Carry On

We stayed up a bit too late tonight talking about stuff during scriptures. We had watched a movie called "Cliffy" tonight about Cliff Young. Pretty cool story, though the girls freaked out a little that such a young woman married such an old man. I admit that part could be seen as weird. But I'm so impressed with Cliff's endurance. I first heard this story in a BYU Devotional by J. Ty Hopkins in November 2024. That devotional is also where Ernest Shackleton first came on my radar. Watching Cliffy led to a good discussion about trials, endurance, what things are really necessary and what are things that we just think are necessary (like sleep and a hot meal, hmm). Most importantly, what does God wants us to learn from these stretching experiences? It was nice to have Ethan, Bella, and Mel here with us.

We enjoy when little Alvin comes to visit. Mel loving on Alvie ~

Today church was wonderful. I had a lot of thoughts. The lady who conducts the music, Kim, has a son in his 40s who is on hospice and dying from brain cancer. I went to visit him last week to take him some brownies that Lily made. He's at the Huntsman Cancer Institute to try and manage his pain. Anyway Kim came up today and thanked me and we chatted for a moment, I told her I was happy to try to help give them any help we could with such a hard trial for them. And then she went up and led the music. Many people might not know the heart ache she is going through, but she conducted praises to God nonetheless. In Relief Society (and Elder's Quorum did this talk too) we discussed Elder Boom's talk "True to the Faith That Our Parents Have Cherished". He shared a trial of his wife's parents: 

"On one occasion when my wife’s father was serving as a bishop, he was falsely accused of something and was immediately released. My mother-in-law was so hurt that she asked her husband if they should continue to go to church. He answered that they of course would continue to go to church since this is not the church of men, but this is the Church of Jesus Christ. It took some time before the truth came to light and apologies were made. What could have been their breaking point just added to their strength and conviction."

Then our teacher asked us what strengthens us in our trials? I thought of Kim first, and also of a neighbor with stage 4 breast cancer, then of people suffering from the Texas floods, etc etc. Behind every door there is suffering and heartache and stretching of some kind. For Elder Boon's wife's parents, the answer was "They just have had too many experiences with the Spirit and can say with the Prophet Joseph, 'I knew it, … and I could not deny it.'" The discussion from there turned to how important it is for us to record our experiences and our testimonies. If they aren't recorded, we might forget! I'm glad I've kept this blog to record some of those experiences for myself and to share them with my children. I raised my hand and told a quick summary of Mary Williamson's story and how she's been such an example to me. Something inspiring in her history is how during Ambrose's first mission to the Northern States, when she wrote to tell him of the deaths of Ether Elias (died 5 Aug 1899) and Ambrose Hibbert Jr (9 Aug 1899), she also wrote for him to "Carry on, finish your mission." Carry on! That was the name of the painting Elder Boom shared about Mary Wanlass. Ok, I've been on a slight tangent looking up Al Young and Elspeth Young... Going to finish watching this "Called to Create" video later. But "called to create"...  I really like that. We'll see if I get to create more art in this life. If not, I'm ok to wait until the next. As Julie Beck said 

"A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all of the people or do all of the worthy things her heart yearns to do." 

Actually, the rest of the quote is really good too... 

"Life is not calm for most women, and each day seems to require the accomplishment of a million things, most of which are important. A good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence. But with personal revelation, she can prioritize correctly and navigate this life confidently."

That's my goal for myself and my family - that we can carry on, and with God's help, we will navigate life confidently.