Section 14:7)


When I was young I had the opportunity of helping my father on weekends to do land surveying. There to me was not anything more boring than this. I would hold the measuring chain and give my father directions through the transit. People would drive by and give me dirty looks and I was just bored. On occasion I would just stop the chain and watch through the transit to see if I could make my dad fall or get mad or something (he was along distance away from me). But by doing this and other stupid things, goofing around I sometimes would bump the transit. If you bump the transit a little it can really cause you to put a property corner in the wrong place. Every time my dad would come back he would check the point and then he would lift up the lens of the transit and say that looks good or what happened. As I became older I asked what are you doing how can you tell if everything is ok or not. He said after I set the correct angle I find a mark in the distance the side of another house, a fence post, or a tree and then when I come back I can verify if everything is still on line.
As we struggle through life how do we determine if we are just existing or are we enduring?

As a young boy I usually had the choice in the summer to choose between farming and land surveying. They both paid the same. NOT MUCH! I would always choose farming you could at least see that you accomplished something when you were done. I had the opportunity to prepare seed beds or to keep weeds from growing or to remove rocks from fields. Usually the fields had been cleared from rocks and sagebrush for many years. One year; however, when I was in high school, we decided to use the foothills just above the cemetery as one of our fields. We spent many hours preparing that seedbed removing sagebrush, clearing stones, and preparing the soil. These experiences really helped me to understand the parable sower.
(New Testament Matthew 13:3 - 9)
3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.


15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

(New Testament Mark 4:15 - 20)
What do we need to do to make sure that when we are given opportunities to spiritually grow opportunities to demonstrate or faith in the grace of Christ through obedience and enduring to the end; that we eagerly accept the opportunity and do the work.

In order to get the greatest benefit from spiritual opportunities President James E. Faust has said: “We also need to prepare our own seedbeds of faith. To do this we need to plow the soil through daily humble prayer, asking for strength and forgiveness. We need to harrow the soil by overcoming our feelings of pride. We need to prepare the seedbeds by keeping the commandment to the best of our ability.”

To prevent the seeds of the gospel from falling by the wayside we must constantly seek after spiritual things. “ We need to give place in our heart that the seed may be planted”
It would do very little good if we went through all of the effort to prepare the soil to be a seedbed and then just left the seeds in the package or worse did not even purchase the seeds. We need to be willing to serve.

Preventing stones from allowing the seeds to get the nutrients from the soil to maintain their growth. Living in Farmington we all should know the importance of removing stones from our seedbeds.
In general conference in April 1963 President Hugh B. Brown stated the following:
“As faith and knowledge develop, one becomes conscious of his own weaknesses and shortcomings and undertakes to bring his conduct up to the levels of his ideas; this is called repentance.
But if his faith is not kept radiant by good works, he will be tempted to lower his ideals to the level of his conduct, this is retrogression.”
To remove stones we must serve; we must allow the seed the opportunity to grow. “Experimenting on the Word” Put into practice what we learn . This is where faith begins to become knowledge.

Preventing seedbed from becoming choked by thorns. I remember one of the best spot of soil on the land the farmed deep and dark and rich. But in this small area bindweed had been allowed to grow. Each year in this spot the seed would be the first to grow. But, it never produced any corn because as the season progressed the bindweed would take over the whole area and entangle a kill the small weak plants. There were too many unimportant things to clutter the soil. In the parable of the sower, the Savior identifies three obstacles to endurance which can canker our souls and stop our eternal progress. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, in Conference Report, Oct. 2004, 108; or Ensign, Nov. 2004, 102)
The first obstacle of endurance, “the cares of the world,” is essentially pride. 6 Pride rears its ugly head in so many ways that are destructive. For example, intellectual pride is very prevalent in our day. Some people exalt themselves above God and His anointed servants because of their learning and scholarly achievements. We must never allow our intellect to take priority over our spirit. Our intellect can feed our spirit and our spirit can feed our intellect, but if we allow our intellect to take precedence over our spirit, we will stumble, find fault, and may even lose our testimonies. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, in Conference Report, Oct. 2004, 108; or Ensign, Nov. 2004, 102)
Knowledge is very important and one of the few things that accompanies us into the next life. 7 We should always be learning. However, we must be careful not to set aside our faith in the process, because faith actually enhances our ability to learn. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, in Conference Report, Oct. 2004, 108; or Ensign, Nov. 2004, 102)
The second obstacle to endurance is “the deceitfulness of riches.” We should end our fixation on wealth. It is only a means to an end, which end should ultimately be the building up of the kingdom of God. I feel that some are so concerned about the type of car they drive, the expensive clothes they wear, or the size of their house in comparison to others that they lose sight of the weightier matters. 8 We must be careful in our daily lives that we do not allow the things of this world to take precedence over spiritual things. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, in Conference Report, Oct. 2004, 108; or Ensign, Nov. 2004, 102)
The third obstacle to endurance mentioned by the Savior is “the lusts of other [things].” The plague of pornography is swirling about us as never before. Pornography brings a vicious wake of immorality, broken homes, and broken lives. Pornography will sap spiritual strength to endure. Pornography is much like quicksand. You can become so easily trapped and overcome as soon as you step into it that you do not realize the severe danger. Most likely you will need assistance to get out of the quicksand of pornography. But how much better it is never to step into it. I plead with you to be careful and cautious. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, in Conference Report, Oct. 2004, 108; or Ensign, Nov. 2004, 102)
From the November 2003 Ensign we read from President Faust: “To those who believe but wish their belief to be strengthened, I urge you to walk in faith and trust in God. Spiritual knowledge always requires an exercise of faith. We acquire a testimony of the principles of the gospel by obediently trying to live them. Said the Savior, ‘If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.’ A testimony of the efficacy of prayer comes through humble and sincere prayer. A testimony of tithing comes through paying tithing. Do not let your private doubts separate you from the divine source of knowledge. Prayerfully go forward, humbly seeking eternal light, and your unbelief will be dispelled. I testify that if you continue in the purposeful process of searching for and accepting Spiritual light, truth, and knowledge it will surely come.”
We need to apply constant patient effort to remove from our lives those items that encumber our time and do not help us to grow spiritually.

Preparing and maintaining the good ground requires constant, diligent effort. There is small parcel of ground just before the frontage road on the south side of Glover’s lane as boy I spent many hours keeping that field free of weeds and preparing the soil each year. If you look at that field now it could not be planted. There are wild rose bushes cottonwood trees every kind of weed covering every inch of the field. Our lives will become the same way if we do not constantly maintain our seedbeds of faith through reaching for the ideals that we will be taught in conference. Through serving, doing good works. And allowing the seeds to be planted in our hearts.

President Hinckley from the article “Lord, increase our faith” Ensign November 1987.
“ Grant us faith to look beyond the problems of the moment to the miracles of the future. Give us faith to pay our tithes and offerings and put our trust in Thee, the Almighty, to open the windows of Heaven as thou hast promised. Give us faith to do what is right and let the consequences follow”

President David O McKay told of the following experience “I remember riding over the hills of Huntsville one afternoon , thinking concluding that that there in the silence of the hills was the best place to get that testimony. I stopped my horse knelt by the side of tree. The air was clear and pure , the sunshine delightful. I knelt down and with all the fervor of my heart poured out my soul to God and asked him for a testimony of this gospel. I had in mind that there would be some manifestation; that I should receive some transformation that would leave me absolutely without doubt. I got up involuntarily shook my head and saying to myself “ No sir there is no change; I am the same boy I was before I knelt down.’ The anticipated manifestation had not come” President McKay continued to seek the desired manifestation and later said: “the spiritual manifestation for which I had prayed as a boy in my teens came as a natural sequence to the performance of my duty.”
In John 7: 15,17 we read:
15 And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
If ye will do the will, ye shall know.

We as members of the Church of a great responsibility:
In my personal experience the way that I find out what type of spiritual seedbed I currently have is by how I feel each month when the Bishopric invites us to attend the temple as a ward. Am I willing , Will it fit my schedule. It doesn’t take satan too much effort to interfere. I usually will have a lot of things that could come up at work. It is interesting to know the average airfare for missionaries to travel to and from each mission; or how many hotel nights do Church travelers spend at specific hotels; or any other type of report. However, at times when I am willing attend and humbly prepare myself to go and serve. Then it will be an incredible experience. It is a blessing to attend the temple as a ward to be with those who at that moment are willing to magnify there calling and be obedient to what ever the Lord would require of them.

Other opportunities for spiritual seed planting and growth are:
Read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.
Scripture study
FHE
Home teaching, visiting teaching.
Serving in Church callings
Serving each other
Allowing others to serve

When these opportunities arise what is our response. What type of ground are these seeds being sow on.

We need to follow the counsel given by President Hugh B. Brown 1963 at the beginning of April conference:
“What then shall we take home from this conference, and in what measure shall we take it? This depends upon ‘patient continuance in well doing,’ upon the quality and depth of soil into which the seed of truth may fall, and upon whether we become doers of the word and not hearers only. Shall the seed be received by the wayside, in stony places, in shallow soil, or among the thorns; shall the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word that the seeds become unfruitful: or shall it be received into good ground and bear fruit? Each one must answer for himself. Let us pray for strength to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.”

A friend of mine told the following experience:" When he was in High School his dad drove him over across town to pick up his car that had been serviced. Curt headed home and his dad stayed and paid for the service. On the way home the traffic was bad and a car had stalled in the road. Curt finally found a place to pull over and ran a few blocks back to push the car. When he got there the car was moving so he hurriedly went to the back and started to push. He looked over to see else was pushing and it was his dad. His dad then said son good for you way to go!" That is how it is in this life we are given many opportunities to grow to gain the spiritual depth to endure to the end. When we accept the responsibility our lives are blessed and we usually will find the influence of our Heavenly Father already their pushing the need work along say way to go, good for you, thanks for doing your best.
13 If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation.

(Doctrine and Covenants Section 6:13)

7 And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.

(Doctrine and Covenants Section 14:7)