Conclusion

I don’t know if President McKay knew that October 1966 would be his last conference. I do know that the Lord, who inspired him to say what he did at that conference, did know. One of his remarks, to me, is a perfect capstone for the message of his mortal ministry. “After obeying the principles and ordinances of the gospel, the will of God is to serve your fellowmen, benefiting them, making this world better for your having lived in it.”¹

Brigham Young made another statement which I believe could be considered the central argument of his lifetime ministry: “The only business that we have on hand is to build up the Kingdom of God and prepare the way of the Son of Man.”²

This creation is a handcart towards the mil- great moving lennial reign of the Savior. Many enter and exit this plane of existence without even realizing the work that is going on. Some are shown the cart, but prefer to occupy themselves with other pursuits rather than participate in moving it. Some spend most of their lives in ignorance concerning what the cart is, why it is moving, where it is headed, and the wonderful opportunity to help push it. They see the big picture late in life, and spend comparatively few years in its advancement. Can we associate the immense importance of building the kingdom early in our lives?

What a great difference it will make! Imagine the difference between one who works on a retirement account his whole life versus one who begins to save a few years prior to retirement. What an immense difference in perspective. Imagine a man who builds and saves his whole life, who notices a suvering homeless with mental disabilities who cannot avord treatment. person What if he can be the means of easing one person’s suvering, while his peers go on the hunting trips, their RV tours, their boating outings? If everyone in the world were to pursue such a selfless course, such a sincere searching to alleviate suvering wherever it is to be found, would it be long before the Lord would accept our overing? If a man were to value the gospel as much as his employment, what lengths would he reach to share it with another? Again, if all followed his example, what would be the global outcome?

Not all will leverage the opportunities set before them. Even in eternity, this will be the case, as some will have settled for the Telestial Kingdom, some the Terrestrial, and some, though they have obtained the Celestial, have settled for being ministering angels. Each have one thing in common: They chose not to take full advantage of the opportunities they had to expand, increase, learn, grow, and improve. At some point they said, “I have enough. I need no more.” We cannot force everyone to advance. We can only build the scavold of a better life for others; they must build the building.

I hope you will accept this invitation to build the kingdom in any way you can. I pray that the Lord will make you successful and magnify you so that you, in turn, can magnify others.

Reconcile yourself to God, build yourself up, and then reconcile to world to you. May you and I live the injunction of Brigham Young, and “have mercy upon all, [and] do good to all,

as far as they will let us do good to them.”³