We all have numerous excuses for not attending to our duties, attending church, or putting off what we have committed to do in taking upon us our ordinances with their associated covenants. Discouragement due to unrealized expectations; nervous that we are not accepted because we are too old, too young, too poor, too whatever; perhaps there have been serious mistakes that are known to all and we feel uncomfortable; I may seem to have it all together, but God knows my dirty little secrets; I have a disagreement with another member or a leader in the Church. I think you get the idea. There are plenty of excuses to go around. So, why don't we take advantage of these excuses and drop out? Unfortunately, some do.
We choose not to because we know that is not where the promised blessings will be found. We sometimes wonder why our prayers are not answered right away or not at all. We discover that God is not our butler. Sometimes we get tired of the search and take the attitude to God, "Just show me or tell me what you want and I will do it." We discover that God does not need us to be his butler.
In his talk in the April 2012 General Conference, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland spoke about the parable of the landowner and the workmen. He pointed out that there was an area in the market place where men who needed work could go to find employment as day laborers. Here the landowner or his agent came several times during the day to get men to perform the harvest. (See also Matthew 20)
Most would expect that the harvest would begin at the break of day, so they would be there early. The householder chose from among the men who were there and agreed to pay them the appropriate wage for a day's work. I suspect that there were those who came late, saw that the workers had been chosen and left in discouragement. Others, who were there on time may have thought, "I have done all I can to make myself available, but the lord of the harvest has chosen someone else. Isn't that just the story of my life," and in discouragement also left to beg or find some less profitable work. Others, however, stayed on in the hope that some other grower will need their help or that the householder will return as the day wears on to acquire more laborers.
Some of those were rewarded for their patience and faith as the agent returned again at 9:00, at noon and even at 3:00 in the afternoon. Incredibly, he returned again at 5:00. These other shifts were only told that they would receive a fair wage for the time they worked. When they were all paid at 6:00PM, they all received the same wage as the first laborers. All were incredulous for one reason or another. The first, because they had born the heat of the day and had labored 12 hours and yet received no more than the last who had worked only one hour. Those who came later in the day because they only expected a fraction of the wage those before them had earned.
To the early arrivals the lord of the harvest said, "I have paid you a good wage and one to which you agreed. As to the others, am I not free to spend my own money has I see fit? These others were there when I needed them and I was glad of the assistance. Otherwise, the harvest may have been lost."
Envy and its close cousin covetousness rob some of the blessings God has in store for us. I recall that early in our married life another couple with whom we were close could not have children. The wife was sad and disappointed, but never envious. We were with them when another of our acquaintance announced that she was pregnant with their second child. Quietly, our friend said to my wife, "I truly am happy for her."
This young couple continued faithful in the Church and did all they could despite their unfulfilled desire to enlarge their family. Sometime after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the plight of the Romanian orphans came to light. This couple had been very successful in business, so they had the means to travel to Romania and adopt a child. When they arrived, they discovered that the child had a sibling just a year older, so they arranged to adopt them both. Because of the unrest in the country, they were not able to fly out and had to travel across the continent in the famous Orient Express. Now I became envious.
We are not diminished because someone else has good fortune. In the end, we are promised that those who receive the Priesthood (follow the inspired counsel of the brethren) receive Christ and that all who receive Christ receive the Father. All those who receive the Father receive all that the Father has. (D&C 84:36-38) If you receive all that the Father has, what is left for me? Put that way, we see how ridiculous the notion of envy is.
We cannot allow discouragement to destroy our lives any more than envy. In the end they have the same root. They are used masterfully by the same being. Neither leads to an increase in faith, patience to endure, serving the needs of others or finding the will of God in our lives.
On the other hand we are promised that when we forsake our sins, call on Christ's name, obey His voice and keep his commandments will see his face and know that he is and that it is his light that gives us our light. It is that light that allows us to grow from grace to more grace (the enabling power) until we achieve the fullness. Like the workers who chose to become agents to the wrong master, our agency can be our condemnation. We will receive some wages, but they will not be the fullness. (D&C 93:1,2,12,13,19,20,31). "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
That is why we dump our excuses.
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