Some of the moments that change my life were 30 plus years in February. Life was good when I had just gotten back from Logan to see a college friend. There on my bed was an urgent note to call home. When I called I found out my dad had been hospitalized for heart trouble. It was the beginning of a painful two weeks. He died the next weekend and two weeks later my family returned from Colorado where we had laid Dad to rest. I knew on the 2nd return that my life would never be the same. I had experienced the reality that life was fraught with trials and challenges. I had challenges before, but none like this. Life was still good, but no longer a complete bliss.
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robably a less noticeable change of life occurred 10 or 15 years ago. President Walker of the Holladay North Stake asked us to read the Book of Mormon between (the weekend before) Thanksgiving and the end of the year. I thought there was no way I could do that. But I decided to accept the challenge; I mapped out a plan to read a few moments in the morning before work and then a few moments at night. I decided to read a book a week with the exception of Alma, which was two weeks. And to my surprise I finished the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I gained confidence and later when President Hinckley asked us to red the Book of Mormon from August to the end of the year, 6 or 5 years ago, I was up to the challenge. I knew I could do it.On stove light is a quote magnet that reads "we do not remember days. . . we remember moments." I have a tendency to disagree with that quote, partly because I do remember my birthday in 2000. I was with my family and because of that it was one my best birthday. Nothing happened to change my life or how I thought of things. But I did gain a greater appreciation of my family.
But I have to admit after reading my friend's post on Facebook, I am more in agreement with the quote. We do remember life defining moments. We may not remember much of the day because the moment stands out. I don't remember much about that February Sunday, but I remember the moment I saw the note and when I called home. I remember being with my mom to select my dad's casket. I remember my dad's cousin talking about how we say that we have a tendency to put off things until it is too late. I remember Baby Mike pounding away on the keys of my Aunt Wilma's piano. He got us to smile in a somber time.. I don't remember the days of my first Book of Mormon challenge
but I do remember the moment of doubt when President Walker challenged the stake and I remember the hope as I planned the outline of accomplishing the goal and the satisfaction when I read the last verse of Moroni. I remember the moments of bribing Jared with pizza from The Pie when President Hinckley challenged the whole world wide church to read the Book of Mormon. Reading was a challenge for Jared, but he read it while listening to Book of Mormon on CD. All for the love of the pie. It was a nice winter afternoon when we drove over to The Pie to bring home two giant pizzas for the family. Like my challenge there were moments of doubt and moments of hope. And definitely a moment of joy when Jared took his first bite of the pie on that early January day.Yes, we do remember moments, especially those that change our lives or inspire us.
This is my new look for 2012. It is only a haircut, but hopefully it will a part of my new year resolutions not to wait a year before I cut my hair. Hopefully at the end of June.
Probably the Christmas that I remember the best is when the furnace broke. I was in 1st grade and Mom was expecting Jay. Mom bundled us up and took a trip into town. Not sure if we went to Paul, Burley or Rupert. When we got home, she sent us to bed. The electricity had gone out also. She called the furnace man, but he couldn't come out until the electricity came back on. I remember waking up, it was dark, but I could the hall light shine beneath the door. I could hear noise, so I asked my sister, Mary what it was and she said it was Santa. I believed her and I still do. The furnace man gave up his time with his family to fix our furnace, just so we could wake up early to open presents from another Santa.
There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religious holidays, like Christmas. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also faith in God and Jesus Christ, despite his disparaging comments.One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. "That's ridiculous!" So she and the children left and he stayed at home.Awhile later, the winds grew stronger,and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window; then another thump. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese.Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn't go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed. The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It's warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn or realize what it could mean for them.The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a breadcrumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on. Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe. "Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place they can survive the storm?" He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them," he said out loud.Then he had an idea. He went into the barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn- one by one the other geese followed it to safety. He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: "if only I were a goose, then I could save them!" Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. "Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!"Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese- blind, lost, perishing. God has His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. That was the meaning of Christmas, he realized. As the winds and the blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about, why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer: "Thank you God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!"
The picture above basically says it all. It was one of the few I have taken with my iPad. The quality isn't that great, but the look explains my curiosity and confusion with my iPad.