Being close to God

I really enjoyed this verse that I read yesterday in D.C. 36:2.

2And I will lay my hand upon you by the hand of my servant Sidney Rigdon, and you shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall teach you the peaceable things of the kingdom;

Clearly it's great for Edward Partridge (the first Bishop in the church; the one being spoken to here) to have the Lord place his hands upon Edward's head. That's definitely a blessing to have the Lord close. However, I'd like to focus on Sidney. He gets to act as proxy for the Lord and is clearly close to the Lord in this example as well. I believe that this verse teaches that the way to guarantee a close proximity to the Lord is by doing his work. Visit someone. Do your home and visiting teaching. Invite someone to church. Help someone have a better day. Teach your kids the gospel, etc. Learn the names of everyone in the ward and talk to them sometime over the next year (all of them); obviously there's lots of possibilties (so many - brings to mind another verse - D.C. 58:28 - inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward - just do something good and you'll be fine in life; no need to do everything perfectly; besides everyone can help build the kingdom in very different ways - sorry, sidetracked again), but finding ways to be involved in God's work is the surest way to ensure we're close to Him, which is the best feeling in life.

A few other verses that show this: D.C. 84:19,20 - "in the ordinances of the priesthood the power of godliness is made manifest." My translation - you get to experience godliness in some sense when you participate in ordinances (similar to the above verse).

Also, think about Lehi's dream. In 1 Nephi 8:30 its says,

30But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.

How do you partake of fruit after having fallen down? Probably because someone handed it to you. That's our jobs, to hand the fruit.

Perhaps one last verse to illustrate this concept. Isaiah 61 is a great chapter in which Isaiah speaks Messianically (this means he speaks as if he were the Savior - Jesus - speaking). The first two verses are very meaningful speaking about his mission. Then verse 3 says the folowing,

3To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

It says that as a result of Jesus' efforts, the ashes of life will become beautiful (i.e., he'll make tough experiences turn into beautiful/useful ones - for example, the hardest area on my mission was also the one in which I had the most spiritual experience of my life), joy for mourning, and praise to replace "heaviness". Why? So that we might become "trees of righteousness". Since we know that Christ can be represented by the tree of life, this is interesting that we also should become trees of righteousness that give off our own fruit (some 30, some 60, and some 100 as told in the parable of the sower - Matthew 13:8). We are to become like him, producers of fruit and givers of love. We can become like Him by practicing the things He does, like serving, or in Sidney Rigdon's case, giving the gift of the Holy Ghost to Edward Partridge (and this principle applies to women as easily as it does to men).

A little long again. Sorry. Have a great day!