S’more

When I was a little boy, my family really enjoyed nature. Gratefully, we often found ourselves on father and son outings, involved with the Boy Scouts, or traveling the country in our tent trailer. Some of my best memories come from these days. I won’t take time to elaborate now, but we have all had these kinds of experiences.

 

The engagements also resulted in picnics, camping, oohing & ahhing at the stars in the Milky Way, cooking on the campfire, and appreciating the outdoors. Cooking over the fire meant hot dogs, dutch ovens, freshly-caught fish, and, of course, my favorite: s’mores. Now if you are not familiar with the term s’mores, let’s go to Google for a pretty simple description for you:

 

A s’more is a popular campfire treat consisting of one or more toasted marshmallows with a layer of chocolate placed between two pieces of graham cracker or cookie.

 

Now this description is elementary at best. S’mores are legendary in some people’s minds. And that is not really surprising when you consider adding candied bacon, berries, caramel, pretzels, and various candy bars to the presentation.

 

So my take is that these favorite little camping customs were named because the simple delicacies are really, really scrumptious, and we all love them so much that we are constantly asking for more. So the moniker “s’more” e.g. Some more was adopted. Sorry for stating the obvious, but I imagine that’s how that name was derived. In my home, we can never get enough of them.

 

Now we have all heard of yoga, being one with nature, communing with a higher power, nurturing a good perspective, and following leaders and great philosophers. These manmade strategies are significant attempts and upright gestures as I understand them. They have good objectives with the ultimate goal of bringing peace and happiness to the participants, but they are not a substitute for religion and are probably not really intended to be. They have the ability to bring pleasure and satisfaction in life to an extent. Yet alone they are inadequate, incomplete, and ineffective. And I am all for good attitudes, a positive perspective, and helpful strategies, but they alone will never be enough. There is so much more. As S. Michael Wilcox eloquently references in the book The Sacrament, other strategies alone are not enough:

 

We need His teachings and His example of living just as we need bread and water. Without the Bread of Life and Living Water, we spiritually perish. Jesus promised that those who partook of the sacrament would be filled…

 

The missing elements of life are filled (in) by adding to and completing the entirety of our needs and addressing the holes that are otherwise left unfilled.

 

When I was a young man, I helped build a log cabin. This little structure made with logs was not watertight until the chinking was filled in to span the gaps between the unevenly cut and various sized logs. Luckily my father guided me to properly seal the open gaps between timbers, but even then I realized that the logs alone are insufficient to construct a comfortable home. Mother added a touch of class and style to the log home with interior decorating, quilts, rugs, curtains, and other furnishings.

 

These additions contributed to our comfort and happiness I assure you. My mother was able to take.

 

To further illustrate, I have another example. Let’s say you want to go to Hawaii. Now there are a lot of ways to get there, but practically speaking, the most common way today is to fly. Let’s say for this example that you are responsible for navigating us there. You may or may not have ever been to the Hawaiian Islands but know they are west of California and somewhat south of the continental United States. What are the chances that we would make it there? Now you are well-meaning, intelligent, and capable–I give you that. Do you think you could do it? The Pacific Ocean is 58,000,000 square miles and the islands a mere few miles. I have a map and a compass and know a few Hawaiian words like luau, humuhumunukunukuapuapa’a, pineapple, and the like. I have visited a few times—even  recently—so I may be able to help. But what are your chances of getting us there safely in one piece? Could you do it or not at all? Most people like me don’t have the first clue how to fly a plane. We could take a shot in the dark, but our chances of hitting the islands is one in a million, even if we were able to get the plane off the ground. So what does this have to do with anything?

 

Our lives are full of challenges and significant experiences—particularly now. Often, we don’t realize the importance of these opportunities until long after they occur. Perhaps we still have not realized their impact of many of our experiences commonly had in our lives and in the Church.

 

A missionary related an experience about a woman who wanted to be baptized, but she couldn’t give up coffee. Twenty missionaries over the years came to her home and invited her to come to Christ, but her addiction to coffee prevented her from receiving baptism and qualifying now for the ultimate gift from God—Exaltation and all the Father has, including worlds without end.

 

Talk about significant moments in our lives!

 

Some experiences are fleeting. Others are lifelong pursuits. I know in my life, one of these situations occurred nearly every weekend of my entire life—attending church and specifically renewing my covenants with Jesus Christ by worthily partaking of the sacrament. I’m not sure I really understood the significance of this gesture. This is a weekly renewal of the most significant gift we can ever receive. 

 

I believe it is noteworthy that the young men of the Aaronic priesthood prepare and administer the sacrament in our behalf. When I was a child, often I waited for the announcements and church business to occur and the sacrament to be administered, so we could get on with the talks and other activities of sacrament meeting. I assume because of its frequency, I too was largely oblivious to the important role of the sacrament plays in our lives.

 

But now I have come to realize that the sacrament is the most significant part of the meeting, the most important activity of the week, and perhaps one of the most noteworthy moments of our lives. Do you believe that?

 

Praying, going to church, repenting, and worthily partaking of the sacrament might seem like relatively small gestures in the whole scope of our lives, but small things can be of enormous influence and dictate the overall outcome.

 

By small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

 

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. (Alma 37:6-7)

 

We commit to love and serve Jesus Christ. We want more of Him and His influence in our lives, our homes, and our families.

 

The Lord’s supper may seem like a small and simple thing to some, but I have come to understand, and I now know that the simplicity of the Sacrament does not make it a less significant part of our trek home to our heavenly family. It is not only essential. The sacrament is also empowering and redeeming.

 

Wilcox continues “Every time we take the sacrament, we are proclaiming and announcing to the world with an outward act that we believe in Jesus Christ. We affirm His Resurrection. We attest to his atoning sacrifice. We say to all who care to witness that we have faith in Christ, desire to take his name, want to remember Him, and are striving to keep His commandments. We proclaim to all that we need His spirit to be with us and that we are asking for it.”

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith emphasized the significance of the sacrament when he said in his judgment the sacrament meeting is the most sacred, the most holy, of all the meetings of the Church.

 

I too rejoice in the privilege of following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ as noted in the words of a favorite Church hymn, “Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives I know that my Redeemer lives.” 

 

Yes with this knowledge realization and understanding, we definitely cannot have enough. We all want some more (or s’more). It seems that we can never get enough.

 

Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives. I know that my Redeemer lives.