Our church girl's camp was canceled this year. We set up tents in the rain, huddled around a fire beneath a tarp, and left with four inches of snow on the ground. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to load everything up, so we had to return a couple of days later in order to clean up the fallen tents and sodden sleeping bags. I was asked to speak about it in church. This is the extended version of the talk I gave.
Surprisingly,
I learned a lot from the 12 hours we spent at girl’s camp. I learned lessons on
being prepared, smiling in the face of adversity, but probably the most
important lesson was that of obedience.
In D&C 130:20-21 we read:
20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed
in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which
all blessings are predicated—
21 And when we obtain any blessing from
God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.
The first lesson in obedience was before girl’s camp even
began. Our ward was assigned to get eight volunteers to go up to the camp area
and ready it for camp. It was my plan to go up, but then my husband had to work
and my mom was out of town. My sister had her baby and I was suddenly left
without a babysitter for my three children. I texted Melody to let her know I
wouldn’t be going to the camp cleanup.
The
next morning I woke at 6:18, 12 minutes before we were supposed to be leaving
to go to clean up the camp. I was still tired and the kids were all asleep in
their pajamas and hadn’t had breakfast. Besides, I had let them know I wouldn’t
make it. I was off the hook. Then a voice in my head reminded me of something.
One of
the challenges I face as a mother is instilling a strong work ethic in my
children. We live in the suburbs. There is no need to change irrigation pipes
each day. My vegetable garden has roofing material over it so the weeds are
minimal and even at harvest time, rows don’t extend for seeming mile after mile.
My other gardens are covered in mulch to also keep the weeds down. I have one
producing fruit tree. Only one level of our house is finished and needs
constant cleaning. At times I feel like all they will ever learn to do in life
is pick up their bedrooms, fold laundry, play video games, watch television,
and socialize with neighborhood children.
That
morning, as I was lying in bed debating whether to go back to sleep or get up,
drag my kids out of bed and rush them down to the church, a voice came to me and
said something along the lines of, “I have given you a perfect opportunity for
your children to serve and to learn the value of hard work. Are you really
going to deny them that?” So I got up, got dressed, threw together some edible
things and woke the children. We might have been a few minutes late, but we met
up with the others and drove up to the camp site.
Once
there we spent the first part of the morning removing weeds from the
amphitheater. The younger children became disenchanted rather quickly, but the
oldest borrowed a shovel and worked the whole time taking down thistles and
clumps of grass. When we had finally
finished, we headed up to our own group’s camp site and found the others
cutting up deadfall and stacking it for firewood. We helped them for awhile and
then, when it seemed there was little left to be done, I packed up my kids and
started the journey back home. Little did we know that we wouldn’t reap the
benefits of our labors this year. But the immediate blessing given through
obedience was that I had a chance to spend the morning with my children doing
something productive where we worked together. And, when we stopped at IHOP for
breakfast on the way home, it was nice to sit and eat together with no one
rushing to get to work or school or soccer practice or a friend’s birthday
party. We were filthy and could have been mistaken for transients, but it was
one of those moments where for a few minutes life slowed down enough that I
could just enjoy it.
I can’t lie. When we set up all our
stuff and then were told to grab only what we could carry and walk away, I was
disappointed. The whole drive home I felt the loss of another of the few times
in life when I am able to walk away from my other responsibilities and focus
only on the young women and my own
relationship with the Lord. I look forward to the chance to get away and
commune with the spirit. And in it was just gone. Equally discouraging was the
fact that in a couple of days, we would have to go back to clean up the sodden
mess. Other leaders had worked for months to prepare for camp, and for what? I
know I’m supposed to be an example, but sometimes reality gets the better of
me.
But despite the rain and the cold,
when we were asked by leaders to stay and wait it out, we did. Despite my
disappointment and despite the hours of preparation, when we were instructed to
walk away from it all and go home, we did. And once again, there were blessings
given for obedience.
One of the first is that two days
later I traveled with others back up to camp to help clean up. My husband has
recently gone back to school. He hates school. He has been working on the same
associates degree since high school because he can’t bring himself to get
through the course work. This year he reenrolled and was able to get caught up
on his homework enough that he was available to go with us to help with the
cleanup.
That same day my son was supposed to
enter a 4-H cooking demonstration contest. As I went to bed on Wednesday, I told
him it probably wasn’t going to happen for him and that I was sorry, but I
didn’t control the elements. Thursday morning, I woke at 5:13 and one of my
first thoughts was, he likes soccer. His
recipe could be relabeled as something involving soccer, like “soccer snacks”.
His old soccer shirt could be folded and used as the placemat for his table
setting. There is still time to make this work. So I woke him up and got
him started while I gathered the items for his table setting. It came together
almost miraculously and he ended up earning a high blue ribbon. We might have
made others in the group late leaving by a bit. Sorry.
A third blessing through obedience
was haven’t we been fasting and praying for weeks and months for the
precipitation we need in this state? When some came by and encouraged us to
pray that the weather would stop, I just thought No! We don’t control the Lord’s timetable. He is blessing us with
something we’ve pled for. Even if it comes at an inconvenient time, it is still
a great blessing for us. Most blessings we get in this life come when they are
best for us, not necessarily when we want them.
Lastly one of the greatest blessings
came yesterday. Giving in to peer pressure, I signed up for a sprint triathlon.
It was a race I had finished before, last year, to be exact, but this year
there were additional interruptions to my training schedule. I would be lying
if I didn’t admit part of it was my own disinterest and lack of motivation, but
in the cool hours of the morning if the choice is to work in my yard or to go
running, working in the yard is going to win 9 times out of 10. Unlike last
year, this year I have taken on more hours at work. My husband has gone back to
school and needs academic support. I have more responsibility as the young
women’s president. All of these factors mean the need for a greater filter as I
attempt to balance my time so it is distributed as necessary to be successful
in my employment, nurturing and available for my family, and a profitable
servant to the Lord. Sometimes getting out and running, swimming or riding my
bike just hasn’t been the priority.
As I went to bed on Friday night my
prayer was just to finish. On Saturday, I got up, ate a small breakfast, packed
my gear and got ready to go. At 7:00 I was at the starting line. It was hard,
just as hard as I remembered. As I finished the running portion, there were
only three people behind me, but my transition included a bathroom break, which
put me second to last. I rode along main street, and a couple of times as the
road was steep and cars passed, I imagined one of the drivers texting,
swerving, and taking me out so I wouldn’t have to finish the race or being
pulled under the tires of a passing semi. On my second lap of the biking, the
last person passed me and of those that finished the race, I was dead last. It
is my goal in life to at some point legitimately use the phrase, “On your
left,” but it is likely that would never happen except in the water and then it
would be “blubbb, blub, bluuubbb.” Finally I made it to the pool, swam the 400
yards and finished adding 5 minutes to my current best time.
Just as I had prayed, I finished,
and along the way I noticed things; life lessons, we’ll call them. I was not
born a natural athlete, and certainly not a runner. From the get go, I start
out behind others because despite my effort, I just don’t have it in me. As
many, many, many of the other bikers passed me, they offered encouragement such
as “Keep it Up!” “You’re doing great!” “You got this.” And even as the last
person passed me she commented, “You can do it. You made it past the hill.” As
I realized I was very last and there would be no one else watching, I
considered turning the corner and taking some of the miles off my course. No
one was around to see me. Maybe no one would ever know. But then I noticed that
even though I was minutes behind everyone else, the police officers guarding
the intersections stayed until I had safely passed by. I was only one biker. It
was a Saturday. Certainly there were other things they could have been doing
with their time. But they stayed. They waited as I slowly made my progress
forward.
If we imagine life is a great triathlon,
we can imagine there are all types of athletes. There are those who were born
into perfect circumstances where two parents love one another and were sealed
in the temple. Where a father and mother attend church with their children
regularly. Where the scriptures are opened and studied daily and at night
children are lovingly tucked in following family prayer. We’ll call those
individuals the spiritual natural-born athletes. Those are the individuals who,
like the bikers that passed me, offer encouragement and support to those of us
who are struggling.
Along the way we will have times
when we realize no one is watching and we could reasonably cut corners. No one
will know if we cheat on a timecard, click on a few inappropriate videos, or
take something that will make us feel better for awhile. Yet, just like in the race,
I would know. Cheating is dishonest and the spirit of the Lord cannot abide
with one who cannot be true even when no one is watching.
We
will meet up with police officers, who have a specific duty or calling to see
us safely along our journey. Even though I was last and clearly not one of the
better prepared, they stayed to see me safely on. I imagine them to be
comparable to our church leaders, those who have been called to see us safely
on in our journey. Those who see us struggling, maybe coming in last place, but
they don’t give up because they recognize our potential of finishing. I imagine
it would have ended quite differently if I had dismounted my bike and sat down
at the side of the road, but as long as I was willing to continue working, they
remained.
Yes, we all want to do our best. But
what is best for some differs from what is best for others. I remember last
year, when I was talking about the triathlon in ward council, the bishop, after
hearing the course layout said, “Oh, you’ll be fine.” And all I could think
was, You have no idea what it is like to
be 70 lbs. overweight. You don’t know what it is to make a decision like this
and on your first day of training being sick all day because you ran a ¼ mile.
This is a struggle you have never had to face. How can you tell me I’ll be fine?
As we run our race through life, we
will encounter those setbacks; She has no
idea what it is to live with a husband who hasn’t had a job in over a year. He
doesn’t understand how difficult it is to raise children who seem to have no
interest in the gospel. No one knows what it is like to live with depression
and how I know my family suffers because I can’t function, but I just can’t
seem to change it. He has never had to live with a child with physical or emotional
disabilities and doesn’t understand how draining it is at times. But let me
remind all of us that even though those around us may not get it from
experience, we all know what it is to struggle. One of the greatest parts of
God’s plan is that we each have our own unique struggles. Can you imagine what
this life would be if all of us had the same strengths and weaknesses? We would
never be in a position to help one another out. One of the greatest blessings
we have of this race of life is that those of us in the lead can stop and lend
a hand to those of us who are struggling even if we don’t exactly understand
the struggle. Because after all, we all have the same goal and that is the goal
of finishing and attaining exaltation.
And as I said in the beginning, exaltation comes through
obedience. Because “there is a law, irrevocably decreed
in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which
all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain
any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which
it is predicated.”
