"To The Rescue"

I recently finished reading "To The Rescue" a biography of Thomas S. Monson, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, written by Heidi S. Swinton. This was a remarkable book about a remarkable man. There was much written about his home and professional life as would be expected in a good biography, but the real message of the book was told in the private moments of his life.

The author tells of an experience that President Monson had that changed his life forever. He was sitting in a meeting when he had the thought go through his mind that he should immediately go see a friend who was in the hospital. So he did like we all would, he told himself that when the meeting was over he would go see his friend. The meeting closed and he went to the hospital and, upon inquiring about his friend, was told that the man had passed away and had hoped to see him earlier that day. Thomas resolved then and there to follow or carry out the impressions or promptings he had.

That one lesson learned brought about much good to those around him and also confirmed to President Monson that we have a mission to carry out while we live and that God is interested in that mission. He has been known many times since to excuse himself from what he was doing to follow a prompting.

I look at my life and have to ask the question, do I have the courage to listen to the impressions I have and then follow through on them? Generally I find myself questioning whether the impression is indeed what I should be doing, or just a random thought. I have been trying an experiment since reading this book. When I have an impression that I should do something or call someone I do it, and I must report that the results so far have been good. Nothing spectacular has happened but I have had positive experiences.

For example, I had a thought that I should call a friend I hadn't seen for a while, we had a nice conversation, and this friend was glad to know that someone was thinking of him. Small things like that can, at times have a great effect on people.

This life lesson has been the underlying theme in Thomas Monson's life and because of his adherence to this principle he has effected great good in the world. I would strongly recommend this book to you. You never know it could be a life changer.