Fond Thoughts and Fawn Memories

Today, as I was sitting in Fast and Testimony Meeting, a thought hit me with great force. I had been contemplating my many blessings though out my life. There had been many that had expressed how blessed they were to be able to serve missions here in Nauvoo. We, too, feel that very same way. Another young sister missionary had expressed that she didn't feel that she had had any trials in her life until she turned 18. I, too, have frequently thought that the trials in my life had been minimum. (Then I remembered that we had had children, lot of them! And I suppose that each of them has brought with them a number of trials and challenges for us to deal with. But somehow, the magnitude of each of those trials, has diminished with time – to the point that sometimes I wonder if they ever existed at all. The Lord had stepped in and, in His kind and loving way, has dealt with those trials for us that we have not had to be weighed down by them. After considering these testimonies and how they also voiced my feelings, a phrase from my patriarchal blessing popped into my mind, one that I had seldom ever even paid any attention to before. It reads “There is not a gift you desire in righteousness that the Lord will not give you”. Suddenly, I realized that such had been the case throughout my life. Becky and I wanted children – lots of them. And we got them! We wanted a righteous posterity. In spite of our sometimes feeble efforts, the Lord provided us with stalwart children that love the Lord. They've all turned out so good! We wanted to come serve this mission in Nauvoo: another righteous desire, I think. And here we were! There is not a thing that I can think of that I have righteously desired that hasn't come our way. The Lord has indeed fulfilled his promise to me. There is no question in my mind that the Lord is aware of me and that he loves me. Of that I am certain. There are so many other of God's children that could perform this mission so much better than I could, but the Lord used us anyway, for which I am grateful.

On another topic, a couple of days ago, I looked out our bedroom window to see a fawn laying in the grass not far from our apartment. It was alone, I suppose its mom had told it to stay put til she came back - and in spite of the rain that fell, it was obedient. Hours later, when it was time for us to leave and go to the temple, it was still there. We walked out to where it lay and took a picture before climbing into the car. Wet from the rain and shaking with cold or fear, I don't know which, it didn't try to move even then. But it was gone when we got back that evening. I assume that its mom eventually came back to collect her charge when her time elsewhere was completed.