A few years ago, when I had only one child and was ambitious,
I took the opportunity offered by a fellow MBA student family to grow a garden.
Across town, they had rented a home with a sizeable garden
plot in the backyard. In exchange for water costs, I had my one quadrant in
which to grow whatever I wanted.
I started my research –someone suggested square foot
gardening—so I planned out my space. I took stock of the sunlight that reached
my plot of land, the hours of shade and sun. I learned about what plants liked
my region and I got a few basic supplies and got to work.
My husband and I and Alex at about Peter’s age went out one
Saturday and prepared to ground. We pulled weeds, broke up the dirt and made
rows.
The ground was hard and after hours and hours of work we were
excited to bring some plants and begin our first garden!
I faithfully went and watered my plants, pulling weeds as
they grew, chasing away the wild quail that thought this was a fantastic new
feeding ground, and doing all I knew how and was learning about to make my
garden grow.
I wish I could share my marvelous success story, the
bounteous harvest and wonderful experience this was.
It wasn’t. Yes, we ate a few things from our garden
plot. But it was not the wonderful yield
that we had hoped for. All that work. All that time. All that dirt that Alex
ate as he gardened by my side.
I may not have gained a love for gardening-but I did learn
some lessons that we can hopefully apply to ourselves. I’ll come back to that.
I want to share one more experience, a bit more recent. A
couple of months ago I bought a bag of onions at the store. I came home, used a
few for dinner and left the rest in the grocery bag on the counter. Forgotten
for a week or two, they were again needed for a meal. I opened the bag to find
new green life coming from many of the onions.
Here they were, unattended in a grocery bag and growing. I did not ask
them to grow. I did not plant them intending
them to grow. But grow they did. They used the nutrients and moisture inherent
in them to bring new life.
What makes a plant grow? What makes it blossom and produce
fruit? A botanist or gardener would tell you that it needs air, warmth, light,
water and nutrients. They don’t need the pep talks we sometimes give them, but
with the right conditions they naturally grow and produce new life just as God
intended for them to do.
Tonight’s theme is bloom where you are planted. What lessons
can we learn from the world around us that testifies of God in its very nature?
Every spring we see new life come up from the ground. Even now, new leaves are
about to burst forth on the branches of the trees. Already I have seen sweet
and hopeful flowers blooming in my yard (literally—I have crocuses in my
grass--J
We need to build lives of faith and hope that respond to the
warmth of the son and the gospel. To do that, we need to be covenant keeping
women. We have the potential—just like my onions and crocuses to grow and
become what we were meant to be. When we move toward our potential we are happy
and blessed. President Eyring spoke in a General Women’s meeting 2 years ago
about this, he said, “Your Heavenly Father sees greater potential in His
children than we or even our earthly mothers see in us…he sees that glorious
potential in all of his daughters, wherever they are.” He spoke of Eve and her
knowledge of the Atonement, he said, “She was sure, as you can be, that as she
kept her covenants with her Heavenly Father, the Redeemer and the Holy Ghost
would see her and her family though whatever sorrows and disappointments would
come. She knew she could trust in Them…I know that Eve faced sorrows and
disappointments, but I also know that she found joy in the knowledge that she
and her family could return to live with God. I know that many of you who are
here face sorrows and disappointments. I leave you my blessing that, like Eve
you may feel the same joy that she felt as you journey back home.”
Elder Uchtdorf spoke of finding joy despite our trials in his
story of Great Aunt Rose. He taught about what Great Aunt Rose discovered to
turn around her disappointments and let joy into her life again. She said,
“Faith, I discovered faith. And faith led to hope. And faith and hope gave me
confidence that one day everything would make sense, that because of the Savior
all the wrongs would be made right. After that, I saw that the path
before me wasn’t as dreary and dusty as I had thought. I began to notice the
bright blues, the verdant greens, and the fiery reds, and I decided I had a
choice—I could hang my head and drag my feet on the dusty road of self-pity, or
I could have a little faith, put on a bright dress, slip on my dancing shoes,
and skip down the path of life, singing as I went.”
Many of you know that I lost a sister
recently. She had had a hard life physically. She had many health issues and
disabilities from the time she was little. And at times she got really
discouraged. She would tell my parents that she just wanted to give up, but my
mom would remind her of the promises we’ve received through the gospel. She’d
encourage her to have faith and look with hope for the promised blessings that
would be hers after she had finished her work here on earth. When given any
chance, my sister Becky would bear her testimony of a better life that would
one day be hers, of the perfected body she’d one day have and the day when
she’d be out of pain.
Each of us has our own personal trials that
make us want to give up at times. We each will be discouraged. We will have
times of ‘winter’ when all seems dead and lost. This is part of the plan. This
is the time that we must turn to a higher source for light and nutrients for
our souls. When Adam was driven from the Garden of Eden he was told that the
ground would be cursed FOR. HIS. SAKE. For his good- were the difficulties of
life added to his existence. We can know like Adam and Eve that because of the
hard times, because of the evil that surrounds us, we can know the Joy of our
Redemption! And the Eternal life which God gives unto all the obedient.
Sometimes
our trials act as the churning of the ground that must be done before new
plants can grow. If our hearts are to be softened by trials we must keep our
faith alive. The Lord is the master gardener. He can see if we need to be
replanted or if we need a good deluge of water to save us from wilting. He has
given us a worldwide sisterhood to help us watch over each other. Sister
Oscarson said, “The adversary would have us be critical or judgmental of one
another. He wants us to concentrate on our differences and compare ourselves to
one another.”
I don’t think it matters if you’re an apple tree and I’m a
squash. You may need some mulching and I may need some pruning at times. We are
in this together. We are sisters.
Sister Oscarson went on to say, “To be sisters implies
that there is an unbreakable bond between us. Sisters take care of each other,
watch out for each other, comfort each other, and are there for each other
through thick and thin. “The fact
of the matter is, we really and truly need each other. Women naturally seek friendship,
support, and companionship. We have so much to learn from one another, and we
often let self-imposed barriers keep us from enjoying associations which could
be among the greatest blessings in our lives. Sisters, there is no other group of women in the world who have
access to greater blessings than we do as Latter-day Saint women. We are
members of the Lord’s Church, and regardless of our individual circumstances,
we can all enjoy the full blessings of priesthood power through keeping the covenants
we have made at baptism and in the temple. We have living
prophets to lead and teach us, and we enjoy the great gift of the Holy
Ghost, which serves as a comfort and guide in our lives. We are
blessed to work hand in hand with righteous brothers as we strengthen homes and
families. We have access to the strength and power of temple ordinances and so
much more. In addition to enjoying
all of these magnificent blessings, we have each other—sisters in the gospel of
Jesus Christ. We have been blessed with tender and charitable natures which
enable us to render Christlike love and service to those around us. As we look
beyond our differences in age, culture, and circumstance to nurture and serve
one another, we will be filled with the pure love of Christ and the inspiration
which leads us to know when and whom to serve. I
extend to you an invitation that was issued once before by a Relief Society
general president who said, “I invite you to not only love each other more but
love each other better."
This is the weeding we need to do. Weed out
the negative comparisons we make, weed out the negative thoughts from the
adversary that tell us we’ll never be a fruitful apple tree—the truth is maybe
you’re a rose bush, or an orange tree or a rhododendron. If the thoughts are
not encouraging you to be better, but to wallow in what you’re not, weed it
out.
Nourish your soul. Read your scriptures,
say your prayers and the blessings of heaven –the guidance you need will come
to you.
The onions on my counter, growing in a grocery bag, will not
last very long. They will use up their stores and rot. That is not the growth we want. We want to grow and bloom into our full
potential. We can do that as we work
together. We will be supported in our trials, troubles and afflictions as Alma testified, and we will be supported
by one another as we work towards eternal lives and families. If we plant our faith God will grant “that
your burdens may be light, through the joy of His Son—and you can do it if you
will!
I hope that each of us will put down deep roots in the
Gospel. I pray that you will do what is necessary to find peace and hope and
nourish your faith.
Don’t stay on the counter. Get in the garden. Get in the
gospel. Do your part. Show up. Serve. You will be blessed and you will bloom,
no matter where you are planted!
And since I have gotten so bad at updating this blog, here's a few pictures just for fun!
