There is No Secret Ingredient

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Years ago, my parents first recited the story of stone soup. It originally comes from Grimm's Fairy Tales. According to the story, a traveler arrives in a village carrying nothing more than an empty pot. Upon his arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry traveler. The traveler fills the pot with water, drops a large stone in it, and places it over a fire in the village square. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what he is doing. The traveler answers that he is making "stone soup" which tastes absolutely wonderful although it still needs garnish to improve it. The villager doesn't mind parting with some garnish so it gets added. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the traveler who again mentions stone soup which still hasn't reached its full potential. The villager hands him a little bit of seasoning to help. More villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient until a delicious, nourishing, pot of stone soup is enjoyed by all who comment on the fact that this is the finest soup they ever tasted.

Against my better judgment, last night I went over to my cousin's house to see "Kung Fu Panda" as part of my attempt to go out and be sociable (which is contrary to my default nature). The panda's father near the end of the movie tells his son that the secret ingredient in his special soup is nothing. In fact, there is no secret ingredient. The only thing that matters is that you believe.

While serving as a missionary in Austria, the leadership invited me to Zone Leader Conference in Vienna to teach them the secret to speaking German as fluently as I did. After I told them how I study and the things I did to learn the language, I told them that there's really no secret to what I do that makes it special other than the fact that I studied. Whereas other people got up late and skipped German study or spoke English with one another at every opportunity, by the 11th month in country I stopped speaking English altogether. Eventually, the people recognized my competence so much that a Stake President himself fluent in English did me the great honor of making me the first foreign missionary to whom he actually spoke in German

Sometimes people wonder why I can do what I do. That's the true secret- there is no secret. It's a choice. Long ago, I decided to walk like a believer, turn my back on the Deceiver and live what I believe. I decided that being good is not a fable, that sometimes when I falter with God I'm able, and so I make an effort. Nike popularized the slogan, "Just do it". That's the secret. If the end brings me out all right, what is said about me won't amount to much, and if the end brings me out all wrong, ten angels swearing I was right will make no difference (Abraham Lincoln).