Work and Personal Responsibility

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 8^th 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.