We have been the recipients of the richest bounties of heaven.  We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity.  We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, like no other nation ever has.

But we have forgotten God.  We have forgotten the gracious hand that has preserved us in peace and mulitplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined in the decietfullness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, to proud to pray to God who made us!  It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Service to others deepens and sweetens this life while we are preparing to live in a better world. It is by serving that we learn how to serve. When we are engaged in the service of our fellowmen, not only do our deeds assist them, but we put our own problems in a fresher perspective. When we concern ourselves more with others, there is less time to be concerned with ourselves! In the midst of the miracle of serving, there is the promise of Jesus that by losing ourselves, we find ourselves! Not only do we "find" ourselves in terms of acknowledging divine guidance in our lives, but the more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. We become more significant individuals as we serve others. We become more substantive as we serve others--indeed, it is easier to "find" ourselves because there is so much more of us to find!



Spencer W. Kimball. "The Abundant Life." Ensign, July 1978, 3.