Greatness isn't always recognized

3/30/17

... but great and marvelous were the prophecies of Ether; but they esteemed him as naught and cast him out; and he hid himself in the cavity of a rock by day, and by night he went forth viewing the things which should come upon the people.

.... and in fine, there were none of the fair sons and daughters upon the face of the whole earth who repented of their sins, 

And it came to pass that Coriantumr repented not, ...and the wars ceased not; and they sought to kill Ether  (Ether 13: 13, 17, 22)

For at least 10 years of my life, I have been - and let's pick this word carefully. Is the word haunted? Searching? Nagged? Obsessed isn't the right word, but if you mix those four words together, it's in there somewhere. I'll make a new word up - NOSHed. It's an acronym of all the above.

So the nosh was unrelenting. Every day. Year in and out. And the subject? Greatness. What is greatness? What is it not? What is it to me? Is it the same for everyone? I learned that greatness is not about being very good at something, or even achieving a particular title. There are great basketball players who I wouldn't want in my home. Being a great drummer or sculptor doesn't mean that one is a great person (I met a great sculptor doing a home inspections that I can't spend 5 minutes with). Even being an accomplished politician is not greatness - I live in a day when politicians from both sides of the aisle are very disappointing as individuals, who once again, I wouldn't want in my home. 

So then my journey continued - what is greatness? If it's not a title or an accomplishment, what is it? One of my big steps forward is to understand that it's service. Greatness isn't your title - it's who you are; who you have served; how you have affected the lives of others for the better; how you have made substantive changes to the quality of the lives of others. 

You can do that as a politician, or as a sculptor or drummer, or as a rich person, but the greatness isn't the title, it's what you do with the resources and gifts available to you.

So that's a long background to what I saw in this scripture. But before I go there, one more story.

I met a man in Highland who I recognized to be a highly gifted man of God. He had a pipeline to God, and understood his laws. He had gained wisdom from years of dedicated service to God - not the bible thumping sort of data knowledge, but wisdom. When he spoke, he spoke with the power and authority of God, and he did so in a way that was so meek and humble that his power was often mistaken for mere sentences.

I yearned (that's a weird word, I know) to hear him speak. I had an opportunity to do so at a ward other than mine one day. I went to an extra church meeting just to hear him. He spoke as powerfully as always, and I tried to hear every word, hear the tone, the meaning, the meaning between the lines, and the power of the Holy Ghost that could carry the full meaning of his intent into the best storage spots of my brain. I wanted to keep everything he said where it would never be forgotten. That happens a lot with my brain - forgetting that is.

Then during that speech, for a moment, I looked around. Are others gathering the power of this delivery? Do they understand that this man speaks as if he were an angel of God? Were they getting this? Nope. I noticed someone randomly check the clock to see how much longer. Others were half in and half out. I thought what a tragedy this was: greatness right in front of you and you just can't see it. A treasure chest of gold being handed to you, but you can't take it because you're checking your phone.

One of my first guidances/revelations was that greatness is about service. Service is the key. That just confused me more. How can something so common be so supreme?

All of which takes me to this scripture. Here's Ether, a man that Moroni understands to be great. He called him great and marvelous. I don't know if Moroni's meaning of great is the same as mine, but I suspect it is.

Here is a great man. A marvelous man. Is he recognized by his peers? They certainly have access to him as much as they allow themselves to be accessible, they have his words, he's available to them. Yet they don't see the giant in the room - he annoys them and they want him out. Not just out of the room, but they want him dead. It takes another great man like Moroni to recognize Ether's greatness 1000 years later. How would Moroni respond to Ether when they met? Probably the same way I would when I meet Moroni, yet none of that affected how both Ether and Moroni were treated by others around them. They weren't great enough to recognize greatness. they were ungreat. Let's pick a word for that - self centered, self serving, evil maybe. They were offended by the truth to the point of silencing it by the sword. Many in my day are almost that offended by the truth as well.

So how do you know when you have achieved greatness? The crowds won't give you any inclination of it. The crowd doesn't see greatness. If the crowds think you're awesome, it might be time to worry actually. 

I should probably stop there - it's a good way to end - but one more point. Greatness isn't a destination; there is an infinite set of shades of greatness. This might be the problem with thinking we've made it by simply accepting Christ. That's a good thing, but it's one of the first steps of a ladder that goes eternally into heaven. To think we've achieved for climbing the first two or three steps - and staying there - has to be one of the greatest ideas Satan has ever had. 

May we put our lives and our souls in such a place that when greatness walks in the room, we respect. We revere. We reverence and admire, and replicate. And may we also compare ourselves to another yardstick - when greatness enters, may we never reject.