Brother David Allsop of the Presidents' Leadership Council and the David O. McKay Circle spoke to students, faculty, and staff at devotional on April 26, 2011. He quoted Elder Neal A. Maxwell in choosing the theme of his talk: "I thank him for helping me, even forgiving me, when I fall short, when I testify of things known but which are beyond the border of my behavior, and for helping me to advance that border, bit by bit. His relentless redemptiveness exceeds my recurring wrongs."
Brother Allsop began his talk by sharing a story about two of his sons, Clay and Sid, when they were ages two and four, respectively. The Allsops were invited to a neighbor's house for a barbeque, and the two boys sat on the edge of the pool, dangling their feet in the water. They began to argue and Sister Allsop walked over to them and scolded Sid by whispering something in his ear. Brother Allsop continues the story, "Our visit with our hosts continued for a few more minutes when Karen suddenly jumped from her seat, and in what seemed like one sweeping movement, ran to the pool and then leaped in fully clothed. She scooped Clay from the bottom and brought him back to the pool’s edge." When the Allsops were assured that their two-year-old was fine, Sister Allsop turned to her older son and asked him "'Why didn't you help your brother?' Then, with all the frustration that a four-year-old could muster, he glared at her and said, 'You told me not to touch him!'"
Brother Allsop said, "I suspect that there have been times in all of our lives when our actions toward our Heavenly Father have been very similar to my [son's] actions. ... Maybe you haven't been as openly defiant with the Lord as my son was with us, but haven't we all delayed repentance or stalled making a necessary commitment to obedience?" He then went on to discuss the long-suffering of the Lord despite our human tendencies to procrastinate repentance or obedience to the Lord's commandments, using the story of the brother of Jared as an example.
The brother of Jared was directed to take his family and friends to the land "northward," where the Lord promised that he would meet them and guide them to the Promised Land. The brother of Jared brought his family to the appointed place, where his family dwelt in tents for four years. Brother Allsop observes, "This is a very curious time for the Jaredites to stop their journey. ... The brother of Jared had to know that the seashore was merely a point along the way in his journey that he had not yet finished. ... Whatever their reasons may have been, the Jaredites stayed in tents on the seashore for four years. According to the Book of Ether, it was during this time that the brother of Jared stopped praying. Was he afraid to go before the Lord because he knew that he wasn't being obedient? We don't know. ... Due to the long-suffering, love and patience of the Lord, the brother of Jared, a prophet with a mission incomplete, was allowed to sit on a beach for four years and make no progress."
Brother Allsop then relayed the Lord's chastisement of the brother of Jared recorded in Ether chapter two and his merciful forgiveness and blessings recorded in the following chapter. "What a powerful lesson we can learn from the brother of Jared. Here we have the story of a mighty prophet, loved deeply by the Lord, who fell away, at least to a degree, and then repented and returned to the Lord to serve as an even greater prophet."
Brother Allsop closed with the words, "It is my hope and my prayer, that no matter where we may be in our relationship with our loving Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, that we find it appropriate for us to exclaim with Elder Maxwell, 'I am stunned at His perfect, unconditional love of all. Indeed, I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me.'"
Photo by Monique Saenz