A Letter From My Mother

September 14, 2008

We have a lovely sister in our ward family who joined the church about two years ago. She was almost immediately called to teach in Relief Society which has been both a blessing and a bane to her as it requires her to study the lesson material intensely in order to master as well as gain an understanding of principles that are, in many cases, new to her—that's the blessing part. We know she agonizes how best to present the material because she often mentions how many sleepless nights she has spent reviewing and then undoing all her previous work with the longest/hardest night being the night before her lesson.--that's the bane.

The last lesson she taught was on Joseph S______ teachings of our existence before and after we stepped out of eternity into time where we are allowed to learn by our own experience in this mortal vale that choices have consequences and that these choices will affect our happiness not only here but in the life to come. She struggled with the concepts in the lesson and how she could teach an idea that was so completely new to her and finally, after much prayer, decided that she would ask four sisters from the class to comment on the scripture they were given as if they had died and were allowed to write a letter home telling of what they knew now that they were on the other side. I was asked to write a letter and this is my reply which is very brief due to time constraints ( 2 to 3 minutes).

"D&C 14:7 And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.

Letter to a daughter,
The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians (1st C.13:11)
When I was a child, I spake as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child:
but when I became a man, I put away
childish things. For now we see through a
glass, darkly; but then face to face: now
I know in part; but then shall I know even
as I am known.

In this life you see through the glass darkly. Your memory of what went before, is gone as is your knowledge of what comes next. You will live by faith trusting in the tender mercy of a kind, wise Heavenly Father that if you do all that is asked of you, even though the baby takes his oatmeal and dumps it over himself and his surroundings while you were helping his sister tie her shoes and cleaning him up so you could get her to the bus stop on time didn't happen and you ended up having to drive her to school and when you got home the oatmeal you hadn't taken time to wipe up because you wanted to get her to school on time had dried and this was the day you had hoped to prepare a really good family home evening lesson but instead you spent it scrubbing and that was just the beginning of your day. And so will go the minutes, hours, days, years of your life filled with challenges large and small that will try you sometimes to the point where you seriously wonder if you can make it through another day.

But take heart and be of good cheer. Because of your knowledge of the Gospel, as contained in the Holy Scriptures and as taught by his Prophets and Apostles you will build a foundation of spiritual truths that will allow you to withstand all that life, with its curve balls, can throw at you. As you keep his commandments, as you are steadfast in the choices you make through good times as well as hard you will find that your ability to withstand temptations as well as do much good in the world will increase. If you continue on this path until you are called Home you will be greeted with, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matt. 25:21.)

What is the joy of the Lord? It is the gift of Eternal life where you will dwell with Him forever growing in your ability to do, gaining ever more knowledge as you and your husband to whom you have been sealed through Priesthood power press onward in your goal to be like Him.
Will it be worth the price you must pay? Yes, oh yes, more than you can ever imagine or dream of now.

Please know that I love you and eagerly await your return Home.
You are in my prayers always.

Mom