Sunday, April 17

Quote of the Day:  If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.   Frank A. Clark

In Paul V. Johnson’s talk called More Than Conquerors through Him That Loved Us he quotes  Elder Orson F. Whitney:  “No pain that we suffer,no trial that we experience is wasted…All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiendly, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitiable.  …It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”

He says : “If we handle these afflictions properly, they will be consecrated for our gain”.  So we really do have a choice.  We can take the trial and glean from it positive attributes and character traits, or we can get angry, defensive, and hard-hearted.  I think we have all seen people who have reacted differently to trials.

As a young child, I became very aware of the differences between my grandparents.  My paternal Grandmother, Thilda, nicknamed “Tink” would have us girls over to her house a lot.  She was divorced from Jim Young, my father’s father, and had remarried Lynn A. Reese.  They really loved us girls and took care of us a lot but they were chronic smokers and so we were always exposed to cigarette smoke in their home.  My grandmother had a lot of fears and one of those was driving.  She never learned to drive and she would sit in the front passenger seat of the car and clinch her fists tight as she held on to some part of the car for comfort.  Since she didn’t drive, all of her shopping was done within the neighborhood.  We would walk to the nearby Safeway for groceries and Glaus Bakery.  Other than that, I have no idea where she shopped.  My grandmother had a favorite child and that was my sister, Lynne, which really was ok with the rest of us.  I drove her crazy because I wet the bed as a child and she wasn’t great at handling things.  But here’s my point:  as a young child, she lost her father to the flu epidemic of 1918.  He died around Christmas time and they had to keep him in their house for a few days until someone could come and take his body.  Her mother, Esther, was left with 5 small children, went on to get her education and pursued a nursing career to provide for her children.  But my grandmother was bitter about losing her father, she became an alcoholic and never dealt with the hurt.  She said that the reason she never put up a Christmas Tree was because her father had died near Christmas.

On the flip side, my maternal Grandmother was Vernessa Young Reynolds.  She was enthusiastic about life and guess what, loved Christmas.  She would always have a flocked Christmas tree with red bulbs.  No other tree has ever been so beautiful to my eyes.  She loved getting ready for Christmas and made it special for each of her grandchildren.  She would sing as she cooked in the morning.  She would tuck us into bed with a very heavy comforter, and I was comforted very much.  She loved her husband, Owen, and Joe and I were married with them as our escorts in the Salt Lake Temple, just as they had been married there 51 years earlier, on August 24.  She loved to quilt which I am the beneficiary of many and carried a believe that we must always use our time wisely.  She loved the Savior and gospel and lived it.  There is not a day that goes by that I don’t realize her influence in my life.  She had many trials in her life but she learned from them and went on to be positive about life.  I will forever be grateful for her example.

What a contrast you might say, what a teacher life is.

Hiking along the Snow Canyon Park Trail,  Joanie and Joe