He was lost and now is found

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Life…On the first day, God created the dog and said: "Sit all day by the door

of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

God agreed. On the second day, God created the monkey and said: "Entertain

people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform.  How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?"

And God agreed. On the third day, God created the cow and said: "You must go into the

field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other

forty?" And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said: "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But man said: "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

Okay," said God, "You asked for it." So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave

in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Brother Terry Warner

[A friend tells of wanting to resolve a long standing disagreement between he and another man in his ward]

I had intended to go over to this man's house between church meetings but was detained. Suddenly I saw this brother walk out of the church and cross the parking lot to his car. I cut short the conversation I was in and almost ran after him.

When I caught up with him I put my hand on his shoulder from behind, turned him around, entwined our forearms, then pulled him close to me. When you pounce on someone like that it usually means that you have something important to say. But what was I supposed to say? I still wasn't sure what my offense was. It was not until the very moment I looked directly and deeply into this man's eyes for the first time in years that I could see my sin.

At that moment I no longer saw him, I saw myself reflected! Where there had been no words to say, I found myself asking this good man for his forgiveness. "Why?" he asked.

I heard myself reply, "Because I have loved you less. That is my sin: I have loved you less."

Tears filled our eyes as I told him then that I loved him. He knew that I loved him. Whatever else I said after that really didn't matter much. I left him to return to the church. I glanced back once to see this good brother still standing where I had left him, his head down, and his shoulders gently rolling with his sobs.

Question:What are the long term effects to us when we “love less”?

Luke 15Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth

sinners, and eateth with them.…And he said, A certain man had two sons:And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of

goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took

his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

President McKay’s Formula for Becoming Prodigals

Pathways to Happiness, p. 238

1- Irritation at Restraint

2- Self Conceit

3. Extravagance

4. Intemperance (Addictions)

5. Riotous Living

Brother Warner[Lets look at] Lucifer’s method of

waging the Great War he began in heaven against his own brothers and sisters. He had proposed a scheme that he maintained would benefit us all, but was really for his own glory.

When his self-nomination was rejected, he smarted with dissappointment and resentment, and set out to make anyone and everyone pay for his defeat.

Unwilling, like many of us, to take responsibility for his sin, he sought to shift elsewhere; as John beheld in vision, he ‘accused [his righteous brethren] before God day and night. (Rev.12:10)

He spread his discontent to throngs of others, stoked their indignation, and marshaled them into a coalition sustained by their shared resentment.

Parable continued…

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!I will arise and go to my father,

and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,And am no more worthy to be

called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began

to be merry.

Or put another wayHe watched his son gather all the goods that were his lot, anxious to be gone from tending flocks,

the dullness of the fields.He stood by the olive tree gate long after the caravan disappeared

where the road climbs the hills on the far side of the valley, into infinity.

Through changing seasons he spent the light in a great chair, facing the far country, and that speck of road on the horizon.

Mocking friends: "He will not come." Whispering servants: "The old man has lost his senses.“A chiding son: "You should not have let him go.“A grieving wife: "You need rest and sleep.“

She covered his drooping shoulders, his callused knees, when east winds blew chill, until that day . . .

A form familiar, even at infinity, in shreds, alone, stumbling over pebbles. "When he was a great way off,His father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."

(Ensign, March 1983, p. 63) 

Elder David B. HaightArturo Toscanini, the late, famous conductor of the New York Philharmonic

Orchestra, received a brief, crumpled letter from a lonely sheepherder in the remote mountain area of Wyoming:

"Mr. Conductor: I have only two possessions—a radio and an old violin. The batteries in my radio are getting low and will soon die. My violin is so out of tune I can't use it. Please help me. Next Sunday when you begin your

concert, sound a loud 'A' so I can tune my 'A' string; then I can tune the other strings. When my radio batteries are dead, I'll have my violin."At the beginning of his next nationwide radio

concert from Carnegie Hall, Toscanini announced: "For a dear friend and listener back in the mountains of Wyoming the orchestra will now sound an 'A.'" The musicians all joined together in a perfect "A."The lonely sheepherder only needed one note, just a little help to get back in tune; . . . he needed someone who cared to assist him with one string; [after that] the others would be easy.

("People to People," Ensign, November 1981, p. 54.)

Elder HollandAs surely as the rescue of the [handcarts] was the general

conference theme of October 1856, so too is it the theme of this conference and last conference and the one to come next spring.

It may not be blizzards and frozen-earth burials that we face this conference, but the needy are still out there—the poor and the weary, the discouraged and downhearted, … They are all out there with feeble knees, hands that hang down, and bad weather setting in. They can be rescued only by those who have more and know more and can help more.

And don't worry about asking, "Where are they?" They are everywhere, on our right hand and on our left, in our neighborhoods and in the workplace, in every community and county and nation of this world.

Take your team and wagon; load it with your love, your testimony, and a spiritual sack of flour; then drive in any direction. The Lord will lead you to those in need if you will but embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ that has been taught in this conference.

Open your heart and your hand to those trapped in the twenty-first century's equivalent of Martin's Cove and Devil's Gate. In doing so we honor the Master's repeated plea on behalf of lost sheep and lost coins and lost souls.

October Conference, 2006