77 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.One of the words which has always stuck out to me in this verse is: willing. The topical guide gives a beautiful list of words which could be considered synonymous including: agency, desire, purpose, diligence, initiative. Such words point forward to a future event because the will comes before the way. Since this verse is meant as a reminder of the baptismal covenants, this teaches that at baptism we don't yet take upon the name of Christ to the fullest extent. Rather, we continue to prepare ourselves spiritually so that later, in the temple of the Lord, we can literally take upon ourselves the name of Christ.
There are different levels of desire. There is the level such that if someone hands you something on a silver platter you suppose you'll take it. Then there is the type of desire that you'll do anything, change anything, and become anything for a certain cause. Only the latter type will ever bring about the desired outcome because the will can then bring about the way. Conscious desire and consistent effort are the fruits demonstrating that one is willing and, thus, form the bridge between baptism and the temple.
There was a point in the last month of my mission when I finally began to understand the power of being willing. My mission president had returned from the mission president seminar with the solution to the long pondered puzzle of mission presidents: how can we double baptisms. The answer he received from past mission presidents who had actually been able to do just that was the idea of pay-it-forward, or that he would pick one or two companionships to work with. He would do anything and everything within his power to help those missionaries double baptisms in their respective areas. Upon accomplishing that Herculean task, their responsibility would then be to turn around and teach other companionships and eventually the entire mission how to double baptisms. Our mission president concluded by explaining that he didn't even know how to begin the task of choosing who it would be, but if we were interested in doing anything it takes to fill that role, we should text him that day.
When this plan was presented before the Mission Leadership Council, I learned something very important about will. My companion and I were overcome with the spirit. We quickly left when the meeting concluded and when we got out to the car we burst out crying because we knew the power was within us. We were called by a true prophet of God and given the authority to preach the most amazing message in the world, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored on earth once again! God was on our side and he wanted us to succeed. We had over time allowed ourselves to forget our purpose and we would fill our time with activities that were good and easy instead of hard but better and best. We had let ourselves forget the dreams we had of baptizing when we first opened up our mission call. We had started to become complacent in setting small goals so that we didn't feel like a failure at the end of the day. But that day in the car, we finally caught the vision and we decided together that whether we were chosen or not, we would do absolutely everything within our power to double baptisms in our area with or without the help of the mission president.
That is the moment that I began to learn how important agency is in God's plan. Agency is finally deciding what you actually want out of your life then doing everything in your power to make it happen. It starts with a decision and it solidifies with the consistent daily actions. It is action and progression over time which, after all, is the only way imperfect human beings could ever become a people able to take upon themselves Christ's name! The road may be less traveled, but in the end, it makes all the difference.
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