Building Zion

One of the covenants (or promises) I have made as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is that I would consecrate (or dedeicate) my time, talents, and everything the Lord has and will bless me with to the building up of the Kingdom of God on the earth and the establishment of Zion. Building Zion is a principle taught in the scriptures, and it is also a principle my parents started teaching in my home I think before I was born because I always remember them teaching us about it. How exactly to consecrate everything the Lord has blessed me with to build Zion has always been a bit of a mystery to me and something I have been pondering for several years now. I have heard some people say we are not asked to live consecration yet, but will be asked to live it later. I do not believe that. If that were the case, I don't think I would have already promised to live it, but I have. Sometimes I get fairly stressed about not knowing how to live this law or feeling like I am living it completely enough.

Every six months in our church our leaders speak to the members of the church as a whole - we call it General Conference. I look forward to it every time. I feel inspired to be better and uplifted. This past conference I especially enjoy. I have been reading the talks from this past conference since then so I can learn even more from them and apply the teachings into my life. Well, one of the talks I especially enjoyed was by Elder Todd Christofferson, Come to Zion. I thought it was expeically instructive on what we need to do now to build Zion. In it he shared 3 things that need to happen for Zion to be built: 1) we need be unified in our families, church families, and communities in heart and mind, 2) we need to be individually and collectively holy, 3) we need to care for the poor effectively enough that we eliminate poverty.

I don't think that anyone of those tasks will be easy, but they are possible and necessary if we want the Saviour to come again. And I am grateful to have them laid out so clearly so I can start forming my game plans. I still have a lot of questions on how to succeed in completing each step, especially the last one, but I am grateful for some clarity on this question that has plagued me for so long.