The concluding chapter in the book\u00a0Les Miserables\u00a0<\/i>is entitled \u201cThe Last Drop in the Chalice.\u201d It refers to the final purging in the life of Jean Valjean. He is a white-haired saint whose life has been dealt harshly with by law and justice but who was inspired by a \u201cbishop\u201d to be better. This saintly soul realizes there is one thing left undone to make him a totally honest man. He goes through an immense personal struggle and emerges victorious. All of this he does, sacrificing on the altar of love and religion the adoring felicity that Cosette feels toward him who has been \u201call\u201d in this life to her. Jean Valjean is convinced that he should unveil before this person, who represents the totality of his reason to live, the dark shadows that cling to his past. With one final resolve he makes all known, fully aware of the expected consequence of alienating the most precious and only soul he has ever loved. The full impact of what I am trying to say can only come as one labors through the 1221-page volume, which I have done five times and again just recently.<\/p>\nThis Saintly Man<\/b><\/h2>\n
I have thought a great deal about President Kimball as I have considered this phrase, \u201cthe last drop in the chalice.\u201d President Spencer W. Kimball has given more energy, greater service, and has had the most profound impact, I think, of anyone in the restored Church save the Prophet Joseph only. This is partially due to the numerical size of the Church. It is also due to the shrinking of the size of the Church through modern convenience of travel, communication, and worldwide acceptance to a greater or lesser degree.<\/p>\n
President Kimball has suffered with problems of boils, throat cancer, heart disease and surgery, Bell\u2019s palsy, and three subdural hematoma operations. For all that is publicly known about him, there are books of deeds about which only a few know. This saintly man has come as near to walking in the footsteps of Jesus as any living soul.<\/p>\n
Only a few know of the times when he has been in the hospital recovering but has taken that time to visit others and has given blessings when possibly he had the greater need. I have known and seen brave, faithful men weep as they have talked about President Kimball\u2019s visit to their loved ones when all hope seemed lost.<\/p>\n
Many unthinking people have gone to his home or to his office or have cornered him at conference\u2014as if theirs was the only problem in the world that mattered. And this beloved apostle has responded in that very way, as if theirs was the only problem in the world. So many of us who are lesser than he would have resented the imposition.<\/p>\n
Even today, in his present condition, I suppose he receives more letters from members of the Church than any other General Authority. I receive only those that are written to him from members residing in the North America Southeast Area, one of thirteen such areas in the world. The letters flow in regularly and we respond for him.<\/p>\n
His office is like a minimuseum of gifts from people who have sent their treasured possessions to share with him. I think only a small selection of these gifts are displayed in his office.<\/p>\n
There are many special trinkets and gifts from those of Lamanite descent. Also, one artist has portrayed the feelings the minorities especially feel toward President Kimball. There is a beautifully framed rendering of Lamanites and also one of a black family with tears on the cheeks of the father and mother as they gaze toward the Salt Lake Temple. I took a black man and his wife through President Kimball\u2019s office, and this was the one gift that impressed them\u2014also to tears.<\/p>\n
Consider the giant forward thrust the Church has made during the ministry of President Kimball as prophet. Even now, after five years of limited involvement, President Kimball\u2019s great vision reaches out before us. He has set a work in motion that no enemy or foe will frustrate. Compare the majesty of this magnificent soul to the spiritual pygmies who hurl their own faithless frustrations upon the Church or try to drag others down to their level of empty faith.<\/p>\n
Elder Packer said, \u201cThey leave the Church but they can\u2019t leave it alone\u201d (Utah State University baccalaureate address). They publish theological pornography that is damaging to the spirit. None of it is worth casting an eye upon. Do not read the anti-Mormon materials. That is not the way you resolve questions about the truthfulness of the restored gospel. Simply go back and read and ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon and you will know it is true. Those who try to dissuade us from the truth want to tear down what we have, but they do not have anything to replace it when it\u2019s gone. A person who has sexual hang-ups should not read pornographic material as a means of dealing with his or her problem. Likewise, a person who is weak in the faith should not read pornographic theological material. It only destroys and takes away; it never replaces that which was lost.<\/p>\n
A poet said it in these words:<\/p>\n
I watched them tearing a building down,<\/i>
\nA gang of men in a busy town.<\/i>
\nWith a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell,<\/i>
\nThey swung the beams and the side walls fell.<\/i><\/p>\n
I asked the foreman, \u201cAre these men skilled,\u00a0<\/i>
\nThe kind you\u2019d hire were you to build?\u201d<\/i>
\nHe laughed and said, \u201cWhy, no indeed!<\/i>
\nJust common laborers are all I need.\u00a0<\/i>
\nThey can easily wreck in a day or two\u00a0<\/i>
\nWhat builders have taken years to do. \u201c<\/i><\/p>\n
And I thought to myself as I went my way:<\/i>
\n\u201cWhat part in the game of life do I play?\u00a0<\/i>
\nAm I a builder who works with care,<\/i>
\nmeasuring life by the rule and square?<\/i><\/p>\n
Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan,<\/i>
\npatiently doing the best I can?<\/i>
\nOr am I a wrecker who walks the town,<\/i>
\nContent with the labor of tearing down?\u201d\u00a0<\/i>
\n[Author unknown]<\/p>\n
The names of those who have profited from the sale of anti-Mormon materials will fade and die. Their cause is nonsense. Their hope is desolate, and the eternal consequence of attempting to destroy the faith of the Saints will ring everlastingly down through the generations to their own destruction and that of their offspring. The Lord said,<\/p>\n
Wherefore, let them bring forth their strong reasons against the Lord.<\/i><\/p>\n
Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you\u2014there is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper;<\/i><\/p>\n
And if any man lift his voice against you he shall be confounded in mine own due time.\u00a0<\/i>[D&C 71:8\u201310]<\/p>\n
Can we not judge by the Spirit the senselessness of those who splinter the doctrines, rearrange the principles, and ignite the fire of apostasy? We ought to have the wisdom and the vision to see where such nonsensical conduct and teachings lead.<\/p>\n
Imagine comparing those shallow, empty minds against the contributions of President Kimball. I preside over the southeast area of the United States and the Caribbean, and I tell you\u2014those Saints come near worshipping President Spencer W. Kimball, the Prophet. I think there is hardly a congregation in the South that has not sung \u201cWe Ever Pray for Thee.\u201d The words in the third verse are:<\/p>\n
We ever pray for thee with fervent love;<\/i>
\nAnd as the children\u2019s prayer is heard above,<\/i>
\nThou shalt be ever blest, and God will give<\/i>
\nAll that is meet and best\u00a0<\/i>[President Kimball]\u00a0while thou shalt live.\u00a0<\/i>[Hymns,<\/i>\u00a0no. 23]<\/p>\n
We do pray for thee, President Kimball, our noble, beloved Prophet of God. It has been my intention here to share with you some of these thoughts and have you contemplate that this final era in the life of President Spencer W. Kimball may be the extracting of the \u201clast drops of the chalice.\u201d We wonder if any man reaches perfection in this life and realize that they do not. Nonetheless, President Kimball\u2019s life comes near the mark. Edgar A. Guest wrote a poem entitled \u201cA Real Man.\u201d I have quoted it a few times to a few men. Never was it more accurate than when describing President Spencer W. Kimball.<\/p>\n
A Real Man<\/i><\/p>\n
Men are of two kinds, and he<\/i>
\nWas of the kind I\u2019d like to be.<\/i>
\nSome preach their virtues, and a few<\/i>
\nExpress their lives by what they do.\u00a0<\/i>
\nThat sort was he. No flowery phrase<\/i>
\nOr glibly spoken words of praise\u00a0<\/i>
\nWon friends for him. He wasn\u2019t cheap\u00a0<\/i>
\nOr shallow, but his course ran deep,\u00a0<\/i>
\nAnd it was pure. You know the kind.\u00a0<\/i>
\nNot many in a life you find<\/i>
\nWhose deeds outrun their words so far\u00a0<\/i>
\nThat more than what they seem they are.<\/i><\/p>\n
There are two kinds of lies as well:<\/i>
\nThe kind you live, the ones you tell.\u00a0<\/i>
\nBack through his years from age to youth<\/i>
\nHe never acted one untruth.<\/i>
\nOut in the open light he fought\u00a0<\/i>
\nAnd didn\u2019t care what others thought\u00a0<\/i>
\nNor what they said about his fight\u00a0<\/i>
\nIf he believed that he was right.<\/i>
\nThe only deeds he ever hid<\/i>
\nWere acts of kindness that he did.<\/i><\/p>\n
What speech he had was plain and blunt.\u00a0<\/i>
\nHis was an unattractive front.<\/i>
\nYet children loved him; babe and boy\u00a0<\/i>
\nPlayed with the strength he could employ,\u00a0<\/i>
\nWithout one fear, and they are fleet<\/i>
\nTo sense injustice and deceit.<\/i>
\nNo back door gossip linked his name\u00a0<\/i>
\nWith any shady tale of shame.<\/i>
\nHe did not have to compromise<\/i>
\nWith evil-doers, shrewd and wise,<\/i>
\nAnd let them ply their vicious trade<\/i>
\nBecause of some past escapade.<\/i><\/p>\n
Men are of two kinds, and he<\/i>
\nWas of the kind I\u2019d like to be.<\/i>
\nNo door at which he ever knocked<\/i>
\nAgainst his manly form was locked.<\/i>
\nIf ever man on earth was free<\/i>
\nAnd independent, it was he.<\/i>
\nNo broken pledge lost him respect,<\/i>
\nHe met all men with head erect,<\/i>
\nAnd when he passe\u00a0<\/i>[s]\u00a0I think there\u00a0<\/i>[will be sent]
\nA soul to yonder firmament<\/i>
\nSo white, so splendid and so fine<\/i>
\nIt\u00a0<\/i>[comes]\u00a0almost to God\u2019s design.<\/i>
\n[Edgar A. Guest,\u00a0A Heap o\u2019 Livin\u2019<\/i>]<\/p>\nLoving Counsel<\/b><\/h2>\n
The purpose of giving you this background is a result of deep pondering. I have tried desperately to consider what President Kimball would teach and admonish you if he were here. I have read much of what he has written. I have studied and pondered his talks, and I think I have a limited understanding of his style.<\/p>\n
I wonder if he wouldn\u2019t counsel you in this way: \u201cI have a great spiritual disturbance in my soul. I feel constantly at unrest. It seems that many of our\u00a0<\/i>most valiant youth and young adults are falling prey to the deadly tactical warfare of the adversary. Never has there been so much confusion and disruption in our strong LDS homes and total abandonment of the principles of truth in others. Hardly a family has not been penetrated to a greater or lesser degree.\u201d<\/p>\nModels for Living<\/b><\/h2>\n
I visited a stake in a distant city. I make it a custom to memorize their statistics, which at least gives me some slight understanding of activity levels. In this stake almost every statistic was down dramatically, including sacrament meeting, priesthood meeting, Relief Society, Primary, Sunday School, youth activity, tithing, and temple activity. I think I had a sense of righteous indignation, maybe even anger, that we had let Satan take over so much real estate.<\/p>\n
I questioned the stake leaders, and together we prayed and pondered for an answer. It came. This stronghold community of the Church had not especially been aware of\u00a0<\/i>the subtleties of Satan\u2019s strategy. Many in this farming community had purchased satellite receivers, video shops had opened, and naive parents were letting R- and X-rated movies into their homes through satellite channels, and the youth and even some parents were renting them. Imagine violating the second most sacred place on the earth, the homes of righteous Latter-day Saints.<\/p>\n
I think President Kimball would speak boldly against this insidious evil. I think he would counsel parents to monitor what is brought in and out of the home to see that it reflects an LDS standard.<\/p>\n
I believe that President Kimball\u2019s heart would be troubled that Satan is making a mockery of sacred things and our young people are unsuspectingly being influenced in a more terrible way that we ever would have supposed. We are a peculiar people and that is the strength of this church. We can have our families extended into eternity and become like him. I think it is the most glorious concept ever to be given to man by our God, and I love him for it.<\/p>\n
We teach a Word of Wisdom that the modern scientists are discovering is an inspired health law. We have family home evening and family prayer. We pay tithes and offerings, and our people prosper. We go to the temple and perform vicarious work for the dead, and we send out our true ambassadors as missionaries to the world. We believe in Christ and we live his commandments, and we do so everlastingly many more things as we serve our Lord.<\/p>\n
Why then can we not recognize the tactics of the evil one? We should walk in the sun as at noonday.<\/p>\n
What Satan has done is perpetrated a great lie upon us. To our youth he has lied: \u201cYou can keep your standards but you do not have to be different. You do not need to violate the Word of Wisdom, but you do not have to make an issue out of the things that do not really matter.\u201d Our very dress and grooming reflects our inward values.<\/p>\n
If you will watch and pattern your dress and conduct after the people of real substance, you will not go wrong. Men and women of substance have the inner stability and well-being to follow the conservative, inoffensive dress standards. Remember, there is a time and a season for everything under the heavens.<\/p>\n
I had an old red sweatshirt that I used to wear when I would float the western rivers. Then my wife threw it away. There is a different standard of dress for various activities. However, when we are in public, it makes good sense to not groom or dress in a way that will attract undue attention or detract from the surrounding scenery.<\/p>\n
I think President Kimball might instruct us in the benefits of serving. Robert K. Greenleaf wrote a book entitled\u00a0Servant Leadership.\u00a0<\/i>He states:<\/p>\n
The idea of\u00a0<\/i>The Servant as Leader\u00a0came out of reading Hermann Hesse\u2019s\u00a0<\/i>Journey to the East.\u00a0In this story we see a band of men on a mythical journey, probably also Hesse\u2019s own journey. The central figure of the story is Leo who accompanies the party as the\u00a0<\/i>servant\u00a0who does their menial chores, but who also sustains them with his spirit and his song. He is a person of extraordinary presence. All goes well until Leo disappears. Then the group falls into disarray and the journey is abandoned. They cannot make it without the servant Leo. The narrator, one of the party, after some years of wandering finds Leo and is taken into the Order that had sponsored the journey. There he discovers that Leo, whom he had known first as\u00a0<\/i>servant,\u00a0was in fact the titular head of the Order, its guiding spirit, a great and noble\u00a0<\/i>leader.<\/p>\n
One can muse on what Hesse was trying to say when he wrote this story. We know that most of his fiction was autobiographical, that he led a tortured life, and that\u00a0<\/i>Journey to the East\u00a0suggests a turn toward the serenity he achieved in his old age. There has been much speculation by critics on Hesse\u2019s life and work, some of it centering on this story which they find the most puzzling. But to me, this story clearly says that\u00a0<\/i>the great leader is seen as servant first,\u00a0and that simple fact is the key to his greatness. Leo was actually the leader all of the time, but he was servant first because that was what he was,\u00a0<\/i>deep down inside. [Robert K. Greenleaf,\u00a0Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness\u00a0<\/i>(New York: Paulist Press, 1977), p. 7]<\/p>\n