There are some things in life worth putting forth the strong effort required to find out if they should be important in your life. For me, the reality of prophets is one of those.

I recently shared the struggle I had to obtain my own personal answer President Thomas S. Monson was to be our prophet. It was a long struggle over several years with a very consistent effort to get that answer. Maybe that’s why my heart was so touched as I watched his funeral services on Friday.

It can be easy to dismiss religion, spirituality, scriptures, and prophets as not needed in our day. We can obtain all kind of answers on Google. We can find all kind of voices sharing all kinds of opinions.

Maybe more important, we can live a good life without the rudimentary framework of religion. Many wonderful people actively live great lives without the rule books of organized religion.

All of that is true. But there is also another thought for consideration.

Spirituality and religion just may bring purpose and meaning to all of the other answers. Maybe all the meaning, symbolism, structure doctrine, practices of religion can magnify all of the natural good we have in our life. Maybe the effort and time required to live a “higher law” will be that key factor which gives us the needed strength to get through the struggles and challenges of mortal life. Maybe, just maybe, it really is a “plan of happiness.”

Perhaps it is important enough we do something about it.

That’s why I worked so hard to find the answer I was seeking about President Monson being a prophet.

My simple belief and faith, for the first time, seemed to not be enough. When I prayed for an answer, the Heavens were quiet.

I didn’t question if President Monson was the prophet. I could accept that on faith. I just didn’t have the confirmation I was used to.

So I had to act on faith. I had to believe without confirmation. And I had to start asking for an answer.

It was a process of consistently seeking for an answer over the next few years. The answer I was needing eventually came. And just as with every previous assurance received, this one was sure and complete.

GETTING BACK UP

That’s why I keep getting back up every time I fall down. That’s why I choose to believe with the simplicity of hope. That’s why I love the gospel. That’s why I love the Savior.

That’s why going to church every Sunday has always been so important to me. I need the strength I receive by being with others who are striving to keep getting back up as well.

I need the nourishment that comes from partaking of the sacrament, that sacred communion that’s so much more than a small piece of bread and a tiny cup of water. It’s the manifestation of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I’m grateful I could share this thought with my family on Friday after watching President Monson’s funeral services. If I could not share what’s most important in my life with those I love the most, it doesn’t matter who else I share with. It doesn’t matter how many words I write or how many people hear my words.

My family is most important to me. They are most important to their mother. We will never stop loving them and we will give everything we have in our lives to help them in their life.

That’s what love is.

MY SHEPHERD

Jesus loved us when he walked the earth. His every action, to the very end, and past, demonstrated such devotion to each one of us.

“Greater love,” the scriptures record, “hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Jesus loves me.

I strive to show my love for Him by attempting to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men… feasting upon the word of Christ, and endur[ing] to the end” (2 Nephi 31:20).

It’s hard. I stumble and fall continually. But I get back up, every time.

Jesus is my Shepherd. I am one of His lost sheep who He searches the wilderness for. Someday I’ll hear those glorious words, “Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost” (Luke 15:6).

Thanks, my friends for letting me share.

Les

Thoughts of inspiration come in many forms, and may be expressed in many ways. The collection of stories, essays, and poetry shared under Red Edge Perspective represents some of my personal efforts to Gain The Red Edge through creative expression. Thanks for letting me share.