Everything is a Gift

To be perfectly frank, this talk was meh to me. It didn’t seem focused, and I wasn’t sure of the overall point.
I mean, I understand that he was trying to talk about God’s gifts to us and how we should be grateful and use those gifts appropriately, but it just seemed like the dissemination of regular Mormonism. Nothing revolutionary in this talk, but I did choose a few quotes on which to comment.
In an orderly way we have now begun a new chapter in our Church history. This is a precious gift from God.
Nothing really to disagree with here. I’ve been reading a bit about the succession crisis after Joseph Smith’s death and how it was several years before Brigham Young took over.
There was about a year between the death of the previous prophet-president and the assumption of power by John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff. Starting with the ascension of Lorenzo Snow, the gap between the demise of the prophet and the ordination of the new one had closed to days.
Peaceful transfers of power is a good thing! However, looking at democratic elections in the United States, I don’t think that succession needs to be set in stone for change to be peaceful. Things can be uncertain and still be orderly.
[Faith] is another precious gift from God.
Agreed! I like the idea of faith as a gift. It is not something one earns by checking all the boxes. The Doctrine & Covenants talk about how everyone has at least one gift, but not everybody has all of them (46:11). It goes on to say that some people have the gift to know that Jesus is Christ, but others have the gift to believe the words of others.
So faith, if it’s a gift from God, cannot be earned. It is a grace. I believe doubt is a gift as well — one that is just as important as faith.
If faith is a gift, maybe we should talk more about gifts and how to receive them. Maybe the focus shouldn’t be so much on faith development and how that’s a worthy goal while doubts are not as worthy.
the gift of the Sabbath day, the sacrament, service to others, and the matchless gift from God of our Savior.
Ballard here gives a standard list of gifts. However, I am one that believes everything is a gift, that everything works together for my good. The universe, or God, or however you categorize it, is 100% on my side (and 100% on everyone else’s side as well).
To me, blessings and trials are the same. They are meant to be experienced, not necessarily categorized as gifts or struggles.
Too many allow themselves to almost live online with their smart devices — screens illuminating their faces day and night and earbuds in their ears blocking out the still, small voice of the Spirit.
I get where he’s going with this, but I think that this is more of a human problem than one with technology. For example, people can be so wrapped up in being mothers or employees that they don’t hear the Spirit.
Perhaps Ballard is calling out technology because 1) it actually can be harmful and 2) *he* is unable to feel the Spirit when he spends a lot of time looking at a screen. Other people may use technology to recenter themselves in the Spirit/God and disconnect from distractors like motherhood/children.
Different strokes for different folks. Additionally, what I need on a Monday to center myself in God is different on Tuesday. Sometimes I need technology to aid my connection with God and others. Other times I need to deactivate my social media accounts and go silent.
He came to serve, as the scriptures teach, “even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”10
Peter may have given the best description of the Savior’s mortal ministry in five words when he referred to Jesus, “who went about doing good.”11
Like I said before, I think everything is a gift. As such, I’m of the mentality that everything is ministering to me at all times. Like Jesus, I didn’t come here to be served. The world and everything in it, ministering to me, is just how life works.
Since there is no need to be ministered to, what else is there to do but serve others? If I’m good — meaning if I’m taken care of AND I’m a good person — there is literally nothing else that came come from me but good, nourishing fruit.
I honestly don’t think Jesus tried to go about doing good. I just think it was a byproduct of his belief system and how he related to the world. It was a fruit naturally produced because he was who he was. NBD. Really. That’s how I seek to live, anyway.
