What Happened Here Changed the World

It has been said that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. That level of isolation is difficult to achieve in a large city. If I wanted to do something in secret, I probably wouldn't go to Las Vegas to do it. I'd probably go to some place more physically isolated from others, where there is less chance of being spotted, like a cluster of trees. There are plenty of less-easily-accessed areas in the American River Parkway. If I wanted to get out and be alone and feel secluded, I'd probably go there. Yet, there is one grove of trees where something happened which was a private thing at first, but now that event is known about by over 15 million people. What happened in the Sacred Grove didn't stay there; it went out to all the world.

I copied this video directly from LDS.org rather than finding it on Youtube for the embed code. Hope it still works.

The people in this video are living evidence that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is not an American church, but a world-wide church. And though many of the events of early church history happened somewhere between New York and Utah, most of the events of current church news are happening all over the world. Missionaries are being sent almost everywhere, Wards and Stakes are being organized in just as many places, and Temples are being built everywhere where the church thrives. Though we often can't see beyond the reach of our own little lives, we are part of an organization that literally covers the globe.

This reminds me that this church is a pretty big deal, not just because it has had far-reaching effects, but that those effects have come because the church is important. What started with one person in a grove of trees has now grown to 15 Million people because this church changes lives, starting with Joseph Smith's, but eventually reaching to affect everyone. So here's my question for application: Is it affecting each of us? How is it affecting us, or how should it be? How should our lives have changed and be changing as a result of having the gospel?

What happened here changed the world. Let it change your life.

The question is, of course, a personal one, but it's one that we could benefit from thinking about occasionally. How, exactly, has this changed our lives? How should be living our lives differently than maybe we regularly do, because the gospel is helping us be better than we normally are or would be? What can we do to show that the church isn't just an organization we belong to, but a force for good in our lives?

It's something I'm going to have to think about some more before I have a good answer. I know that it's helping me strive to refrain from sin, but there's got to be more than that. It's quite possible that I owe my inclination toward service to the many service opportunities afforded by the church, from service projects to setting up and taking down chairs. I know I wouldn't be blogging right now if it wasn't for the church. That's probably worth something. Like I said, I need to think some more before I have a good answer to how the church has affected my life. I'm sure it has. I'm sure it has touched all of us in some way or another. It certainly has changed the lives of the people in the video. This church is a powerful thing; Powerful enough to change to world.