12. Each Life That Touches Ours for Good

A bishopric message written on Thursday, April 18, 1996, and published while we were traveling in Brazil in the May 1996 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette, the monthly newsletter of the Bountiful 20th Ward. As bishop, I prepared such messages for the February, May, August, and November issues each year. My two counselors in the bishopric—Larry Young and Kevin Thueson—wrote the messages in the other months of the year.

Three weeks ago—with the peaceful passing of Phil Pack—we lost a good friend and wonderful neighbor. His gentle life reminds us of the poet’s words:

Each life that touches ours for good
Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord;
Thou sendest blessings from above
Thru words and deeds of those who love.

What greater gift dost thou bestow,
What greater goodness can we know
Than Christ-like friends, whose gentle ways
Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.

When such a friend from us departs,
We hold forever in our hearts
A sweet and hallowed memory,
Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.

For worthy friends whose lives proclaim
Devotion to the Savior's name,
Who bless our days with peace and love,
We praise thy goodness, Lord above.
(Karen Lynn Davidson, Hymns [1985], 293)

We are abundantly blessed in our neighborhood with many such friends whose lives proclaim devotion to the Savior, who strengthen and enrich us, who reflect in countless quiet ways the Lord’s goodness and love. They are among the angels and ministers of grace the Lord places in our path to help us return to Him.

May each of us, every day of our lives, seek some quiet way to bless the lives of those around us—by helping a neighbor, lifting a burden, sharing a smile, mending a quarrel, visiting one who is lonely, saying hello to a child—little things every one of them, but little acts that show we really are serious about being His disciples.

As a prophet once invited us, may we each “live with ever more attention to the life and example of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially the love and hope and compassion he displayed. I pray that we will treat each other with more kindness, more patience, more courtesy and forgiveness” (Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, Nov. 1994, 8). That would be our earnest prayer for each of us.

6. Come Feast at the Table of the Lord

A bishopric message published in the January 1986 issue of the Newsette, the monthly newsletter of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake, over the signature of the bishopric (Bishop Delbert H. Strasser, Ron Duerden, and Dean B. Cleverly). We had been serving together in the bishopric since July 14, 1985.

A few days before Christmas the First Presidency issued a tenderly worded invitation to all those of our brothers and sisters who are not enjoying the full blessings of Church membership and activity.

“To all such we reach out in love,” the Prophet and his two counselors said. “Come Back. Come back and feast at the table of the Lord, and taste again the sweet and satisfying fruits of fellowship with the saints.”

As your bishopric, we echo that same message: We love you. We desire to have fellowship with you. We want you to enjoy the sweet blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

To those who have felt the tender mercies of the Lord, who have felt to sing the songs of redeeming love, we in turn invite you to open your arms and your hearts to receive and assist those who wish to return.

May the Lord bless all of us, brothers and sisters in the truest sense, in our efforts to help each other return to His presence.