Paisley: Hey everybody, Paisley imperfect here and today, we're
going to talk about something that's been on my mind for a
while. You could say it's been on my mind for years. Excuse me,
but it's come up again in the last couple of days, and so I
just kind of wanted to talk it out. I think I've mentioned
before, I'm the oldest of four kids, and I was a pretty good
kid. My parents might tell you otherwise, I'm sure I gave them
some grief, but in general, I was a good kid. I didn't go to
parties. I got perfect attendance in seminary. I went
to seminary even when I didn't go to school. I got good grades
in school. I wasn't like an AP student or an honor student or
anything like that, but I got good grades in the classes that
I was in. I studied hard, I worked hard, I went to church on
Sundays, like I did all the things that I was supposed to
do. I never tried any kind of drugs, not even alcohol. And I
just, I did what I learned to do in primary and Young Women's
because I believed that it would I believed that it would provide
the blessings that people told me that it would provide. I You
could say that I have been blessed with the gift of faith.
I believe things I wouldn't consider myself gullible. I
still pray about them and make sure that that the way that I
feel about them matches the way that people tell me to feel
about them. I don't just blindly follow that's not how I roll
anyway. I just I was generally a pretty good kid, and I'm not
telling you these things to boast about it. I'm telling you
so that hopefully you can understand this thought process
that I'm going to kind of go through here in just a second at
some point in my very late teens, like 17, 1819, or very
early 20s. So somewhere between like 17 and 21 ish, I remember I
was starting to learn more and more about the atonement and how
it works and what it's for and things like that. I remember
learning about how when people repent, they get all of the
blessings that have also been promised to people who don't
make the mistakes in the first place. And at first, I remember
feeling a little jaded, like, Wait, so I kind of just wasted
my time. Like I could have gone out and had fun and done like
these super fun things, but instead, I chose not to. And now
all of the people who did but say they repent, they get the
same blessings that I get. And I remember just feeling kind of
like I didn't I didn't like the way I felt about that one I but
I also remember how people kept referring to the people who had
wandered off as lost sheep. They would always point out how Jesus
would how he loves all of His sheep, but he would leave the 99
to go find the one. And this one time I got kind of angry, is a
strong word. I got kind of offended. Offended is probably a
good word for it. I got kind of offended by that. Like, wait a
second, I've worked really hard, and I had to say no to a lot of
things that sounded like a lot of fun. I had to not go places
where I knew that bad things were gonna happen. I had to say
no to a lot of friendships and walk away from people, and I had
to do a lot of hard stuff, and he's just gonna leave me. And it
just it didn't sit well with me, because I knew that I was one of
the 99 I knew I wasn't the lawsheet, or at least that's how
I understood it. At the time, what I didn't understand is that
being that one, being quote, unquote lost, doesn't just mean
that you've went inactive or apostate. The one could mean a
lot of different things, but at that time, I didn't understand
that I was pretty young, and I didn't know all of the things I
thought I knew, um, because I didn't understand that I felt
for a minute or a few days or a few months. I don't remember how
long that feeling lasted. But I felt like I had been abandoned,
abandoned, that all of those goody two shoes choices that I
had made were all for nothing. Thankfully, that experience
didn't last forever, but it did last long enough to leave a very
deep impression on my heart. I don't know if I would consider
it a scar. We had a talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday this
week about scars, the visible scars and the invisible scars.
And anyway, I don't know that it would. I don't I don't know if
it left a scar or just a really deep impression on my heart
about being one of the 99 and what it feels like, or what it
can feel like to be one of the 99 it's not and the more that
I've grown, the more that I've learned, I have learned that
being one of The 99 is not easy and it's not automatic. And the
people who are the 99 they still have feelings. They still feel
hurt, sometimes they still feel depression, they still feel
abandoned, disappointment, discouragement, all of those
things I had been blessed with, the knowledge of the reality of
my Savior, and as part of the 99 I learned at this time in my
life that it was not my job to go after The one, my job, my
lifetime assignment, if you will, is to look after the 99
retention, try and help hold on to the 99 we all have different
talents. We all have different gifts. We all have different
abilities. And some of for some of us, that means that we are
capable, capable, capable and able of going after the one and
succeeding and bringing them back. That's not one of my
strengths. So when we talk about gathering Israel, for me, and it
may be different for you, it likely is. There has to be
people that go look for the one. But for me, my job when it comes
to gathering Israel is to help retain and do temple and family
history work that's gathering Israel to me. So this past
Sunday, I was in a stake meeting about temple and family history
work and the going after the one came up again, and I realized
that most of the people who listen to this don't actually
attend church with me. So you don't know that I have a hard
time keeping my mouth shut. Maybe you do. Maybe you can tell
I don't know, but I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut when
I feel like there's something that needs to be said that
nobody else is saying. Sometimes it's a blessing, not all the
time, not everyone appreciates that I can't keep my mouth shut.
Anyway, I asked a question during this meeting, and I posed
it as a rhetorical question, because I don't know, I don't
think that I have the answer to the question. We're going to
talk about it a little bit today, because I think that the
answer is starting to form a little bit in my brain, but I
also don't think that I have the full answer yet. But the
rhetorical question that I posed. I asked the group how we
could use temple and family history work to help retain the
99 we talk a lot in the church about going after the one, and
there was a lot of focus on the one. Somebody else had brought
up in the meeting, how they had visited another ward somewhere,
and in this other Ward, they were having their elders quorum.
What do they call it? Council, the elders quorum. Council right
before elders quorum meeting. You know, we're supposed to do
the 10 minutes or whatever at the beginning of every meeting
to just counsel together, talk about what we need, what we can
do, those types of things. So he was participating in this other
Ward's discussion, and they were talking about the question that
that came up in this discussion was, how can the ward better
support the 99 and so it had already come up. And so I was
like, Well, how can we I'm going to because this meeting is
temple and family history work focused. I'm going to
change the question a little bit and say, how can we use temple
and family history work to retain the 99 let's focus that
in a little bit so the. Remember the Stan presidency that was
presiding over the meeting. He talked a little bit about it in
his closing remarks, and he mentioned that, when it comes to
the 99 maybe it's a good idea to have a plan. He wasn't claiming
that this was the best answer, either. He just was like, this
makes sense to me, kind of a thing. Maybe it's a good idea to
have a plan. So again, this is all very specific to temple and
family history work, but it got me thinking, because he's right.
Then I started thinking about administering, because that's
the plan. Right. To have a plan is to administer. Get the
administration together. There's an order in all things. Make
sure that things are being run the way that they're supposed to
be administering versus ministering. Administer
minister, and in my pragmatic brain, carefully executed
thoughtful plans keep people engaged. That's the
Administering part. We pray about our plan and we come up
with a good plan to help keep people engaged. And engagement
in the church, in professional life, to keep your customers
engaged, to keep your audience engaged, however you look at it,
keeping people engaged is what keeps people coming back, what
keeps people wanting more, learning more, growing more. But
in order for you to get the engagement, it takes more. It
takes different skills than ministering. Ministering is to
go and to love and to encourage and to support and help and
provide that is ministering administering is having the plan
in place to make all of these things possible. That's how it
works in my pragmatic brain. So but there is a limit to how much
administering and even ministering we can do to keep
people engaged. We can come up with the super thoughtful plan
that allows us to go and love and care for and encourage and
provide and try and keep people engaged, right? We can do both
of these things, but there's only so much that we can do.
There was a talk given in the April 2022, General Conference
titled Do what mattereth Most. It was by Rebecca l Craven, and
she talked about this. She shares a story about this young
woman that she she sat down and she talked to and the young
woman asked her a question. The young woman's question was, how
do you know anything about the church is true? Because I feel
nothing if one of my young women, if one of my young women,
sat down and and said that to me, my heart would break, and
then my pragmatic brain would turn on. And I love how she
responded to this young woman, because she responded with
questions of her own. And she asked her three questions. She
said, Tell me about your personal scripture study. Open
ended question. She asked if the young woman studied, come follow
me by herself or with her family, and she asked what she
felt, what the young woman felt when she prayed? So she asked
her those three questions, and the young woman, turns out,
didn't study her scriptures, wasn't studying Come follow me
by herself or with her family, and she wasn't saying her
prayers. And so sister Cravens response, which is fantastic.
She said, if you want to know anything, you have to do
something. Heavenly Father does not just force stuff on us. He's
not going to force this young woman or any other young woman
or young man, old man, middle aged man, middle aged woman, he
is not going to force any one of us to believe anything. We have
to go and get it ourselves. That's agency. That's part of
the plan. That's how it works. A bit later, she says it takes
effort to stay focused on what is truly essential for lasting
joy. As one of the 99 remember that the other 98 are not
responsible for your conversion. They're not responsible for my
conversion. I'm one of the 99 one of the 99 there are still 98
other sheep out there who all need similar things to the
things that I need, we are responsible for our own
conversion, and once we have become converted, it then
becomes our responsibility, and frankly, our desire to help
those around us and helping those around us may just mean
helping them feel the love. Of Jesus Christ. It may mean
helping them find their testimony again. It may mean
within the other 98 it may mean that somebody needs a hug, and
that's it, a smile, a friendly word in the hallway. Help with a
lesson on a Sunday could be a lot of different kinds of help.
Sister Craven said, we know the parable of the one lost sheep.
Of course, a shepherd will leave the other 99 sheep to find the
one who has strayed. But, and here's the kicker for me, and
something that has been taking me, taking me since my early
20s, late teens, to figure out. She said, but can you imagine
the joy that those who choose to be the 99 bring to the Good
Shepherd, the ones who stick together and help each other
live their covenants? Can you visualize what the world or your
school or your work or your home would be like if obedient was
the popular thing to do? It is not about doing life perfectly.
It's about finding joy while doing our best to live the
covenants we have made with the Lord. Finding joy while doing
our best. I feel like I'm talking about the same thing
every day, but that's it. Finding joy while doing our best
a little bit better every day. Okay, we don't have to be
perfect tomorrow. Recognize that you are one of the 99 be okay
with being one of the 99 our savior is off trying to save the
one, and we are here to help each other. And we're fine. We
will be fine. And he will come back, he will bring that one
sheep back, and then we can hold on to that sheep, and he will go
find the next one, and it will be okay. It is about the simple
things. Sister. Another quote from Sister Craven, she said,
the more we do to stay firmly on the covenant path, the more our
faith in Jesus Christ will grow. The more our faith grows, the
more we will desire to repent, and the more we repent, the more
we will strengthen our covenant relationship with God. I just
lost my place. Where did it go? Sorry. Okay. The more we repent,
the more we will strengthen our covenant relationship with God.
That covenant relationship draws us to the temple, because
keeping temple covenants is how we endure to the end. As we
center our lives on Jesus Christ, we will be guided to do
what mattereth Most, and we will be blessed with spiritual
strength, contentment and with joy. Those are the things that
we are supposed to feel as part of the 99 but we are all human,
and we're going to feel discouragement, frustration,
depression. We're going to feel these feelings from time to
time, and that is okay. Feeling those feelings does not mean
that you are suddenly not one of the 99 it might mean that you
have something to work through, but that's what your bishop is
for, that's what your Relief Society president is for. That's
what your ministering brothers or sisters are for, that's what
your friends are for, that's what the other 98 sheep are for.
That is literally our job to help each other stay as part of
the 99 the 99 are never abandoned. We are never left
alone. Jesus would never leave us to go after the one unless he
knew that we were being taken good care of. We are always
protected, watched over and cared for, but only to the
extent that we are willing to watch over, protect and care for
each other. It's okay, and it will be okay, because remember
that quote from Brother Wilcox that we talked about last week,
you've got this, because Jesus Christ has got you. We've got
this. We can do this. We are, we are the 99 we can handle it.
We'll be okay just a little bit at a time. You don't have to be
a perfect 99 tomorrow or today, or by Friday or by next Friday,
or even by January 1. You do not have to be a perfect 99 just do
your best today and be a little bit better tomorrow, just a
little bit better, and only in one thing, 1% better. I saw a
lady wearing a t shirt the other day that said 1% better, and I
think I need to buy myself that T shirt 1% better, even if
you're only 1% better by the end of the year. It's okay. It shows
progress. It shows effort, and the Lord loves effort. Remember.
All right, my friends, thank you so much for being here today.
Keep learning, keep growing, just keep trying. And be of good
cheer. Thank you so much. Until next time you