I have been thinking about the blessing of a ward family.
I guess I am a slow learner, but I just realized that many of our blessings come wrapped up in side of our struggles.
Having three members of our family serving full time missions at the same time, is a wonderful blessing…it also brings many struggles.
The most obvious is financial. We have been blessed abundantly by so many of our fellow ward members. There have been small donations made by retired people on fixed income (remind you of the widows mite?). To very substantial donations by those who have more. Each is a very precious, and sacred sacrifice to me.
Another less obvious, but still difficult struggle, is the vacancy I feel at Holidays and for family traditions. The ward is helping to feel my sad heart. My family typically has what we call the Family Band. Most of my family members play musical instruments, and at Christmas time we dust them off and play Christmas songs together. This year, with three of our band members serving missions, and other family member living out of state, I was feeling an emptiness. And then one of the Young Women in the ward got the idea to put together a Young Women’s Orchestra. She is so kind that she said even the leaders could be included. We will be playing songs at the ward Christmas Party. The Young Men were feeling a little jealous and so they put together a Young Men’s Band. It may seem a small thing to many of you, but to me, it means the world! It is a tender mercy from My Heavenly Father, when I was feeling so sad. A similar tender mercy was on the 4th of July. When everyone pitched in and helped with the block party. I was left in tears that night. I thought, “I think this is what Heaven must be like.” Thanks
This line of thinking, brought to remembrance a long list of other blessings, and tender mercies …all given through the kind hands of my ward family. I will try to list them all, but please forgive me if I forget a few.
*64 years of Primary teachers (that does not even count Sunday School)
*12 years of Cub Scout den leaders
*9 years of Young Women leaders (that means 9 Girls Camp and 5 Youth Conferences)
*13 years of Young Men/Boy Scout leaders (8 High Adventure camps, 5 Scout camps, and 9 Youth Conferences)
*swimming lessons for me and my children
*”doctor” and “nurse” visits to ask vital question like, “does this need stitches?” “do you think it’s broken?”
*19 years of Visiting Teachers
*19 years of Home Teachers
*shoulders to cry on
*arms to give me hugs
*meals
*friendly smiles
*prayers offered in our behalf
*fasting
*friends
*love
*putting our names on the temple prayer rolls
*faithfully fulfilling your calling (it makes mine easier)
*helping me teach my children to work (putting up with crooked lawn mowing, and broken sprinkler heads, so that I can teach them how to do a job well and be proud of their efforts)
*allowing our family to do service for you, so that my children can feel the Spirit service brings
*patience
*forgiveness
*visits
*sharing of testimony
*holding my hand during the really heart breaking times, so I won’t have to be alone
*notes to remind me, “Heavenly Father loves you!”
*restoring crashed computers and deleted SD cards
*writing resumes
*editing my writings
*transportation emergencies
*helping with math homework that is too hard
*plumbing emergencies
*hospital visits
*car repairs
*lending of tools
*Priesthood blessings
**pretty much filling in all the gaps that I would never be able to do on my own
And the list could go on and on
I think about the covenants we make in the temple to live the Law of Consecration. In a very practical way, I think being a member of a WONDERFUL ward like this one helps us practice.
Our ward seems to have more than our fair share of medical and physical trials at the moment. My mind was brought back to another time about 16 years ago when the trial was the loss of several babies. I think of how our ward grew through that time. Apparently we are headed into another growing season. While I don’t look forward to it, I look forward to going through it with all of you by my side.
Thanks again. I have been truly blessed by My Ward Family.
Love You All
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