Ryan and I were asked to speak in our sacrament meeting in February. I was excited for the opportunity! Some think I'm crazy, but I really enjoy speaking.
Recently, a good friend of mine asked to read my talk. Of course, I shared it with her. That prompted me to read it again. I know that I was asked to give this talk for a reason, to help me realize what's important. Since it has been a good reminder to me, I thought I'd share!
My Talk
Since we are new to
the ward, I thought it would be good to introduce myself to everyone. My name's
Amanda Hinton. I grew up in Riverton, about a mile down the street, and went to
Riverton High School (a long time ago). I am now doing Admissions for Roseman
University's dental school over in South Jordan.
Ryan and I got
married in September of last year, we’ve been married for 136 days, not that
I’m counting or anything. We met a while back through some mutual friends, and
even though I flirted and did my best to get his attention, he wasn't
interested. Then, 5-months later, he bought the home we live in now, which
happened to be in my singles ward. So he started coming to my ward. So, after
working my magic and convincing him he should take me on a date, it finally
worked out. I think that experience was
God’s way of teaching me patience. Patience has never been my strongest
attribute.
We are enjoying
being married, and love to travel as much as we can.
We’ve both been in
singles wards for quite some time now, so coming back to the family ward has
been a little adjustment. But we really like the ward so far. We are still
trying to get to know everyone. We were just put in the primary and we're
really enjoying getting to know your sweet kids.
I have been praying
all week that I will be able to portray the message today that Heavenly Father
wants our ward to hear. I really love Conference talks, so I’ll be using a few
resources in my talk today.
I want to talk a little about measurements. The
definition of measurement is a standard by which we determine the capacity or
dimension of a person or object.
As a member of the
Admissions Committee, there are a lot of measurements that we look at to help
us to determine if a student is fit to be a dental student at our school. We
look at their GPA, their Dental Admissions Test scores and many other things.
The Admissions Committee would consider an applicant that has a 4.0 GPA and a
30 Dental Admissions Test Score differently than an applicant that has a 2.0
GPA and a 17 on the Dental Admissions Test. Chances are, they would pick the
4.0 student over the 2.0 student without ever even meeting either candidate.
They would assume that the applicant with a perfect academic record would be a
better student than the other.
In our world today,
we use a lot of different measurements help us determine the capacity of things
and people.
The natural man
tends to evaluate others on the basis of outward
appearance, social status, family pedigrees,
job status, financial status, education level, how many kids we have (or don't
have), and many other things. I am sure we have all had an experience
where someone has judged us based on some kind of outward appearance or status.
I'd like to share a little story about Al Fox,
some of you may know her as the "Tatooed Mormon". She is a convert to
the church and has full sleeves of tattoes on both of her arms. She shares her
experience at many firesides and I want to share a little piece of it.
Al had just been
baptized and Heavenly Father guided her to move to Utah. She didn't even know
anyone in Utah, and had been told she would not fit in, but she had faith
that's where the Lord wanted her to be. So she moved to Utah. The first place she
went when she got here was to Cafe Rio. So there she was, standing in the
wrap-around line, with all of her tattoes exposed, holding tightly to a book
about one of the prophets. She said she could physically feel everyone staring
at her. Finally, the guy standing next to her in line said "You know, its
pretty ironic you look the way you do holding that book."
Think about how
those words probably made her feel. That man didn't know that she had just been
baptized, or that she had so much faith and courage that she moved to Utah by
herself because she knew that's what Heavenly Father wanted. He just measured
her by her outer appearance. Her story goes on and has a happy ending.
How easy it is to judge someone based on their
outward appearance, without having any idea what they stand for or where their
hearts lie.
We live today in a world that is dominated by
social media and other social outlets. Social media is used for really great
things, like missionary work and family history searches. However, it is also
used for worldly comparisons. I think many people today, especially youth, let
social media and other people's opinions of us define our worth. We gauge our
worth on how many friends we have on Facebook, or how many likes our picture
gets on instagram, or how many people comment on our Twitter or Instagram
posts.
We know that Satan is very smart. He has
incorporated his lies into every aspect of our culture, including social media.
Satan wants us to define ourselves by outward things, like social status and
other's opinions. He knows that by making us believe we are defined by what
others think of us, that we will forget our divine potential. When we forget
our divine potential and purpose, we will never be truly happy. That's exactly
what he wants--for us to be miserable like him.
Not only are others judging us by our outward
appearances, for many of us, we are our own worst enemies. We are constantly
judging ourselves and comparing our weaknesses to other people's strengths. So
many of us focus on these superficial qualities, but we are forgetting what's
most important.
The great news in all of this is that The Lord
has a different standard that he measures us by. When the Prophet Samuel was
sent to find a new King, the Lord gave him this criteria.
1
Samuel 16:7: But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on
the height of his stature; because I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not
as man seeth; for a man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh
on the heart.
Elder Marvin J.
Ashton said, “When the Lord measures an individual, He does not take a tape
measure around the person’s head to determine his mental capacity, nor his
chest to determine his manliness, but He measures the heart as an indicator of
the person’s capacity and potential to bless others.”
Isn't that
refreshing? To think that God doesn't care about how tall we are, or how many
friends we have, or any of that. He cares about the intentions of our hearts
and the capacity we have to bless others and continue his work here on the
earth. He looks at our hearts.
A heart is a symbol of so many things, the most
common, probably love. In fact, there are hearts all over the place at this
time of the year since Valentine's Day is later this week. A heart is used to
describe the whole person. We hear phrases, like "Big-hearted",
"Good hearted" or "Having a heart of gold". In the
scriptures, it talks often about people with faint hearts, wise hearts, willing
hearts, courageous hearts, cold hearts, hearts of stone, and selfish hearts.
The measure of our
hearts is a measure of our total performance, or our entire makeup.
D&C 137:9 says,
"For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according
to the desire of their hearts."
Heavenly Father
pays close attention to what we do with our time and our thoughts. Our thoughts
largely show what our intentions are and the desire of our hearts.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton suggested 3 questions we
can ask ourselves to help determine how we are measuring up.
QUESTION #1: First, we should ask ourselves how honest of a heart we have?
Having an honest
heart means a person is open to truth, who will evaluate infomation or people
without prejudice. Honest-hearted people are reliable in word and action. They
have no hidden agendas to decieve others or represent facts.
The Book of Mormon
is basically made up of many stories of those who hardened thier hearts and
those whose hearts were softened by the Spirit of the Lord. We can soften our
hearts by following Nephi's example.
1 Nephi 2:16 Nephi
shares his testimony. He says, "Having great
desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord;
and behold he did....soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had
been spoken by my Father."
I have many great
examples of people in my life that have honest hearts. Ryan is one of them, and
I am thankful for the great example he sets for me and our future family.
QUESTION #2: The Second Question we should ask ourselves: Do
I have a willing heart?
D&C
64:34 says: “Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the
willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last
days.”
A willing heart
describes one who desires to please the Lord and to serve His cause first. He
serves the Lord on the Lord’s terms, not his own. There are no restrictions to
where or how he will serve.
I remember an experience that I had at the
temple. I had gone to the temple to do a session, and there was a girl there
that had a very severe physical handicap. She could not get around on her own,
and participating in the endowment was a struggle for her. But she was there. I
admired her courage and her willingness to do the Lord's work despite her
physical limitations. The spirit she had was so sweet and you could tell she
had such a willing heart.
The Lord requires
us to have a willing heart and intense desire to serve.
QUESTION #3: The Third Question to help us measure our hearts
is: Do I have an understanding, loving heart?
An understanding,
loving heart loves others and shows that love by serving them. They seek to
understand others and do not judge them by worldly measures.
We interact with
many people every day. Every interaction we have is an opportunity to show love
and understanding for others.
Think about how where your heart is at and some
things you can do to stay on the right track.
In closing, I found a poem I'd like to share.
God won't ask what
kind of car you drove, He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have
transportation.
God won't ask the
square footage of your house, He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your
home.
God won't ask about
the clothes you had in your closet, He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.
God won't ask what
your highest salary was, He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain
it.
God won't ask what
your job title was, He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of our
ability.
God won't ask how
many friends you had, He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.
God won't ask in
what neighborhood you lived, He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.
Samuel 16:7: But the Lord said
unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature;
because I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for a man
looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
What would it be
like if the world, like Heavenly Father, focused on the heart instead of
physical and other statuses? Wouldn't it be great if when you asked someone to
describe you, they would say "Has a heart of gold", or "She is
always willing to serve the Lord" instead of "She's tall, blonde that
always wears high heels".
