The Crowd That Shouts Your Name

From President Monson's talk:

The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. Every day of our lives courage is needed—not just for the momentous events but more often as we make decisions or respond to circumstances around us. Said Scottish poet and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson: “Everyday courage has few witnesses. But yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you and no crowds shout your name.”

Personally, I think Robert Louis Stevenson was wrong. It's not that I think everyday courage isn't noble. In fact, it may be even more noble than courage displayed before crowds. When you have a group watching you, you know you have to put your best foot forward, show them a good example, and really impress them. When you're on your own, it's easy not to be the person you know you should be.

But are we ever really on our own? Does any action ever go unwitnessed? Aren't there dozens, if not hundreds of angels watching over each one of us, hoping that we'll choose the right? And don't you think they might get excited when we do?

I personally think that each of us has a crowd of angels pulling for us. If we can remember that in times when we feel alone, it might help us to make good choices anyway. I never hear the angels that cheer for me. A rarely feel their guidance and influence. In fact, I rarely feel that they're even there at all. But they may be. And I'm certain that there's at least one person out there pulling for me and cheering me on. I want to do the right thing for them. They're putting so much effort into helping me. I don't want to let them down.

You may not feel like there are many people pulling for you here on Earth. Sometimes, we can all feel very alone. But never forget that there is a God in heaven who loves you, and there are countless angels cheering for you and shouting your name. You can pray to feel their encouragement whenever you need to. No act is too trivial to attract heaven's attention, and no decision is so trivial that angels do not cheer or weep when it is made. (Well, actually, that might not be true. I'm sure there are some decisions that don't really matter in the Eternal scheme of things, but most of them do.) When we know that there are angels watching us, pulling for us, and cheering for us, it can help give us the courage to be the kind of people we know we should be.

I'm grateful for my angels. I let them down far more often than I would like to, but that's partly because I forget that they're there. I'm going to try to do better at remembering, and I'm going to try to make them proud.