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.

The Lord Loves the One

Joe and I went to the temple Saturday evening. As I entered the chapel I thought wow we must be really early. I was the only patron there. When Joe came in I asked if we were early.

Joe: No, it is about time for the session to start.

Me: With just the two of us do you think they well cancel the session?

Joe: I think we are about to be asked to be the witness couple.

And so we were asked. I couldn't help but wonder who we were going to be witnesses for. Just then another couple came into the chapel. Then a couple of single women came in. With the help of some temple workers we ended up with a total of 4 men and 6 women in our session. While I felt sad that there were so few there, I also felt grateful that the Lord recognized my need to be in the temple and allowed the session to continue. I was spiritually fed. I needed the calming affects of the temple. I felt completely at peace. I needed that confirmation that the Lord cares about each one of us individually. I am grateful for his love.

Tender Mercy

I was reading the most read chapter in the Book of Mormon last night, 1 Nephi 1. Vs. 20 says that "the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith...."

I woke up this morning thinking of the tender mercies the Lord has given me. I am sure that because I had been reading chapter one of 1 Nephi that my first thoughts were of my parents. I, like Nephi, was born of goodly parents. I am so grateful for the lessons they taught me at a young age. But most of all, I am grateful that they taught me about God and His love for me.

My parents are both gone now but I still feel their influence in my life. It is a tender mercy for me to know that even though their mission is different right now, they still care about their loved ones on Earth. When we are seeing great afflictions in our lives, there are loved ones on the other side that are praying for us.

Faith the Choice is Yours

I enjoyed the conference talk by Bishop Richard C Edgley entitled "Faith--the Choice is Yours." I liked it so much that I used most of it in my Relief Society lesson on faith. I think the part I liked best was when he was talking about the scripture in Matthew 17:20 that says if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can remove mountains.

He said. "I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain. but because of faith, I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism. Because of faith, I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith, I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude. Yes, I have seen mountains removed."

It brought a new light to my mind and I realized that I too had seen a mountain removed. I have seen doubt, despair, sin, and pain in my own life replaced with hope, optimism, repentance, forgiveness, peace hope and gratitude. Yes I have seen a mountain in my own life removed.

Faith

My lesson in Relief Society this month is on faith. Faith is a hope for things which are not seen, which are true. (Hebrews 11:1) We do so many things as a routine. We forget that everything we do is based on faith. We get up in the morning because we have a hope of accomplishing something that day. We go to work because of our hope that we will be able to do something that will benefit ourselves and others. We plant a garden with the hope of being able to harvest it in the fall. We begin each new task with the hope that by the end we will reap the benefits of that task.

Imagine how hard it must have been for Noah and his family to build an ark. It was not raining the day he began building that ark. It was not raining the day he finished building the ark. It might not have been raining as the animals were entering the ark. If there was a seasonal rain I am sure the people danced and laughed. I bet people ridiculed him even after the floods began. But as the rain began to lift that ark off the ground I bet there were some who were wishing they had built an ark.

Our faith moves us to action.

Conference

I have been trying to decide which talk I enjoyed the most but there were so many good talks.

I enjoyed the talk by Jairo Mazzagardi (hope I spelt that right) He talked about the fence post that was over taken by a tree. The tree eventually grew around the post and pulled it right out of the ground. Sin sneaks slowly into our lives over time until it overtakes us. It is making me take a look at my live and seeing the sins I need to weed out of my live before they become full blown trees making them impossible to get out without a great deal of help.

I will enjoy listening to the talks again while I am working after school this week.

Women's Conference

I almost forgot the Women's Conference last night. Joe and I went shopping yesterday morning and checked out in the line of a sister that lives in our ward. She asked if I was going to the conference. How grateful I am that she said something. I went home and finished making my salsa and then got ready for the conference.

I enjoyed Sister Silvia Allred's talk. One thing that I felt I needed to remember was how to be steadfast and immovable. 1. prayer 2. scripture study 3. obedience 4. service

President Thomas S Monson gave a great talk as usual. He gave the cutest anecdotal story about a woman who complained to her husband about how dirty her neighbors laundry was each time it was hung out. Finally one day she noticed the laundry hanging on the line was clean. She asked her husband what he thought had happened to teach the neighbor how to do laundry. Her husband said he knew what had happened. He said he had gotten up early that day and had washed the windows.

Don't judge by appearances.

I can hardly wait to read the talks again.