I hope the following lesson can be of use to youth ministries, family counselors, family devotionals and family home evenings. Today’s theme is on the virtues of being a part of the community of Christ.

Heroes are created because people of caliber are in the right spot at the right time and are willing to perform acts of courage and heroism for the right reason. One of the most amazing stories I heard on 9/11. When the twin towers was attacked was how firemen and policemen were running toward the chaos while citizens ran away. At personal risk to themselves, firemen start climbing up the stairs to rescue people who were trapped. I admire people who dedicate their lives to service. They are inspiring. But I have found heroes in other occupations besides the military, police officers and firemen. I have found people of caliber as my coworkers and as associates.

It takes time to make a person of virtue and high-caliber. Just like all the ingredients need to be gathered to make a homemade cake, so all the life experiences and training of an honorable person takes time. To me, that is why attending church can be so important. We need to be at the right spot at the right time. To perform a task, we need not only the right tools, but also the right training. So to be logical that if we want to grow spiritually and improve our relationship with God, then would want to acquire the tools and gain experience of spirituality.

A military needs to constantly receive supplies and training to be able to work at peak efficiency and to defend the country successfully. For us to excel in a sport it requires us to constantly practice. We need to learn the rules of the game and practice individually, and if appropriate, as a team. If we participate in a team sport, we need to recognize the strengths of our fellow team players and their weaknesses, so that we can help compensate each other. As a result, we become a more effective team. Practice helps us perform our specific tasks at a higher efficiency. I know a lot of teams will have their practice sessions videotaped and afterwards watch the tape and analyze what they could do differently to be a better team.

Church gives us a chance to videotape our lives. Let me clarify. We need to be companions in Christ by living the commandments and building a spiritual relationship with God the father and his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, by trying to be our best selves. What better way to do it then as a team? Being with individuals who share as same ambition as we makes it easier to accomplish a shared task.

How many joggers usually run with a companion? They do so as a support system? How many people go to the gym to exercise? One of the virtues of going to a gym is that you associate with people that share the same goal of health as you do.

Decades ago, someone in my family circl got offended at church. As a result, he has been an inactive for the entire time I’ve known him. He thought his actions were just influencing himself. But he had five sons and two daughters whose lives were also influenced by his actions. I wonder what the dynamics of his  family would be had he remained active?  I see that church fathers who attend regularly, and raises certain daughters in the gospel Jesus Christ. Work as a group reminds me of a wonderful thought: “a rising tide raises all ships”.

I have a friend who also got offended at church years ago. As a result, she only goes to church occasionally, and will immediately leave. I have tried to encourage her to become more active. She refused to do so. She is letting her anger fester. As her friend. I struggle to determine how to influence her to not let her resentment to rule her life.

I remember a couple years ago, someone at church said something and I got offended. There’s a pretty good chance I’ve done the same for someone else. One of my shortcomings, is that I have a tendency to make some wisecrack when the opportunity presents itself. There may be many sisters who get annoyed at my attempts at humor. So in this circumstance where I got offended I had to evaluate how I was going to respond, I remembered my friend. I made a conscious decision to not let my emotions influence my activity in the church.

I find that the value of church is to help us concentrate upon spiritual matters. It gives us an opportunity to study the gospel at Sunday school and other meetings. Church gives us a chance to relate the events of the Scriptures to our personal lives. We get to see examples of faith and obedience in the blessings of God to the Scriptures and to the testimonies of fellow parishioners at church.

If some readers here find church to not be of use to them, I invite them to reconsider.

If you have an experience where you have found that churches helped you in your life, please feel free to share it in the comment section of this blog. Thank you