…and it’s not supposed to be.
BYU Prof. Noel Reynolds was the mission president in South Florida when I lived there a few years ago. He used to give this presentation that I think is extremely relevant to our times. His point was that in many ways it’s a lot tougher being a Latter-day Saint these days than, say, 130 years ago. He said a lot more is required of us these days and a lot more is expected.
When you compare our times to, for example, your typical Latter-day Saint in 1880 living in Utah, we have a lot more requirements. The word of wisdom was voluntary back then, as was tithing. Not every young man went on a mission, nor were all expected to. Church callings and service was a lot more haphazard — not everybody was spending 5-10 hours a week (or more) on Church callings as they do now.
People spent a lot less time overall at the temple (especially since there weren’t very many of them — the Salt Lake temple wasn’t finished yet). So, there was a lot less pressure to make monthly temple trips, as there is now.
The point is NOT to say that life is so much tougher for us now. Overall, life is a lot easier in a myriad of ways. If you consider the difficulties of a Latter-day Saint woman (or man) facing life in a polygamous family, there is certainly an argument to be made that life was much tougher for many people in Utah in the 1880s than it is now. Frontier life was not a breeze, and there was still significant persecution.
The point is simply to remind us that requirements for an active Latter-day Saint have changed since then and in many ways the requirements are more stringent, not less stringent. Almost all young men go on a mission now. You can’t go to the temple unless you obey the word of wisdom and pay your tithing.
Prof. Reynolds’ point in discussing these historical trends was to say that in his opinion there is a new requirement that will be more and more important to active Latter-day Saints. And that is the requirement of actively doing missionary work. This means creating a home where people are actively and consciously pursuing ways of sharing the Gospel with their neighbors constantly.
Elder Ballard gave a talk in 2006 on this concept, which he called a gospel-sharing home. It seems to me the key points are these:
Creating a gospel-sharing home is the easiest and most effective way that we can share the gospel with others. And we’re not just talking about traditional homes with families consisting of two parents living with their children. College students can create a gospel-sharing home when they adorn the walls of their apartments with pictures that reflect spiritual pursuits instead of the things of the world. Older couples and single members exemplify a gospel-sharing home when they welcome new neighbors and invite them to attend church and visit them in their homes.
A gospel-sharing home is one in which neighborhood children love to play, making it natural to invite them and their family to attend church, a family home evening, or some other activity. Teenagers visiting a gospel-sharing home feel comfortable asking questions or participating with the family in prayer.
Elder Ballard mentions in the talk something which I’m sure is of concern to some people reading this post right now, which is, “why is the Church trying to make me feel guilty that I’m not doing enough?” And that is the purpose of this post: you probably aren’t doing enough (I know I am not), but the Lord and Church leaders don’t want you to feel inadequate, they want you to search for easy ways that you could do more. I know, for example, that I could give out one Book of Mormon a month, yet I always come up with some excuse for not doing it. There are a thousand easy ways I could do this, if I just put my mind to it.
So, no, it is not easy being a Latter-day Saint. There is a lot expected of you and a lot of ways to fail. And, interestingly, there are many ways in which more is expected of you in 2009 than was expected of people in the 1880s. But I don’t feel the expectations are oppressive — I just feel I need to find ways to reorganize my priorities in small ways, one tiny step at a time. Isn’t that what self-improvement is about?