A Work for Thee

Today we watched the movie Raising the Bar about Alma Richards, the first Utahn to win a gold medal at the Olympics. It is a powerful story about perseverance as Alma overcame many obstacles to make it to Sweden for the 1912 Olympics and win the gold, even though he went initially as an alternate. One of the scenes of the movie shows how in a chance meeting with a man named Thomas Trueblood, a professor from the University of Michigan, Alma was inspired to return to school. The man, who was a stranger, told Alma that education was key for his future and because of that Alma (who had previously dropped out of grade school) chose to go back. It was then that he discovered track and found that he was an exceptional athlete, ultimately leading to his incredible athletic career. It was the encouragement of this stranger that changed the course of Alma’s life and helped him to realize his amazing potential. I love the name of this professor—Trueblood—for it seems symbolic to me. He helped Alma to find his “true blood”, to come to know who he really was and what he could accomplish.

               Alma’s story reminds me of Moses’s encounter with the Lord recorded in Moses 1. Through an incredible vision Moses learned not only about the glory of God but also about his own mission on earth. I love these words of the Lord to him, “And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior, for he is full of grace and truth; but there is no God beside me, and all things are present with me, for I know them all” (Moses 1:6). Moses had a mission to accomplish on earth just like the Savior was foreordained to His supernal mission on earth before in the premortal world. And we each have a unique mission that we can accomplish through our faith in Jesus Christ. The Prophet Joseph Smith stated, “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council.” Surely that includes all those who are striving to follow the Savior: we have a work and mission to accomplish through Him. The Lord said to James Covel, “I have prepared thee for a greater work” (Doctrine and Covenants 39:11). He similarly said to Thomas B. Marsh, “I, the Lord, have a great work for thee to do” (Doctrine and Covenants 112:6). The Lord said this of the Prophet Joseph Smith, “And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work” (2 Nephi 3:8). And like them, we too have a work to accomplish, and we need to each learn what that is and then seek to fulfill it through His strength.     

Perhaps the best scene in the movie was when Alma kneeled down in the middle of the field to pray at the Olympics before his final jump—he knew that he needed more than mortal strength to be able to succeed. It was through the Lord’s strength that he ultimately won that event, and he wasn’t afraid to be seen by hundreds seeking the Lord through prayer. What the Lord said of Oliver Cowdery surely applied to Alma Richards: “I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men” (Doctrine and Covenants 24:12). And He will say the same of each of us as we earnestly seek to fulfill the unique work He has for us.