Sacrifice

Last Saturday we had a lazy day.  Hyrum was doing "staff duty"-- meaning he was responsible for checking in on-post every few hours to make sure things were okay   (kind of like being "on call") so we couldn't go far.  When he got back from post at 10:45 pm I was laying in bed dozing off.  He jolted me awake when he said, "I just saw an email from the bishopric.  They want us to speak in the morning."

If there was a blank look on my face it's because I was mentally trying to figure out how "in the morning" could actually mean "next week".  And why we we were getting the email the night before.  And how we'd be speaking in less than 12 hours.

So I stayed up late writing a talk.  And Hyrum spent most of the night at his office working and writing a talk.  Then we had to wake up early and go on post for him to finish his work before hurrying to church.

The experience reminded me that when we're asked to do something, God helps us.  And in the end, it all turned out okay.  I didn't get to study the topic much (okay, at all!), write out a talk, or practice, but as soon as I started thinking about the assigned topic (sacrifice) a flood of stories and thoughts came to mind that formed (what I consider) a decent talk.  Others thought it was good, too. :)   Or so they say!

My main purpose in writing this is to put down a few of the stories/articles that came to mind, not in any particular (or coherent) order:

"A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation."  Lectures on Faith Sacrifice helps us become who we need to become.

There's a great page with biographies of the apostles.  I used the example of President Eyring, who mentioned in his last talk some sacrifices of "worldly success" he's made.

A young man who sacrificed everything when he joined the church, as told by President Hinckley

Ruth, left behind her family, land, and former religion to stay true to the God of Israel

Quote by President Eyring, in relation to church service.  "To be called to serve is a call to come to love the Master we serve.  It is a call to have our natures changed."  There's a lot of good stuff in that talk.

In addition to callings, we sometimes have to sacrifice to attend the temple, like the saints in Thailand.  I came across this old article a while back and it's stayed in my mind.