IT'S A WONDERFUL OBJECTIVE, BUT IT'S A BAD IDEA

Once each week Church missionaries, including senior couples, are supposed to write a personal letter to their mission president summarizing their activities for the previous seven days. This is also the means by which they can express any concerns and problems  that they may have been experiencing in their relationships with other missionaries or local Church members. Can you imagine the level of effort and commitment required on the part of a mission president to read, reflect, and in some instances respond to such a huge volume of correspondence? In the Maryland Baltimore Mission where we serve, this communication involves more than 120 young elders and sisters plus a dozen or so senior missionary couples.



Essex elders reporting their efforts at District Meeting

As a result of major heart surgery on August 6th and subsequent stay in the hospital, my ability to do very much physically outside of our apartment is going to be quite limited during the next few weeks. Although I acknowledge that my body requires sufficient time to properly heal, it is still difficult to program my mind to accept the fact that it is all right to take that time to rest. There are plenty of people nearby, especially my wife, who are willing to remind me as often as necessary not to do too much too soon.

So in our weekly letter to Mission President Richards on Sunday night, I suggested that my primary missionary objective for this week was to be strong enough to physically go to the Church building on Tuesday morning and participate in the missionary district meeting. It seemed to be a reasonable enough goal when I included it in my correspondence.

On Monday morning, however, I received a telephone call from President Richards. "How are you feeling?" he wanted to know. I responded that I was doing pretty well and was looking forward to being able to attend district meeting. "Elder Lindsay," he replied, "That's a wonderful objective, but it is a bad idea!"

Disappointed but not defeated, I quickly  made a counter proposal by suggesting that if he didn't wish to have me leave the apartment to go to the meeting, then perhaps he might authorize the district leader to move the meeting from the Church to where we live. "Now that's a good idea," President Richards said. He then told me to contact our district leader to advise him to move the meeting to our apartment.

I felt  blessed that I could be a part of this training session with our beloved fellow missionaries while sitting in the ease and comfort of a reclining chair in our apartment living room. Now I find myself pondering about the mission president's initial reaction to my stated objective for the week. How many of our goals and objectives in life might seem to be wonderful  except for the fact that they could be based upon a bad idea? Is it possible to have the right answer without knowing the right question? Do we allow the treasures and priorities of the world overshadow the spiritual things that lead to eternal life?

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?               (Mark 8:35-37)