I would like to start off with a story I took from D. Todd Christofferson's talk in October 2006 General Conference:
The link to the whole talk, which is wonderful is: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/let-us-be-men?lang=eng&cid=email-shared I think my father is a good example of a man as described in this talk. Anyways...
The weather here in eastern Idaho is heavenly. Long sunny days and warm, but not hot. This morning as I was walking to church, the warm sun on my face took me back to the feelings of comfort from my childhood of laying on the floor of the boat on calm waters at the lake and hearing the soft lapping of the very wakes we created against the side of the boat, and feeling the warmth of the high sun on my back. I felt safe with my dad there, in the boat with me and my sisters. This "flashbulb memory" took my mind to thoughts of my dad and my deep love and respect for him. As a young girl, my dad was a hero, as a teenager, he was perfect, and now, he is a source of stability and love in my life. Now that I'm married myself, I understand that he was not perfect, but he diligently fulfilled his responsibilities as a father. He was there for me when my mom couldn't be, spending time with me was a priority, he always worked hard to provide for the family, he fixed things, and he was always quick to give me a tight squeeze and look down at me to tell me he loves me. I always felt secure when he was around. He is usually happy, and always thrilled when I come home. He listens. He taught me how to be a good athlete and would run with me in the mornings before I went to school and he went to his office. He coached my soccer team for four years and my basketball team once. I never had a better coach than him. He saw the skills and potential in me and my teammates and helped us cultivate it while instilling us with confidence and having a good time. "Soccer is a game," he would say, "it's meant to be fun." I always knew he was proud of me, and I didn't want to do anything that would disappoint him. I remember coming home from elementary school to my dad getting ready to take me night skiing at Bogus Basin, the little ski hill in my town. I wanted him to teach me how to fish, but we didn't usually catch much. Camping and backpacking trips, water-skiing, bike rides, all of it, I loved doing it all with my dad. We cried together on the phone when our dog died and I was away at college. We both loved and trained that dog. Most of all, I never doubted that he loves me. He would be the one to notice when I was sad, or felt bad, or was down, and would come to me to lovingly talk about it. He set the standard of what kind of men I should date, and what kind of man I should eventually marry.
In contemplating this, I thought of the scripture, "Or what man is there of you, who if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, although you are wicked, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matt 7:9-11)
This scripture follows the explanation that we, as children of our Heavenly Father, ask, it shall be given (Matt 7:7). But I take meaning from this scripture that earthly parents are imperfect yet they deeply love and care for their children, but we have other parents in heaven, the parents of our spirits, who are perfect and love us perfectly, and know exactly what it is we need. I believe this to be true, but at times I feel so far away from Him, my Father in heaven. I am grateful for the love of my earthly father that helps me understand the love of my Father in heaven. I am also grateful that, because of Christ, I can live with my earthly family forever, beyond this mortal life and into the eternities.
Years ago, when my brothers and I were boys, our mother had
radical cancer surgery. She came very close to death. Much of the tissue
in her neck and shoulder had to be removed, and for a long time it was
very painful for her to use her right arm.
One
morning about a year after the surgery, my father took Mother to an
appliance store and asked the manager to show her how to use a machine
he had for ironing clothes. The machine was called an Ironrite. It was
operated from a chair by pressing pedals with one’s knees to lower a
padded roller against a heated metal surface and turn the roller,
feeding in shirts, pants, dresses, and other articles. You can see that
this would make ironing (of which there was a great deal in our family
of five boys) much easier, especially for a woman with limited use of
her arm. Mother was shocked when Dad told the manager they would buy the
machine and then paid cash for it. Despite my father’s good income as a
veterinarian, Mother’s surgery and medications had left them in a
difficult financial situation.
On
the way home, my mother was upset: “How can we afford it? Where did the
money come from? How will we get along now?” Finally Dad told her that
he had gone without lunches for nearly a year to save enough money. “Now
when you iron,” he said, “you won’t have to stop and go into the
bedroom and cry until the pain in your arm stops.” She didn’t know he
knew about that. I was not aware of my father’s sacrifice and act of
love for my mother at the time, but now that I know, I say to myself,
“There is a man.”
The link to the whole talk, which is wonderful is: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/let-us-be-men?lang=eng&cid=email-shared I think my father is a good example of a man as described in this talk. Anyways...
The weather here in eastern Idaho is heavenly. Long sunny days and warm, but not hot. This morning as I was walking to church, the warm sun on my face took me back to the feelings of comfort from my childhood of laying on the floor of the boat on calm waters at the lake and hearing the soft lapping of the very wakes we created against the side of the boat, and feeling the warmth of the high sun on my back. I felt safe with my dad there, in the boat with me and my sisters. This "flashbulb memory" took my mind to thoughts of my dad and my deep love and respect for him. As a young girl, my dad was a hero, as a teenager, he was perfect, and now, he is a source of stability and love in my life. Now that I'm married myself, I understand that he was not perfect, but he diligently fulfilled his responsibilities as a father. He was there for me when my mom couldn't be, spending time with me was a priority, he always worked hard to provide for the family, he fixed things, and he was always quick to give me a tight squeeze and look down at me to tell me he loves me. I always felt secure when he was around. He is usually happy, and always thrilled when I come home. He listens. He taught me how to be a good athlete and would run with me in the mornings before I went to school and he went to his office. He coached my soccer team for four years and my basketball team once. I never had a better coach than him. He saw the skills and potential in me and my teammates and helped us cultivate it while instilling us with confidence and having a good time. "Soccer is a game," he would say, "it's meant to be fun." I always knew he was proud of me, and I didn't want to do anything that would disappoint him. I remember coming home from elementary school to my dad getting ready to take me night skiing at Bogus Basin, the little ski hill in my town. I wanted him to teach me how to fish, but we didn't usually catch much. Camping and backpacking trips, water-skiing, bike rides, all of it, I loved doing it all with my dad. We cried together on the phone when our dog died and I was away at college. We both loved and trained that dog. Most of all, I never doubted that he loves me. He would be the one to notice when I was sad, or felt bad, or was down, and would come to me to lovingly talk about it. He set the standard of what kind of men I should date, and what kind of man I should eventually marry.
In contemplating this, I thought of the scripture, "Or what man is there of you, who if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, although you are wicked, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matt 7:9-11)
This scripture follows the explanation that we, as children of our Heavenly Father, ask, it shall be given (Matt 7:7). But I take meaning from this scripture that earthly parents are imperfect yet they deeply love and care for their children, but we have other parents in heaven, the parents of our spirits, who are perfect and love us perfectly, and know exactly what it is we need. I believe this to be true, but at times I feel so far away from Him, my Father in heaven. I am grateful for the love of my earthly father that helps me understand the love of my Father in heaven. I am also grateful that, because of Christ, I can live with my earthly family forever, beyond this mortal life and into the eternities.
