As I sat and listened to the April 2019 general conference President Nelson was quoted several times as saying that the gathering of Israel is the greatest work taking place in the world today, and that we can all be integral participants in the effort.  The objective is huge.  Nothing like it has ever been attempted before.  It’s a bigger deal than Moses’ parting of the Red Sea.  It’s an effort that requires the combined work of people on both sides of the veil.

As I listened to President Nelson’s closing remarks in the Sunday morning session, I received four distinct impressions.  All of them relate to the part I play in this great gathering effort.  They’re all simple.  The first was a directive from the Spirit to apologize to a lady with whom I corresponded by email.  I’ve never met her, but I was irritated by what I thought was her careless and confusing work on Family Search.  I’m afraid that I came across as rude and unkind.  That is unworthy of anyone, anytime.

Two other individuals came to mind, both not members of the Church, to whom I thought President Nelson was speaking directly.  I sent them each an email inviting them to do an experiment and listen to his talk.  These individuals shouldn’t have come to my mind at that time unless I was being directed by the Spirit to give them this opportunity for the Spirit to touch them.

The fourth message came as a personal, revelatory burst of light and understanding.  My wife and I were watching conference on our computer which is set into a recess in what used to be a bedroom closet.  Above the computer are two 54-inch-long shelves containing my books.  The top one is occupied by 59 volumes of journals and a difficult-to-count number of books that I’ve written for my family.  The weight of the journals and books causes the shelf to sag.  The sagging front causes the back corners of the shelf to be a full inch above the support that the back of the shelf is supposed to rest on.

I can’t guess how many thousands of pages are on that shelf.  Each one was individually written upon.  Each by itself is virtually weightless.  Yet all together they weigh more than I could possibly lift.  The Spirit said to me, “There is the Church.”

By ourselves we are nothing.  By ourselves we carry no weight.  But working together there is nothing that we can’t accomplish.  We’re out to change the world.  We’re going to save the world.  We’re going to bring the blessings and the opportunities of the gospel and covenants to every person living and dead.  It’s an impossible undertaking, but together we’ll do it.

The efforts of each of us are minuscule.  The contributions you and I make to the effort don’t constitute even a dot in the overall scheme of things.  They carry no weight at all, but together they become a work that will move the world.

As I sat marveling at how the combined weight of the papers made the shelf sag, it dawned upon me that I could easily fix the problem by adding a support under the front of the shelf.  That support is Jesus Christ.  He has promised to bear us up.  He carries the weight.  The work is His.  We are to labor with Him.  He under-girds our every effort.  It is an honor and a privilege to labor with Him.