Good
morning sisters and brothers,
For those that don't know me, my names in James Roemhildt, my wife
and I have been in this ward for about
three
years now. I
have 3 beautiful children,
Gwenevere, Grace, and Everett. I work as a physical therapist at st
Joe's in Tacoma.
I
have been asked to base my talk on Elder Ballard's conference
talk, “Be Anxiously Engaged” I believe because of one of my
hobbies. Now,
my wife says that I have one hobby
and that is collecting hobbies and among the activities I enjoy is
beekeeping, a topic that Elder Ballard explored in his talk. But
before I reference the talk I would like to address A specific area
of “Being
anxiously Engaged”. Friday night the scouts went
snow
caving. Now snow caving is a very different form of camping, it is
not pleasurable and not really enjoyable but is immensely rewarding.
I watched as 7 young men with varying degrees of enthusiasm lumbered
slowing into the snow woods. Over the ensuing hours they practiced
teamwork, leadership and problem solving as they dug their first snow
caves. I saw multiple instances of compassion and service to their
fellow man. I have been in the young men's program only a short while but I am already impressed with the
leadership and integrity of our youth, both young men and young
women.
Now
back to the bees. IN his conference
talk, Elder Ballard described the toil and hard
work
that a colony of bees endures to produce its primary source of food,
honey. IN his talk he states,
It
is estimated that to produce just one pound (0.45 kg) of honey, the
average hive of 20,000 to 60,000 bees must collectively visit
millions of flowers and travel the equivalent of two times around
the world'.
The
bees instincts of industry and hard work are why the super organizem
that is the bee colony is one of the symbols
within our church.
I
wish to also use the bee as an example for how we as humans can be
more anxiously engages in good works. The life span of a worker bee
is a relatively
short one. The longest a honey bee will live is 4 months during the
winter but can be as short as 3-4
weeks. Within a strong hive of 60,000 bees, the workers, which are
all female, have several jobs which are typically carried out based
on the age of the bee
The
first couple of days the young bee cleans cells and warms the brood
nest. The next week is spent feeding the developing larvae and they
are referred to as nurse bees. The worker bee will then produce wax
and construct comb with its final job inside the hive as a guard bee
near the entrance.
Period of
service as house bee
1
– 2 Days cleans cells and warm the brood nest
3
– 5 Days feeds older larvae with honey and pollen
6
– 11 Days feeds young larvae with royal jelly
12
– 17 Days produces wax and constructs comb, ripens honey
18
– 21 Days guard the hive entrance and ventilate the hive
Period
of service as field bee
22
+ Forage for nectar, pollen, propolis and water
After
22 days the bee has fulfilled its role
within the hive and
now forages for the resources that her sisters require to raise more
bees and prepare for winter. From this point on they will work
themselves to death. Now I said that the bees will typically follow
their role as a bee as prescribed by their age but there is some
variability. If something happens to the homeostasis of the hive,
say the foraging bees die off or something happens to the nurse bees.
Older bees will revert back to their previous duties. I find this
fascinating because no one told the bees what to do,
the queen bee just lays eggs, her title is purely honorary. The
colony simple feels the loss, and fills the void.
This,
I believe is one of the more beautiful similarities we have with the
honey bee: We serve where the service is needed. We receive
direction and we do a job. A former bishop or Relief society
president can be called as primary worker, a high councilor can pass
the sacrament and there is a revolving door of helpers in the
nursery.
But
Elder Ballard encourages more that just service within the church but
service to our communities and our neighborhoods—our fellow man.
When
questioned what the greatest commandment was, Jesus taught
“Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind. …
We
are to love our neighbors as ours selves, this includes the elderly
grandmas and those
with addictions;
serving them, helping them, treating with kindness and compassion.
I
can't but help but think of primary song #61
Lyrics
Jesus said love ev'ryone;
Treat them kindly, too.
When your heart is filled
with love,
Others will love you.
It's
not enough to love them but we actually have to be nice too.
The
gospel of Christ is love . The gospel of Christ is service.
Sometimes
when we can feel awkward around people that are different than us,
it's important that we remember that regardless of the differences and
challenges be it age, political opinion, sexual orientation, or
disability, they are human beings and therefore children of God and
worthy of our love and compassion.
Here
I would like to quote Elder Ballard,
Now,
brothers and sisters, I’m not encouraging religious zealotry or
fanaticism. Quite the contrary! I’m simply suggesting that we take
the next logical step in our complete conversion to the gospel of
Christ by assimilating its doctrines deep within our hearts and our
souls so we will act and live consistently—and with integrity—what
we profess to believe.
There
is one simple daily practice that can make a difference for every
member of the Church, including you boys and girls, you young men
and you young women, you single adults, and you fathers and mothers.
That
simple practice is: In your morning prayer each new day, ask
Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an opportunity to serve
one of His precious children. Then go throughout the day with your
heart full of faith and love, looking for someone to help. Stay
focused, just like the honeybees focus on the flowers from which to
gather nectar and pollen. If you do this, your spiritual
sensitivities will be enlarged and you will discover opportunities
to serve that you never before realized were possible.
President
Thomas S. Monson has taught that in many instances Heavenly
Father answers another person’s prayers through us—through you
and me—through our kind words and deeds, through our simple acts
of service and love.
And
President Spencer W. Kimball said: “God does notice us, and he
watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he
meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other”
(Teachings
of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball [2006],
82).
My
wife relayed an experience she had just yesterday morning while
riding the light rail in downtown Tacoma. While Elizabeth and the
children sat on the train waiting for it to leave the station a
presumed homeless man made eye contact with the kids from outside the
train. He walked up to the train, placed his hand on the glass and
Grace, my second born, swiftly gave him a high five. For several
more minutes all the children and this man played through the window.
Frequently this man would look to my wife for reassurance that this
was OK. Now this man could have been seen as scary, threatening,
unshaven, and untidy, but instead (my children and then my wife began
to see him as who he was) a child of God and a member of our
community. As the train left my wife quickly was involved in a
lively discussion with several other commuters on the problems
causing the homeless epidemic in our area. What started as a family
outing, turned into an interaction between cultures and finally a
broader community event.
We can be the tools
the Lord uses to bless the lives of those in our church, community
nation and world, we just need to find and be lead to the vacancies
which our special skills will fill.
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