I Wasn't There for the Weeds

"A story shared by our beloved associate, Elder Henry B. Eyring, illustrates this principle of commitment still further. This story is about his father, the great scientist Henry Eyring, who served on the Bonneville Stake high council. He was responsible for the welfare farm, which included a field of onions that needed to be weeded. At that time, he was nearly 80 and suffering from painful bone cancer. He assigned himself to do weeding even though the pain was so great that he pulled himself along on his stomach with his elbows. The pain was too great for him to kneel. Yet he smiled, laughed, and talked happily with the others who were there that day weeding that field of onions. I now quote what Elder Eyring said of this incident:

" 'After all the work was finished and the onions were all weeded, someone [said to] him, "Henry, good heavens! You didn't pull those weeds, did you? Those weeds were sprayed two days ago, and they were going to die anyway."

" 'Dad just roared. He thought that was the funniest thing. He thought it was a great joke on himself. He had worked through the day in the wrong weeds. They had been sprayed and would have died anyway.

" '. . . I [asked] him, "Dad how could you make a joke out of that?" . . .

" 'He said something to me that I will never forget. . . . He said, "Hal, I wasn't there for the weeds." ' "

Here is an important question for each of us to ask ourselves. If he was not there for the weeds, what was Brother Eyring there for? He was there to learn about Brother Eyring. What was Brother Eyring willing to give to the Lord?

Sacrifice allows us to learn something about ourselves—what we are willing to offer to the Lord through our obedience.