Lord entrusts all His children with spiritual talents
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The story "The Little Engine that Could" was applied by President James E. Faust in his priesthood session address to the topic of using one's God-endowed talents to do what He requires.
President Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, recounted the tale of the little blue switch engine that consented to pull a train full of cars loaded with toys over a mountain to the waiting children on the other side when other larger and more experienced engines refused. Going up, she chugged, "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can." Going down the other side, she said, "I thought I could. I thought I could. I thought I could."
"At times all of us are called upon to stretch ourselves and do more than we think we can," President Faust remarked. "We develop our talents first by thinking that we can."
He recounted the Savior's parable of the talents in Matthew 24, in which a man who was faithful over a few talents received many, in contrast to a man who hid his talents and had them taken from him to be given to the one who was faithful.
"We may wonder whether it was fair to take the talent from the one who had the least and to give it to the one who had the most," President Faust said. "From the outset, however, the Lord explains that each man had ability. Some of us are too content with what we may already be doing. We stand back in the 'eat, drink, and be merry' mode when opportunities for growth and development abound. We miss opportunities to build up the kingdom of God because we have the passive notion that someone else will take care of it. The Lord tells us He will give more to those who are willing. They will be magnified in their efforts, like the little blue engine as it pulled the train up the mountain."
The Lord, President Faust said, entrusts all His servants, including every priesthood holder, with spiritual talents. "While we are not all equal in experience, aptitude and strength, we have different opportunities to employ these spiritual gifts, and we will all be held accountable for the use of the gifts and opportunities given to us."
He told of Samuel Brannan, who led a body of Latter-day Saints to California sailing around Cape Horn. He tried to convince President Brigham Young that the main body of the Church should not settle in the Rocky Mountains but rather in California. President Young, with prophetic vision about would happen, refused.
"Like the big engine that wouldn't condescend to pull the cars over the mountain, Sam Brannan was not focused on building up the kingdom of God," President Faust said. "Instead he was directed toward business and making money." He prospered at first, but refused to account for the tithing he had collected from the members of the Church in California. Later, he fell on hard times and died "alone, broken physically, spiritually and financially."
"Sam Brannan accomplished much in his life, but in the end he paid a terrible price for not honoring his priesthood stewardship, and for having failed to follow the prophet of God," President Faust commented.
Those who hold the priesthood must stay on the right track and remember that the priesthood can only be used for righteous purposes, he said. "If we aren't serving others, then the priesthood really doesn't benefit us because it is not a passive power."
Returning to the story of the little engine, he expressed hope that priesthood holders will not be like the big passenger engine, too proud to accept assignments; like the freight engine, unwilling to go the extra mile in service; or like the old engine, that said it was too tired "or too old! I remind you that President Hinckley is 92 and still going strong!"
"I hope," he said, "we can all be like the 'Little Engine that Could.' It wasn't very big, had only been used for switching cars, and had never been over a mountain, but it was willing. That little engine hooked on to the stranded train, chugged up to the top of the mountain and puffed down the mountain saying 'I thought I could.' Each of us must climb mountains that we have never climbed before."
