Saturday priesthood session: Expectations: Courage, not compromise
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In Great Expectations, a novel by Charles Dickens, an orphan called Pip learned that he had been bequeathed a fortune by an unknown benefactor. Borrowing a line from that novel, President Thomas S. Monson declared to young men attending the priesthood session, " 'You have great expectations' — not as the result of an unknown benefactor, but as the result of a known Benefactor, even our Heavenly Father, and great things are expected of you."
President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, said that facing decisions requires courage. "The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. It has ever been so, and so shall it ever be."
The scriptures, he said, portray that truth, and he cited the example of Joseph who resisted the advances of Potiphar's wife. "In our day," he said, "a father applied this example of courage to the lives of his children by declaring: 'If you ever find yourself where you shouldn't be — get out!' "
In doing what is right, "we will face fear, experience ridicule, and meet opposition," President Monson said. "Let us have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God's approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully, but also as a determination to live decently. A moral coward is one who is afraid to do what he thinks is right because others will disapprove or laugh. Remember that all men have their fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well."
President Monson told of the courage of an 18-year-old seaman who each night knelt by his bedside to pray, enduring jeers of some of the men in his company.
"Someone has said that courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it," President Monson said. "At times, courage is needed to rise from failure to strive again."
Bearers of the priesthood — both the Aaronic and the Melchizedek — have a solemn duty to prepare themselves through compliance with the commandants of the Lord and in responding to calls to serve Him, President Monson said. "We who have been ordained to the priesthood of God can make a difference. When we qualify for the help of the Lord, we can build boys, we can mend men, we can accomplish miracles in His holy service. Our opportunities are without limit.
"Though the task looms large, we are strengthened by the truth: 'The greatest force in the world today is the power of God as it works through man.' If we are on the Lord's errand, we are entitled to the Lord's help. That divine help, however, is predicated upon our worthiness. To sail safely the seas of mortality, to perform a human rescue mission, we need the guidance of that eternal Mariner — even the great Jehovah. We look up, we reach out, to obtain heavenly help."
President Monson assured priesthood brethren that "as we learn our duty and magnify the callings which have come to us, the Lord will guide our efforts and touch the hearts of those whom we serve."
He told of an older widow, Mattie, whose bishop he had been and whom he visited on occasion. "A precious son of hers lived many miles away, and for years he had not visited his mother. Mattie spent long hours in a lonely vigil at her front window. Behind a frayed and frequently opened curtain, the disappointed mother would say to herself, 'Dick will come; Dick will come.' But Dick didn't come."
Years later, Dick, who lived in Houston, Texas, far away from his mother, became active in the Church and journeyed to Salt Lake City to visit President Monson, who was delighted to receive his phone call. However, President Monson asked Dick to first visit his mother.
"He gladly complied with my request," President Monson said. "Before he could get to my office, there came a phone call from Mattie, his mother. . . . 'I knew Dick would come. I told you he would. I saw him through the window.' "
President Monson concluded, "May we each have the courage to do our duty."
