Finding a Sacred Place

My heart is full on this autumn morning with many things to say, and unfortunately, many things to leave out. Of all the things that I could write on this week, let me focus on Finding a Sacred Place. This theme was inspired by a conference I attended yesterday whose keynote speaker was Clayton M. Christensen, former Area Authority Seventy over the Northeast Area, and current professor at the Harvard Business School. Both his professional and spiritual accomplishments are amazing, and it's easy to say that everyone was richly fed. He gave us singles five seemingly small decisions that he made that have impacted his life greatly, and encouraged us to apply those in our own lives. They were 1) the decision to get the most education possible, 2) the decision to keep the commandments 100% of the time (because it was easier than following 98% of the time), 3) the decision to put the Kingdom of God first, 4) the decision to call yourself on a mission, and 5) the decision to find out if the Book of Mormon is true.

The last on the list was particularly important to Brother Christensen, who said that the knowledge he gained of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon serves him multiple times every day, while he uses his knowledge of applied econometrics only a couple times a year. He made this decision while a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Studying in the Queen's College, one night he knelt down in a quiet place, and told the Lord that he would devote his life to His service if the book were true, but if it were not, to let him know what was true, so that he might pursue that. Brother Christensen would read a page in the Book of Mormon, then kneel down, and offer the same prayer. He repeated this ritual every night for an hour each night, until he received that all important answer--it was true! He finally knew with a surety that the Book of Mormon was true, and in turn, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was God's Kingdom here on earth. Brother Christensen says that he now tries to return to Oxford as often as he can with his family, not because it's a tourist spot, not because there he received an education, but because when he goes in front of the Queen's College, he can point at the very window to the room where he finally knew. For him, it was a sacred place.

He then admonished us to find our own "Queen's College". He said we should find somewhere sacred to us, where we may return and say that there we came to find out of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. If we already knew of its truthfulness, then we should find a place where our faith was renewed to call sacred. I have a definite testimony of this, because we can never hold on to only one or two spiritual experiences, and hope to "be okay" by the end of our earthly tenure. Life is filled with leaps of faith; however, we can only jump so far before we inevitably fall into the abyss of sin, sorrow, and despair. Constantly seeking after sacred places and experiences, and more importantly constantly seeking to put the Lord first will cause those "safe points" to come closer together until we will be able to walk and then run across, leaving all ungodliness in our wake. This is easy to say, but much more difficult to do; nevertheless, we MUST strive to put the Lord first. Our life is His, not our own.

It is my hope that I can accomplish this, and that all who read may be inspired to be better in a like manner. Have a Great Week!