Eternity Is Now by John H. Groberg

Author:John H. Groberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: nonfiction, spiritual, LDS, clean, inspirational
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2016-08-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Everyone Has Something to Contribute

I have met countless people all over the world, and I have not come across a single person who doesn’t have something to contribute to the building of God’s kingdom.

Have you ever wondered why God created this world with so much diversity? Not only are there millions of different kinds of plants and animals, but there is also an impressive variety of humans—large, small, male, female, tall, short, young, and old, all with a vast assortment of skin, hair, and eye colors. Even within seemingly homogenous groups, there are also widely varying interests and distinctive personalities. With more than seven billion people on the earth right now, no two are alike. Why do you think that is?

I don’t know all the reasons, but I believe I understand a few. Decades ago when I served as bishop, we were in desperate need of a building in which to meet. Our ward was growing rapidly and needed to be divided, but we had no home of our own. We met in the only available building, which was already too small for us.

We looked at the possibility of building a new meetinghouse, but at that time the ward members were required to come up with 50 percent of the construction cost in either cash or labor. Money was scarce for our members, so we knew we would have to rely heavily on contributed labor to make up the difference.

We eventually got enough commitments and started construction. We soon realized we had a serious problem when it came to the labor commitments. The majority of the men in our ward were white-collar professionals, such as engineers, accountants, lawyers, and dentists. They were wonderful people, but their skills were very limited when it came to things like doing carpentry, laying bricks, wiring, plumbing, or installing tile. They willingly did a lot of “shovel work,” but we needed help in these other, more specialized areas.

As we looked through the list of ward members, it was apparent that the majority of those with the skills we needed were not regular attenders, had Word of Wisdom problems, or classified themselves as “less active.” So far, they hadn’t been participating in the meetinghouse construction.

As I prayed about this challenge, I received a very clear answer: Include everyone. I knew I needed to reach out to these less active members and solicit their help in building the meetinghouse. I wasn’t sure how they would react, but I knew the Lord would provide the way.

When I visited with these men, the first thing most of them said was, “I can’t help; I smoke, and there are No Smoking signs all over the project.” I sensed that these were good men who would like to help but they felt their habits barred them from doing so.

As I continued to pray for a solution, the same answer—include everyone—came to me again, this time even stronger. Then a thought came to me. I went back and talked to several

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