Missing mother

I’ve been thinking a lot about my mother and missing her greatly the past few weeks and wishing I could just hop in my Jeep and drive to Provo and just sit with her for a little while and get some much needed advice.  Mother was the type of person that you would ask her a question and then you would just listen.  Her answers and advice were always spot on.  She was wise like Solomon of old.  How I would love to have been able to sit at her knee these last eleven years and hear her expert and wise council and advice.

What a stalwart member of the church she was.  I don’t know for sure just exactly when she was baptized, somewhere in her early twenties, but from the time she joined the church until the day she died she never wavered from the truth.  Her testimony and commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ was evident throughout her life.  She never stopped serving until physically and mentally it became impossible.  I am so proud to be her daughter and be a part of her legacy.  I never want to forget her example and all that she did for me.

I often think that those of us who are raised in the church and live in Salt Lake take for granted that we are walking on golden paved streets (so to speak) surrounded by temples.  We have the truth of the restored gospel.  I think we can easily become complacent over time.  It seems that people who hear the gospel and join the church recognize our blessings more than we do.  They are on the outside looking in and they see what we have and want to be a part of it.  I’ve been reading the Book of Mormon and reminded of the complacent attitude repeat itself over and over again.  Mother was never complacent nor did she ever take the gospel for granted.

Now that I can’t run to mother for advice I find answers and solace reading my patriarchal blessing and the scriptures.  They bring peace and reassurance to my soul.  I am reminded of when I gained my own personal testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the feeling that I had come over me.  Those feelings are hard to describe but I would compare it to filling an ice tray with water and placing it in the freezer and then you see it slowly solidify into a solid piece of ice.  From the moment I knelt and prayed to know if the church was true my testimony slowly solidified in my heart and mind and I could not then deny it and I cannot now deny it. 

Neal and I were at a viewing tonight and there in the room were three of the Apostles.  Apostle Oaks, Pres. Uchdorf and L.Tom Perry.  How many people in the world would have an opportunity to stand in the same room with one of the Apostles let alone three of them at once.  How many people in the world would have the opportunity to have the President of the Church of Jesus Christ in their home for dinner or be invited to their home for dinner?  I hope that Jeffrey and Lynda Ann always remember those sacred and fun experiences with President Kimball.  Neal has come home on two or three occasions and said that he ran into President Monson and visited with him or said “Hi”. I remember the day Lynda Ann was baptized, we went to a restaurant after the baptism for breakfast and who should greet us and shake our hands and congratulate Lynda Ann for becoming a member of the Church, but then Apostle Monson.   There are numerous times when our family has all been in the presence of Apostle Nielsen.  How grateful I am to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to have had these experiences because we live in the headquarters of the church.

I guess to sum it all up, I am grateful for the choices my mother made to join the church and move us to Provo.  Where would my journey have taken me IF her choices had been different?  I don’t know and I don’t care.  I’m happy where I am and happy for what I’ve accomplished.  I can honestly say that I’ve done the very best I knew and know how to do.  

Even thought I get somewhat frustrated with life’s journey I am constantly reminded of my blessings and the knowledge that my mother lives and I will see her again some day and we will have a chance to sit and visit and share our memories of this earth life.