General Conference Odyssey reporting on the Saturday afternoon session of October 1980.

The world is becoming more and more polarized, isn’t it? While the world teaches everyone to be tolerant of all races and species of humanity, God preaches to love one another. In the process, the world waxes colder and colder while God’s people are given the power of light to warm the earth.

I want to focus on Elder Ballard’s talk, but I just want to mention one important note from Elder Packer’s:

“We want our children and their children to know that the choice of life is not between fame and obscurity, nor is the choice between wealth and poverty. The choice is between good and evil, and that is a very different matter indeed.”

Our good shows in the light we’ve been given? And there is power in wielding this light. This is something that ought to be discussed in Sunday School, Family Home Evening, personal prayers, etc. The war rages on and we have all been called to the battlefront. Is our light engaged to illuminate or is it being snuffed out?

Reading Elder Ballard’s talk made me think more about ministering. Many of us are worried about how this new ministering thing is going to work. I think the thing we need to realize is that having the light of the spirit with us will literally be the only thing that saves us out of this world. Where the world teaches self-absorption, the Lord wants us to rely on the spirit for direction. Where the world encourages us to stay too busy, the Lord is asking us to create downtime and listen for the spirit to speak to us. The question isn’t “How do we do this?” The real question is “Am I willing to use my light for good?

So, Elder Ballard offers some great, motivating type stories to help you feel the spirit of ministering. We love hearing these stories, but do we experience them ourselves? Enough? More than once? Each time we reach out? Paraphrasing something Elder Ballard said, “Are we the light of the Lord willing to touch someone who needs it desperately?”

Of course! But we all struggle with how to use the light we have been given. Consider these ideas:

• Recognize and accept that God wants us to use His light to bless another person. We are all called to this work. Since everyone has something we’re dealing with—in the past, presently, or sometime in the future—are we going to be the ones who bring in a fullness of light to the one who momentarily feels desperate?
• Are we willing to rescue on the Lord’s terms? Not what we are willing to offer. Not avoiding the personal struggle because we don’t know what to say or do. Not pampering and simply saying everything will turn out alright. Are we willing to pray for inspiration, get into each other’s lives, and literally become someone’s beacon of light for the time needed? Bear hugs, phone calls, and even text messages are always welcome.

Elder C. Reeves, Sr. spoke on missionary work, saying something I found significant.

“A person is never nearer the Lord than when he is reaching out, Savior-like, to bring another soul to Christ.”

Heavenly Father wants all of His children to come home. Satan is stealing away as many souls as he can. We are standing in the middle. Do we just let Satan do his despicable work? Or do we cauterize the bleeding with our light?