Last May 18, 2014 I was asked to speak about Work and Personality at church. I could not remember the last time when I was assigned to be the speaker at a sacrament meeting. This was a great opportunity to share some insights about a certain topic to the members of our ward. This is what I shared:
The Blessing of Work and Personal Responsibility
Good morning my dear brothers and
sisters. I am indeed grateful for the
opportunity to be one of the speakers today. My assigned topic is about Work and Personal
Responsibility. Before I go further,
there is a little story about four people named Everybody,
Somebody,
Anybody
and Nobody. There was an
important job to be done and Everybody
was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody
got angry about that because it was Everybody's
job. Everybody
thought that Anybody could
do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up
that Everybody
blamed Somebody when Nobody did
what Anybody
could have done! This story teaches that each of us has a work to do and it
is our responsibility to do it.
Sometimes we ask ourselves, why do
I need to work? Do we work because we need
to earn for a living? Is it for self-fulfillment? Or do we do it because everybody
is doing it? We are taught that WORK is
an eternal principle. Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ have shown
great example to us that work is important in heaven and on earth. The Savior
worked to create the heavens and the earth. Heavenly Father has chosen to labor
for the benefit of our eternal souls – your soul and my soul.
Each one of us has a work to
accomplish. We have the responsibility to take care of our own needs and to
provide for our families. We all have callings to magnify at church, give service
and are called also to share the gospel to the world. It may seem overwhelming
that we need to this and to do that but I know that WORK is a blessing. Elder
D. Todd Christofferson shared “By work we sustain and enrich life. It enables
us to survive the disappointments and tragedies of the mortal experience.
Hard-earned achievement brings a sense of self-worth. Work builds and refines
character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another
and to God. A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive,
sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves,
orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires.”
Last January 16 marks the
8th year of my service as an employee at CMB. My job is not always
happiness all the time. There came a point in my career that I wanted to quit
because of certain circumstances but I am grateful because the Lord has given
me enough patience and willingness to continue what I've been doing for those 8
long years. I have learned to love what I’m doing and became successful at
doing it. My job has blessed my family and has taught me to improve myself in
my chosen field. There’s one thing I've realized, napaka-tiyaga ko pala!
When we work, we also serve others.
I remember a portion of what Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley shared in his book,
“Standing for Something”, he said, “The best antidote I know for worry is work.
The best cure of weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more
tired. One of the great ironies of life is: He or she who serves almost always
benefits more than he or she who is served.” When we work to serve others, we
are happier and more eager to do what the Lord wants us to do.
When we work, we should take
responsibility in some areas during life. Elder Hugh W. Pinnock shared the
following that will lead to a happy and joyful life.
a. Living the commandments – Are we willing to live
the commandments and follow suggestions from a loving Heavenly Father?
b. How do we spend our time? – What are your priorities?
Do we go to bed a little bit better than we were when we woke up?
c. Social responsibility - We must take
responsibility for our dating skills, for our social skills. We can’t rely upon
others to always inviting us to go somewhere. We must be the type of people who
are giving and sharing their lives with others in proper ways.
d. Financial responsibility – We must decide not to
be wasteful of money but to develop habits of frugality.
e. Responsibility for your appearance – We must
take personal responsibility for our appearance, for the scenery that we
provide for others. This also means taking responsibility for our health and
keeping ourselves physically fit.
f. Responsibility for our environment – Do we pick
up a few pieces of papers and deposit it in a trash bin because it was
unsightly and someone else had not been thoughtful?
Work and personal responsibility
goes hand in hand. We cannot work without being responsible with what we are
doing. When we do this, we are free to work on our own, we gain trust from
other people and we have the opportunity to make the right choices in our daily
lives.
In conclusion, may I share what Pres. David O.
Mckay has said, “Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that
power to work is a blessing, that love of work is success.” We
can enjoy life to the fullest by learning to love our work whatever it is. Let
us find purpose in it. I know that there will be discouragements along the way
but may we remember Elder
Orson F. Whitney’s counsel, “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we
experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such
qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and
all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters,
purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and
charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God…and it is through
sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we
come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in
heaven.”
Let us all be responsible in doing
our work. I know that if we do our part, the Lord will bless us tremendously.
Let us do it, do it right and do it right now. I share this in Jesus Christ’s
name. Amen.
After the sacrament service, some of the members told me that my message was a good one. The Primary President of our ward even asked me a copy of my message. I shared my message to a friend and he said "super nice", "galing", how overwhelming! I hope and pray that I became an instrument of Heavenly Father to inspire others that Sabbath morning. It's really a privilege to be one. Indeed grateful to be one as well.
