by David Bay, High Councilor

Last week the company where I work had an ISO-9001 Audit. The idea was to check out how well we were doing in our goals as a company. Our external auditor, whose name was Bob, came and reviewed how we were doing as a company. He looked at how well we were following those standards and ideals that we said we would be following. He did a formal evaluation of how he perceived we were doing based on some international standards, which we had agreed to follow, as well as our company’s own documents. He gave us a sort of report card on how well we are doing in meeting our own goals.

Do you ever look at how you are doing on your goals and your directions? Do you even have goals and directions? With this newsletter having a focus on Welfare and Self Reliance, obviously you can look at our progress in those areas. However, taking inventory of how you are doing is appropriate in all areas of your life. When he was first sustained as a prophet, Pres. Nelson taught us that repentance is a continual process.

“Whether you are diligently moving along the covenant path, have slipped or stepped from the covenant path, or can’t even see the path from where you are now, I plead with you to repent. Experience the strengthening power of daily repentance—of doing and being a little better each day.

“When we choose to repent, we choose to change! We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. We choose to grow spiritually and receive joy—the joy of redemption in Him. When we choose to repent, we choose to become more like Jesus Christ!”

President Nelson referred to our progress on the covenant path. I like the idea of the covenant path. Even though our actions seem to be day-to-day very similar or even the same over and over it helps us understand and have hope that we are making progress as we go along.

Sometimes we get so close to our own goals that we are unable to have an objective look at how we are doing. That is why it can help us to counsel about our goals with others. When we get many people looking at the same thing, we can get different perspectives and ideas. We also can have different bits of revelation. President M Russell Ballard has taught us a lot about this in many of his conference addresses and in his great instructional guidebook “Counseling with Our Councils”. Consider counseling either as husband and wife, or as a family council, or for those who live by themselves, with a trusted friend who can be an accountability partner.

Do you know what you want? If so, is it still something that motivates you? And are you on target? Or do you need adjustments to your plan?

If you don’t know what you want, look at the Children and Youth program for ideas. Imagine building a house without a plan. If you don’t know what you want the final house to look like, how would you know where to put the foundation so that the walls could be built over? However, if you are not sure what the PERFECT thing to seek is for you, just guess. Choose something you may like. It is easier to adjust once you are moving forward. Consider the following questions for ideas. What are the issues that you feel like you need to prepare for? Do you want to prepare for an emergency or disaster? Do you want to improve your family finances? Are you looking to increase your ability to earn a living? Do you need to improve something in your relationships with your family members? Do you need to take better care of your home and/or yard and/or other belongings?

Improvements are made one step at a time. Pres. Nelson has encouraged us to look at regular improvement or as he called it “Experience the strengthening power of daily repentance—of doing and being a little better each day.” What is repentance? It’s nothing more than working on becoming better continually. It’s not a single event but something we work on all the time.

How are you doing in what you want to accomplish? Are you trying to do it all alone? Do you have someone else who is helping you be accountable for what you want to do? Who would you choose to help you with something like this? Sometimes the person would be a good friend, a neighbor, a ministering brother or sister, a spouse, or a family member. Each of us is given obstacles in this life. But we are not required to do everything all by ourselves. Salvation and exaltation are achieved as we work together. We help each other become the best that we can be. We grow when we work and serve each other. We grow when we accept others’ service and serve others.

What can you share? Who could use that help? What additional assistance could you use? Who can assist you with that?

Some who came to mind in considering those questions will probably be those who are not sitting in our sacrament meetings every Sunday. As we invite them to become part of our lives and our activities, we can show them love. And we will be greatly blessed by them.

As we seek to love God with all of our heart might mind and strength and also to love our neighbors as ourselves, we will be able to work together to build Zion, right here in Brigham City.