We'll miss you, Elder Wirthlin

I logged into my email this morning only to discover that Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, the oldest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, passed away in his sleep last night. I will miss the stories he tells and the extraordinary humility and compassion that defined him in my mind. I feel like at different moments in my life, there are always one or two speakers whose messages have spoken directly to me - Elder Wirthlin has filled that spot for the past few years. Many of you will remember a year ago, during the October 2007 General Conference, when Elder Wirthlin was giving a talk and began shaking so violently that I wasn't sure he would be able to deliver his whole talk. (To be perfectly honest, I had to go back later and re-read the conference archives, because I was too focused on what was happening and not enough on what was being said.) Elder Nelson stepped up alongside Elder Wirthlin, silently and beautifully illustrating the topic of the address: the responsibility we have to love and support one another. One of my favorite passages from the talk defines the true measure of success in life as the ability to love and serve, as Christ did, our fellow man.

"The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of transformation. It takes us as men and women of the earth and refines us into men and women for the eternities.

The means of this refinement is our Christlike love. There is no pain it cannot soften, no bitterness it cannot remove, no hatred it cannot alter. The Greek playwright Sophocles wrote: “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.”15

The most cherished and sacred moments of our lives are those filled with the spirit of love. The greater the measure of our love, the greater is our joy. In the end, the development of such love is the true measure of success in life."

Something to contemplate, for sure. How am I going about developing the love of Christ? Am I making a conscious effort to find opportunities to love and serve?

We will miss you, Elder Wirthlin, but know that you are now happily reunited with your beautiful wife. I'm so thankful for the lessons that I've learned through your words.

I'm grateful to live in a day when we have living prophets and apostles, the true organization of Christ's church, on the earth. I know that Elder Wirthlin was an apostle of God, and I know that the things he taught us were the words of the Lord. I'm also grateful to know that whoever is chosen to replace him will likewise be called of God, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ will never again be taken from the earth.