3.214 ...and Cannot Come Down

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

My friends, I thought with our stories this week with Ezra and Nehemiah, there had to be some incredible, amazing general conference talks out there. As I searched, I landed on one, and only one actually that I could really dig into, but the one that I landed on is solid gold. So I made it our reading for the day.

We are reading today, as we wrap up the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, "We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down" by President Uchtdorf. It is from April of 2009. The link is inside of the podcast episode here.

This one is worth your time and attention. In fact, I think I talked about this before, but I have a playlist that I created inside of the Gospel Library app. The playlist for me is entitled Power Talks.

I share it with my family, and that playlist gathers conference talks that I want to go back and listen to at any time. So, 'I just want to fall back' playlist is what I created there. And this one goes on the list.

Yesterday we talked about Nehemiah and his focus on doing a great work, not getting distracted, staying in the game there. Today it continues that idea as President Uchtdorf, as would be a common theme for him, focuses on a lesson from flight. That one's a good intro to it.

And then I wanted to share for our verse for today this part of his talk. He says, "I wonder, my dear brethren"—by the way, this was at the time they did the priesthood sessions. This was at a priesthood session. "You'll get it, sisters, here.

It goes out to you as well." He says, "I wonder, my dear brethren of the priesthood, what could be accomplished if we all, like the people of Nehemiah, had a mind to work? I wonder what could be accomplished if we put away childish things and gave ourselves heart and soul to become worthy priesthood bearers and true representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think for a moment what could be accomplished in our personal lives, in our professional lives, in our families, in our wards and branches.

Think of how the kingdom of God would progress throughout the earth. Imagine how the world itself could be transformed for good if every man who bears the priesthood of God were to gird up his loins, live up to his true potential, converted in the depth of his soul, a true and faithful priesthood man committed to building the kingdom of God." It is easy to become distracted, to become focused on one burned-out light bulb or the impolite acts of an unkind people, whatever their motive may be. But think of the power we would have as individuals and as a body of the priesthood if, in response to every temptation to lose our focus or lower our standards—the standards of God—we responded, "I am doing a great opportunity that I have to have something to focus on in my life.

I am grateful that the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives me something to focus on that I know betters my life if I focus on it. I'm grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the opportunity to be forgiven of my mistakes and to continue constantly to get a little bit better every day." Ultimately, at the end of the day, I hope that you and I can stand focused on doing this great work and tell our unfocused selves, "Hey, we're doing a great work here and cannot come down." That is all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.