"It is a hard thing which [is] required [of us]"

I was reading my scriptures this morning (just going through the chapters for Institute this week with a view to getting an overview and 'studying' later on in the week) and I was thinking about missionary work.

In particular, I was thinking about friends who have asked me questions about how difficult it is for a young man to decide to leave his life behind for two years in order to do what is expected of him as a member of the church. I was also thinking about young men who decide not to go, and why that is. Some young men who have been in the church all their lives make a decision not to go, where young men who have been in the church little more than a year feel totally compelled to go.

A scripture, not from the section I was reading, came to mind.

1 Nephi 3:5- "And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord."

The young men who choose to go have seen this truth. They do not go because the church requires it or that it is an expectation from their families... I mean, gosh, look at how worried Sariah was about them (1 Nephi 5:1-2)- it said that she had 'mourned'! And I have seen that recently with my family, watching Jonathan go on his mission. We are human and we feel the loss. If it was our own 'requirement' we would have not been able to let him go. It truly is a 'hard thing'.

But, those missionaries who go out there and serve faithfully and earnestly go because they know that the requirement is actually a commandment of the Lord. He asks them to go. And because we, the people who say goodbye, also know that it is a commandment of the Lord, we support them and love them through leaving. And though we miss them, we know that they are doing what is right.

And nothing else matters.