Discipleship: Following in the Savior's Footsteps

It may seem like a strange goal in life, but I want to fade into the background. I’m not one who honestly enjoys being in the public eye, on the other hand I love watching my work make someone happy. My favorite place to be is in the background, quietly finding all the little things I can to do help the project along, whatever it may be. That’s my favorite place in the gospel as well.

There is a song I was introduced to many years ago that talks about becoming someone who reflected God’s love so well that those around couldn’t see beyond the glow. It was an honest prayer to live a life that testifies of Christ and draws people to Him. That’s the life I want. I want to be the person in the scriptures who only has one line, but provides a little bit of help or knowledge that leads to greater things. I want to be the man who offered his upper room for Passover; the same upper room that would see Christ administer the sacrament for the first time. Or, the one who offered his tomb. I want to be Rhoda, who happily announces the presence of a prophet whether she is believed or not. Or Lydia, who worshiped God with an open heart. I admire Eunice and Lois, the mother and grandmother of Timothy. Eunice’s letter to her son Timothy contains some of the most quoted scriptures among disciples of Jesus Christ. Though they bring us great faith and courage, we often associate them with the prophet Timothy, not his mother. What are these famous words?

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, . . . 2 Timothy 1:7-8

These are the types of people I admire. I want to be that quiet force for good, the one who gives the council no one really remembers where it came from, but pass on to others around them. I want those around me to truly see Christ in me. I want to radiate His goodness and my love for Him. I don’t mind staying out of the limelight, because that’s where I can do the most good as a disciple of Christ.

The desire of a disciple’s heart is to be of service, to express love for the Savior in every aspect of our lives. That role is not the same for everyone, but each undertaking is an important part of His gospel. Find your role, the place where Christ most needs you to be. Whether great or small, embrace the tasks God gives you and let Him work through you. Take the council of Eunice to heart and let God’s power, love and thoughts work through you as you proudly share a testimony of the Savior. Try fading into the background and letting Christ have the starring role.

I don’t know about you, but as a parent I have selective hearing. I’ve honed my ability to tune out whining and minimal bickering as well as pleas for candy in the grocery store. I’m normally very easily distracted, so even on other tasks I’ve trained myself to stay very focused or the job will go undone.

But, in this process it becomes very easy to just stop noticing things at all. There have been many times I’ve walked down the halls at church or even in the grocery store and not even noticed that someone said high or smiled at me until they’re long gone and the message finally makes it through all my carefully placed filters. Though I have perfected the ability to screen input, I haven’t perfected it as well as the Savior did. For Him it did not matter how busy He was or what the task at hand was, when there was a need, He saw it.

I need to be a little more like that at times. With so much sorrow, hurt and pain in the world perhaps I’m screening out more than I should be. I’m missing opportunities to ease those burdens that I run across on my path of life.

Though there are many things of the world I don’t need to concern myself with, but my fellow man will never be one of them. I need to become more aware, to open my eyes and ears more often and do my best to spread a little more joy and praise than I do now. I should never become so focused on my own life or goals that I don’t see someone smiling at me and not smile back. I should structure my life and time so that I can be the one to share the first smile more than I am now.

As a line from a children’s movie puts it, the disciple’s goal should be to “See a need. Fill a need.”

I grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I can’t really say we were a model LDS family. Oh, in a lot of ways we were, but in some very basic ways we weren’t. We only ever had a handful of Family Home Evenings, we hardly ever ate dinner together, and never had family scripture study or prayer. Even though these types of things were missing from my home, there were some other very important things that were present. I think it’s a system of checks and balances. My parents were very good at teaching me the power of service and showing me an example of 110% effort in church callings. But my favorite gospel lesson came from my father.

My father was a very busy man. He traveled a lot, both for his work and for his church service. He got tired and he got grumpy. But, what I remember most are those special occasions when he would call us around him: sometimes at the kitchen table, sometimes in the living room, sometimes all piled on my parents bed. Then my father would smile and say, “Let me tell you what I learned about the gospel today.”

Sometimes it was something deep and profound. Sometimes it was simple observances. I can’t distinctly remember many of the subjects he sat us down to talk about, what I remember is – his face. When he would bring us to him to hear about the gospel his face would shine with happiness. Have you ever been around someone who is talking about a hobby or passion that they love? Did you notice how everything about them began to change as they talked and got excited about what the subject meant to them? That was my father. I’d see him more at peace, more content, and more joyful in those moments than any others.

Of all the Family Home Evening lessons I could have had, or any other gospel centered activity, his face was the message I would carry with me into my adult years. My father taught me that the gospel of Jesus Christ is about joy.

Because of the look on his face, the change in his whole demeanor I learned what is possibly the greatest principle. The gospel brings happiness. Even if every thing else in my life is in turmoil, if I’m focusing on the gospel, I have a source of peace and joy.

So yes, I may struggle in my own family to consistently have Family Home Evening, but I hope they’ll overlook that and leave my home with the same knowledge I gained in my youth.

Service is important.
Give your all to the Lord.
The gospel brings joy.

I hope that as I try every day to be an active disciple of Jesus Christ my children can see that same look of happiness and peace on my face.

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring to my part of the country. It’s always slow breaking through, but each year it feels just a little longer. We’ve had a series of warmer days so things are once again showing sings of life. That brought me a little bit of joy this morning because I walked by my trees and found that they were all still alive.

That may not seem like such a great accomplishment to some of you, but hang in there and I’ll tell you my very own parable of the trees.

My family moved into our current home about six years ago. It is situated so that it is the first house you see and drive by when you turn on our road. I’m a big fan of beauty and growing things, so I wanted some of that beauty up near the road. I envisioned turning the corner to my house and being greeted by gorgeous flowering trees. I started shopping around to figure out what I wanted, then in the early spring placed my order with a well-known gardening company.

I picked a flowering butterfly bush: it said it would grow rather tall, and it had a variety of colors that were supposed to bloom for an extended period of time. Perfect. Well, sort of.

The day my three bushes arrived, the postman rang the doorbell and handed me a package no bigger than a bread box. Inside I found three scrawny little twigs that were supposed to be planted and turned into something lovely. Now would be a good time to mention I’m not very good with growing things. I’m like the kid that strangles the kitten trying to give it a hug. I mean well, but…

Still, I dutifully planted my twigs and did my best to help them grow. Nothing. Not a one of them ever sprouted anything even resembling green and growing.

The next year I got smarter and poorer. I went to the nursery and picked out three bushes that were all I could afford. They were about eight inches high this time, but at least they were actually alive. They were planted and I did my best to help them grow, you know the drill. That lasted about a month. We had a particularly long rainy stretch that the grass grew in, but didn’t get cut. When everything dried out, my husband mowed the grass – and mowed right over my bushes because he’d forgotten they were there.

I tried again the next year. That year the plants were about twelve inches tall. That year a well-meaning neighbor got his hands on one of those huge industrial lawnmowers. He mowed everybody’s lawns, including my bushes.

You’d think I’d give up wouldn’t you? From the moment of the second mowing incident I began saving my money to get some real trees the next spring. I bought three trees that were about four feet tall and covered with sweet-smelling pink blossoms. They bloomed all spring and summer and it was a special treat to drive around the corner to my home. Winter came and the trees got confused. They never stopped blooming until it had been snowing for two months. It took everything out of them. When the next spring and summer came they refused to ever bloom, or actually grow, again.

I got really desperate and planted three fruit trees. They didn’t have flowers that year, but at least they lived. Then winter came and I held my breath. Now spring is creeping in and my trees are still alive! Can you see now, why I consider this a small miracle?

After the first couple of years, my husband asked me why I kept trying. I told him it was a matter of faith and endurance. I knew what result I wanted, I knew what I needed to do to make it happen, and I had to believe that someday I’d actually achieve my goal.

That brings me to the point of my little parable. I’ve been doing my best with what I have. I knew the pattern for achieving my goal, but I also knew I wasn’t very good at what I wanted to accomplish. I knew it might take me longer to accomplish than someone else, but it felt worth it. I think the life of a disciple is much the same.

We have a beautiful vision of what we’d like to become, we see the example of our Savior Jesus Christ and want to place that example as the first thing we see in our lives as well. He has promised that is possible. He has given us the guidelines and plans that will make it possible, but He never promised everything would be flowers and springtime all the time if we followed those plans. He asks us to do the things He did and endure to the end, only then will some blessing ever be realized. Often the greatest rewards are the ones that are the most difficult to reach. We have to decide that as disciples of Jesus Christ the process is worth it, no matter how long it takes.

Is there an area in your life where you’ve planted trees with very little reward for your efforts? Is the end result worth it, no matter how long it takes? The Lord’s promises and blessings always are.

Many of us have heard the analogy of the thread and the tapestry. In this example you learn about the relation of small things to their ability to form something large and beautiful. It can be the members of a family working together, or an even larger group. It can also be the pattern of our individual lives.

I think sometimes we focus on the big things. We try to see the whole picture and ponder and pray about the big decisions in our lives. We see these as the things that define who we are and what our tapestry will look like.

But in reality, the one who know the whole picture is the weaver and He works with individual threads not chunks of yarn or puzzle pieces. Yes, we all have big decisions to make that can change the course of our lives, but how often do we think about the little things? There are a million little things that get woven into our tapestry every day. Perhaps what our life is like or how it might change during those big decisions is actually a result of the pattern we’ve laid with all the little things along the way.

Every day we make a dozen small decisions that will affect our final tapestry. As we choose, the Master weaves. When we realize we’ve made a mistake, He takes it out and renews the area to the beauty of the entire peace. If we do not realize, or choose not to correct, our failings and mistakes remain. When you look at the final piece these glitches might be noticeable, or they might not, but they still define who we are and who we will become.

If we are discussing the pattern and whether a mistake is visible to the eye our first argument is then revisited. Wouldn’t tiny mistakes from every day living be overlooked more easily than a large wrong choice? I think the problem is that mistakes all start out small. Every mistake starts with one wrong stitch. It’s those tiny decisions that dictate what our actions will be when the large choices come along.

Consider these examples:

If we find ourselves faced with the temptation to be unfaithful to our spouse, how will that decision be affected by our previous smaller choices? If we have made tiny mistakes such as looking at inappropriate images in the media, then we add the tiny mistake of dwelling on the images, then we add the tiny mistake of dwelling on the difficulties in our marriage instead of the love, then we add the tiny mistake of thinking about what it might be like to have chosen a different path or different partner – how then will our decision for a larger temptation be weighed? If on the other hand we have tried a little bit each day to love and value our partner, to avoid images that plant inappropriate thoughts in our minds, or avoid being alone with those of the opposite sex where temptations might be fed- how is that decision weighed?

If our mother provided us with music lessons, how are our future choices founded by our immediate decisions about whether or not to practice or find enjoyment in the learning?

If we casually disregard the speed limit, do we then forget other rules of the road that keep us safe?

While it is true that every decision is still up to us, we choose the path our feet will follow with each step not each mile. As we stray it becomes harder to find our way back the further we go.

May we pay a little more attention to the little things in life.
May we notice God’s small blessings.
May we smile at a stranger, or drop our spare change in the donation buck instead of our wallet.
May we hold our tongue just a little longer when frustrations build.
May we choose with each step to follow Christ even if the step seems too small to matter.

If we can do these types of things the tapestry the Lord weaves from our lives will be beautiful – one thread at a time.

I’d like to share a small piece of a dream I had last night. I know, that seems a bit odd, but it was something that my mind needed to hear, and something that you might need to hear as well.

It was about money. That’s something that has been on my mind for the last few days as my husband’s commuter car literally died Monday. It was a sudden death that we were not prepared for. Yeah, we knew it would be “soon” but we just kept limping it along because we didn’t have the money to replace it.

Now, like it or not, we have to find a way to replace it. I wish we didn’t need to, but my husband’s work is too far away. If there were an emergency with one of the children, it would take too long for him to get to us. So, we’ve been car shopping and I’ve been stressed.

Enter last night’s dream.

I was sitting in some sort of class and the teacher was asking us to share things that we had learned through our life’s experiences. After a few other people spoke up, I raised my hand and shared a thought I’d never consciously had before. I told the class that I had discovered that the Lord cares just as much about your financial well-being as He does your health, relationship and spiritual well-being. I’d never really thought about this before. But it was starting to make sense to my dream-self.

I said that finances follow the same rules Christ has set out for every other part of our lives. Though there are specifics, the overall goal is the same as any other good thing the Lord would have us reach for.

First: Do your best.

Second: Turn the rest over to the Lord with faith that He can make up the difference.

That may seem overly simplistic, but I think it’s what I needed to understand. I also think there is some truth to it. The Lord does care about the state of our checkbook. Maybe not so much if it’s grand and large or very humble in its content, I think it’s really more of a matter of wisdom and met needs. He expects us to be wise and careful, to do the needful thing first, then He expects us to have a measure of faith that He will not leave us wanting for our needs.

Notice I didn’t say our wants or even our goals, necessarily. Those may not be in line with the path He wants us to be on. But He does care whether we have food on the table, a roof over our head, and are able to go to the doctor.

After I woke up, I thought about this. I thought about my worries and desires and wondered if I was bearing a greater burden than I needed to be. For me, it was time to sit back and see if I was doing my best and if I was placing my faith regarding my finances in the world’s inadequate hands or the Lords.
In doing my best, I need to look at the commands He has given us on how to govern ourselves and our money. These include:

1. Honor your obligations
2. Know where your money is
3. Pay your tithes and offerings
4. Work for what you need
5. Beware of pride- either to placing more value on money than it should have in our lives, or by refusing or ignoring help that you could use
6. Stay out of debt
7. Prepare for the future

I think the whole point of my dream was to make me look at things realistically rather than in panic and upset. Am I doing my best in the areas He has directed me to pay attention to? Then, am I allowing Him to help me when I fall short? If I’m doing these things, just as with everything else, there shouldn’t be room left over for fear.

Yes, fears and doubts still happen because we are human. That’s why it’s so great to get little reminders every once in a while. Whether my mind was consciously thinking about it or not, my heart knew the Lord cared – about me and even about my checkbook.

Do you remember hearing the saying “It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, as long as you do your best”? It’s most often used for children on sports teams and in other forms of competition. Some of us believed that, some of us didn’t.

What made the difference? Was it the type of competition we were facing, or the attitude of those around us, was it our own attitudes about what winning and losing meant to us?

I think many of us carry those childhood beliefs about wining and losing into our adult lives with us. There are so many things in this life that we are supposed to “get right” or “win” at, not the least of which is our path toward Christ. But, who decides if we win or lose?

Sometimes we decide, sometimes we base our wins on the opinions of others – family, friends or peers. How often do we let Christ decide?

If He were giving us a pep talk about our lives do you think it would be “It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, as long as you do your best”? I’m not so sure it would be. Our Savior loves us dearly, he paid a great sacrifice for us to be able to make up for our shortcomings, but I don’t remember anywhere in His teachings where it says, “You must win at all games if you expect to win with me.” They don’t really say much about the win or lose part. But they do have a lot to say about “Do Your Best”.

What is our best, in terms of Christ’s standards? It’s a very personal thing. “Best” is not the same for everyone, nor is it the same for everything one person does. “Best” is based on who we are, and what God knows of our hearts.

“Best” is not trying to excel above another. “Best” is not even trying to excel within our own life to a level that takes us away from Christ. “Best” is a measure of where our heart is, and what we hope to accomplish with our actions. It’s not our own analysis of what we could have done better. That can be helpful for the future, but it is not helpful for judging things that have already passed.

Does that seem a little odd? “Best” is a measure of the moment. It is a question of – in that moment, in that situation, were we doing the best we could? Jesus Christ does not require us to be in competition at all. He does not require us to be perfect in everything or even one thing in this life. He does ask us to take the gift of life that we are given and make the most of it every day. He asks us to be a little more perfect each day, or in other words to be more like Him with every passing day. Some days our best may be much greater or less than other days, and that’s okay. He is not comparing us against our neighbor, or even Himself, He is only looking at us through our own potential and path.

I think we are often harder on ourselves and each other than we need to be. We are not judges, we do not have the perspective and knowledge to be such, and yet we seem to spend an enormous amount of time doing just that. We judge ourselves, we judge our neighbor, and none of it turns out very well at all. I wonder why we continue to do it then? Because somewhere along the line we each learned that life is a competition and we didn’t believe the well-meaning person who said winning or losing didn’t matter when it clearly defined that one was better than the other. We all want our best to be The Best, but unfortunately our limited perception does not let us see the Lord’s definition of what that is.

We need to spend more time figuring out what the Lord needs from us and less time trying to figure out how we measure up against our neighbor. How would our lives change if we looked to Him first rather than the rulers of the world? How would it be if we took our pep talks from Christ rather than our peers?

His council never changes, “do your best” that’s all. Are we actually trying to do that? Then our best will always be good enough for the Lord.

There is a story in the Old Testament about a man named Lot and his family. Lot was living in a place where it was very difficult to be a man of God. It was so full of sin, that God decided he couldn’t let their actions spread any further or even get any worse within their own community. As the story continues, Lot was commanded to take his family and flee from the city before it was destroyed. They were to leave and not look back, or they would face the same type of consequences as the city itself. They would be destroyed as well. Lot was faithful and obedient. He instructed his family concerning the Lord’s commands, then prepared to lead them out of the city. There was just one problem. As they were leaving the city behind, his wife looked back. The scriptures say that in the instant that she looked, she was turned to a pillar of salt. Seems like a harsh judgment just for looking. Or, does it?

I think there are a few lessons to be learned from Lot’s wife. First, why did she look back? The scriptures do not say, so let’s ponder some of the reasons you or I might look back in the same situation.

Inattentiveness. It is possible that Lot’s wife was simply not paying attention to her bearings. Perhaps the noise of the destruction behind her was disorienting, perhaps she just didn’t feel the same urgency for escape as her husband so she wasn’t as careful with her course.

Curiosity. It seems to be human nature to want to know what is going on. The scriptures seem to indicate that there was a lot happening with that destruction. We’re all guilty of looking when we really shouldn’t at one time or another. I know I’ve been guilty of slowing down further than I needed to when passing an accident on the freeway. Maybe that’s all that Lot’s wife was guilty of.

Grief. Perhaps there were those within the city that she deemed as friends. It is difficult to move from what you know. Imagine how difficult it would be if you knew everyone you left behind would soon die.

Loss. It may have been that she was caught up in something from that city herself, or that her desire for worldly possessions that had been left behind created a pull and connection that she did not, or could not fight.

Not understanding God’s promises. Lastly there are many, even among His disciples that do not understand how serious God is about His promises. Sometimes it’s because we do not know or understand who He is. Sometimes we know but we lack the faith to see how His promises could actually come to pass.

Now, I’m not speculating that any one of these was the definitive cause of Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt. However, in any one of these scenarios there is something to be learned. The thing we as disciples need to learn is that even though she may have thought she had a good reason for looking back, there was an even greater one why she shouldn’t have. When we accept a Christ-lead life it comes with certain commandments. One of these is to not look back. There are reasons we are told not to look back and most of these have to do with the fact that the Lord’s view is greater than ours and He knows that looking back opens a very clear route toward destruction.

He asks us to turn our back on those things that will not lead us away from sin and closer to Him. If we hesitate, if we try to justify, if we keep going back just to look, we are not looking or going where we have said we want to go. We are not heeding Christ’s call to “come unto me”.

We also need to learn how powerful His promises really are. If he has said, “Pay your tithing so I can give you greater blessings.” He means it. God has set forth His laws and path, if we stay on that path He is bound by our actions to openly provide the blessing associated with those laws. Some may feel the commandments restrictive. By choosing to retain their “freedoms” rather than submitting to God’s ways and direction they miss the pathways that are opened for them through obedience. In particular, I think of the Word of Wisdom. This is a commandment that outlines the way we should treat our bodies. When it was first revealed, it seemed counterintuitive to the theories of the time. But when our view was opened to the types of things He knew all along we suddenly understand that yes, smoking has significant consequences.

If he has said, “Do not indulge in any form of pornography or it will lead to your destruction” he means that as well. Evil practices that the world may see as permissive still need to be strictly shunned by the disciple of God. We can not turn and look at these things with even mild curiosity or they could suck away our righteous spirit. The best way to pay the world no heed is to turn them away at the door of our thoughts.

He understands. He knows how difficult it is to get through this life. He knows we can’t and won’t ever be perfect, so He makes provisions for that as well. He says, repent and forsake your sin, make amends then never return to it again. We aren’t doing that if we are still thinking about what we lost when we gave up something for the Lord’s path.

Lot’s wife was commanded to go forward but insisted on looking back. She missed the chance to find out what greater blessings the Lord had in mind for her because she was too focused on looking back. The best way to avoid looking back is to focus on the blessings of a more eternal view. What are we still looking at that is keeping us from going in the direction the Lord wants for our lives?

There have been a number of blogs discussing the recent solemn assembly in which the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were given the opportunity to rise from our seat and add our voice of sustaining and support for our new prophet Thomas S. Monson. It is our opportunity to confirm that through our own personal revelation we recognize that the mantel of the Priesthood, and the keys of Christ’s church, have been activated in the new prophet. We add our voice to say, “Yes, we know this is the servant of the Lord, our president, prophet, seer, and revelator, and we will follow and support him.”

If you have asked for that confirming spirit, standing to bear that witness is a beautiful experience. The Holy Ghost descends and overwhelms us all with love as we reach out to these men who give their lives to do God’s will and serve us.

Though not executed in a solemn assembly, this same pattern holds true for every position of service, or calling, within the church. This church is a voluntary effort by individuals, not because they have asked for it themselves. Rather, that the Lord, through proper channels, has asked it of them. Many of these callings will not be known in the congregations before they are announced for a sustaining vote. This does not mean however, that the congregation is denied an opportunity for spiritual confirmation that the individual, is exactly who the Lord wants to do something for Him, in His name. If you come to meetings with your heart open to the teaching of God that includes anything the Lord needs you to hear. As a name is read, you can still have that spiritual confirmation before, or in, that same moment as you raise your hand.

But what happens next? Aside from keeping us a united congregation under the direction of the Lord’s prophet, and other local leaders, there is another reason. When we raise our hand in confirmation of the revelations of Heavenly Father, we are asked to sustain the Lord’s choice of servant. He has identified this man, or woman, depending on the calling, as one who will serve Him as a true disciple, who will give an example that will draw the rest of his congregation, those disciples who are also striving for this level of devotion, on righteous paths.

What does it mean to sustain someone? It’s more than just raising our hand. It’s more than testifying of our love for the Lord’s choice. It is literally upholding and supporting them. It means we are covenanting with Heavenly Father that:
We will follow where His chosen servant leads.
We will do all that is asked of us by him.
We will offer our support, prayers and love everyday, just as we offer it to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Not only are we acknowledging their role in God’s kingdom, but we are committing ourselves to our role of support.

This means knowing what is asked of you. In the case of the prophet it means listening to and reading his messages. Then it means doing what is asked of you. It also means that even if you feel you disagree, you will refrain from gossip or illspeaking about God’s servants. It’s doing our best to help even when it is not required duty, to support his or her efforts and family who also make sacrifices by allowing their husband, son, wife, daughter to serve the Lord in a very devoted manner.

My raised hand during the solemn assembly committed me to a pattern of obedience, respect and love for a wonderful man. Within my stake, ward, or branch the promise is the same. Christ’s gospel is a whole heart, whole life endeavor. We show confirmation of the Lord’s will and our willingness to support it. It is a covenant and a promise to see that through with both actions and words, with our whole heart and life.

One of my favorite stories in the New Testament comes just before Christ’s time in Gethsemane. While in the upper room, Jesus approaches His disciples and performs a humble service for them. He washes their feet. Like most messages from the Savior, this served many purposes and carried a different message for each level of spiritual understanding. I appreciate the knowledge I have gained from this one act. But, I’d like to share with you the message that means the most to me personally.

I love Peter’s surprise that Christ would even suggest to wash His servant’s feet. He loves his Lord and Master so much that he does not want to see Him in such a humble position. Peter worries that allowing the Savior to wash his feet would mean he somehow felt himself better than his Master. Of course, this was part of the message that Christ was conveying. We all need the humility to help and serve each other, placing ourselves on an equal level with our fellow man not trying to show our superiority. He says:

“For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.” John 13:15-16

But, Christ also knew something about what was about to happen. He knew what His ultimate purpose in life was. He was sent to redeem us from our sins and open the gates to the resurrection and eternal life. Both gifts were to be given to show us the way back into Heavenly Father’s presence. Eternal life is a universal gift that He gave to everyone of us. A redemption of our sins is contingent on our choices. We choose whether or not we will accept his cleansing power within our lives. We choose how important He will be to us.

Peter helps me understand this choice in a very personal way. When Christ approaches him, Peter essentially asks: Why are you doing this?

Christ answers that though Peter is unable to understand right now, he would soon know why this needed to happen. Still Peter is upset by this action. He feels that he should be the one washing Christ’s feet. He refuses to let Christ serve him in this manner. I think that had I been in the same situation I would have said and done the same thing.

Then Jesus sternly opens Peter’s eyes to the importance of the situation.

“Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” John 13:8

Poor Peter! He has wanted nothing more than to follow, serve and love His savior since he was called to be a disciple. Now Christ tells him that unless He is allowed to wash Peter’s feet, Peter can not be truly His.

Peter’s response to Christ’s gentle reprimand is my favorite part of the whole story.

“Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” John 13:9

If this was a requirement for Christ’s love and guidance he didn’t want to do it half way. Peter wanted to belong totally and completely to the Savior. Can we say the same thing?
Let’s look a little closer at the symbolism of Christ’s actions. Feet at that time were a lot less clean than they are today. They were exposed to the dirt, dust, sand and grime of everyday life. Having your feet washed was privilege upon entering someone’s home as a guest. But, the actual washing was performed by a servant, not the master of the house.

Christ turned this tradition on its side by adding a dimension of not only honor but of invitation toward higher things. Shortly after this experience Christ would depart for the garden of Gethsemane where he would come face to face with all the world’s sins and accept them onto Himself. His acceptance takes the stain away from our own lives. His atonement has the ability to wash away the sins, cares and pain of the world we face every day— If we will let Him into our lives and bare our feet for Him to wash.

This is the sweetest part of the gospel of Jesus Christ for me. He willingly gives me this gift. If I knock at His door and ask to sit at His table, he washes my feet and invites me in. I’d like to be more like Peter. When he found out how much this seemingly simple act meant for him, he pleaded: “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” He wanted every part of himself to be clean and worthy of a place at the Savior’s side. Though the scripture continues with Christ telling Peter that his feet were enough, I love the image of a humble and loving Peter who asks to be the Lord’s fully and completely with nothing held back.

How can I show that same level of love and devotion in my own life? By letting the Savior wash my feet. More than that, it’s holding nothing back. It’s laying before the Savior all my sins, fears and frailties and asking Him to make them pure, to bring them in line with His will, to make me the best person I can be.

I think I tend to hold back from the Savior. Sometimes it’s a small habit that isn’t good for me, but somehow seems insignificant. Sometimes it’s a larger problem that I feel I’ve brought on myself through my own choices. I forget that He loves me even in my mistakes. Instead of reaching up for His offered hand, I struggle and claw trying to find my own way out of the pit I created. Sometimes it’s an area of my life that isn’t necessarily bad, but could definitely be better if I would commit to its improvement— But I don’t.

When something in my life doesn’t seem quite right, I look to the story of Peter and the Savior.

First, have I given Him permission to wash my feet lately?

Second, am I still holding things back from Him?

When I need to be closer, I need to let go. I need to get on my knees and plead with the Lord: Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Show me how to become Yours.