Eyring - Because of Your Steadiness - April 1988

President Eyring speaks as the first counselor in the presiding bishopric when he discusses our calling as home teachers.  He speaks about this important calling in God's plan for us to become like Him.

• God loves us, and he intends for us to become like him. He doesn’t ask us now to worry about all his children in all the world, as he does. Instead, he begins with a call to watch over just a few families, just a few people. But he knows that to visit thirty minutes every month with the same lesson for every family would never produce the progress he wants for us. And so he commands, “Watch over [them] always, and be with and strengthen them.” You can’t be with them twenty-four hours a day. That would be “always,” wouldn’t it? But they can be in your heart always. If you’ll think about the families you visit, those of you who are blessed to be called home teachers, you know the help they need is beyond your casual effort.

God gives us callings to look over others as a way to make us more like Him.  We can be partners with God by looking after those precious souls that we are called to support.

• God called us to watch over and help people in all their struggles for physical and spiritual well-being. He called us to help by the Spirit. He called us to teach by the Spirit. He called us to live what we teach. He called us to bear testimony. He called us to love them. Now, he didn’t make it that hard just to test you. He gave you so high a calling because he loves you. He wants you home again, and to get there you have to become like him. So he gives you a calling that can only be done with persistence and endurance.

President Eyring goes on to describe a meeting between two home teaching companions where they spend a few minutes before their visits discussing the families they will visit.  They discuss what the Bishop and Relief Society President has discussed with them.  They talk about the family dynamics like children, finances, and living conditions.  They talk about their personal study of the Book of Mormon and if anything they have studies recently could help them in their visits today.  All these things allow the spirit to enter into their conversation and allow a partnership with the spirit as they visit their families.

He notes that the visit might not always go as planned but the preparation allows them to understand what the Lord would like and encourages their efforts to be persistent and caring for those they are called to help.

He ends with a summary of the important calling we have been given.

• He has given us a way to look forward to the fruit of the gospel by giving us a calling that requires our whole hearts. Our vision of the fruits of the gospel will draw us back to persistent repentance and prayer and study and service.

This is a great reminder about the importance of Home Teaching.  We are called to look after those in our small area of God's vineyard.  Our desire and ability to set aside a few minutes each month to care for someone helps us overcome selfishness, allows us to partner with the Spirit, and reach out to those that are in need of spiritual strengthening.  No matter where someone is in their life, they need continuous encouragement to live the gospel.  They need the love that a Home Teacher can bring into their lives.