Mormon Bloggers

My grandfather passed away 10 or 12 years ago after a long period of heart ailments. I was a teenager then-at an age where I wasn’t included in the adult conversation but still indirectly aware of all that was going on. Intimate communication has not been abundant within my family and the difficulty my father had with that momentous occasion in his life caused the lack of conversation to be all the more apparent.

I remember Grandpa Aalbers being a source of humor and joy in my life. He was a hard worker and a joker. My memories begin well after he had sold his farm, but he and my grandma still had sheep and chickens and row upon row of home-grown vegetables. I can remember feeding the baby sheep out of a glass bottle with a black rubber nipple and watching the sheep run up the shoot to be loaded on the truck and taken to auction. I also can remember the stench of the chicken coop, dozens of cats swarming over my feet to reach their food, and picking strawberries in the field across the street.

My most frequent memories of my grandfather, though, are of him teasing my sisters by calling them the wrong name and laughing as he sat in his recliner. He always had pink bubble gum in a cardboard cigar box in the sun room and it was a special treat when he took it off the shelf and opened up the lid. We used to crawl in the sprawling vinyl backseat of his car and he and Grandma would take us for soft-serve ice cream. He didn’t go to church, but he always drove Grandma there and often came to visit us while he waited-always bringing with him a selection of the week’s freshest garden crop.

It is common to hear someone remark, “he was a humble man,” after the passing of a loved one. I do not know if my grandfather was humble. When he died I wasn’t yet to an age when humility meant anything to me. I don’t know if he was an intelligent man or a wise man. I just know that he was my grandpa.

Tonight as I ponder the loss of the beloved President Gordon B. Hinckley, prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I ask myself why the “old men” that lead our church are able to inspire me. I have heard criticism from people outside of the church that the high leadership is too old and too male to understand and guide people as we move into this new century. Only now as I’m typing away on my keyboard am I beginning to understand why they mean so much to me.

The elders and apostles of the Mormon church are each in their own right educated and accomplished individuals. They’ve come to their position as church leaders from all facets of business and industry-medicine, law, agriculture, aviation, education…the list is long (the same can be said for the many women in church leadership roles). They are smart men with a desire to share their knowledge. They are humble men who show no hesitation in displaying their flaws and what they were brought to learn from those flaws. Each season at our church General Conference we are counseled of the dangers of our day and admonished to do what is necessary to find ourselves outside of the destruction. Our leaders are disciplinarians, even when it is not in their nature to be so. Also, they wear their faith on their sleeves. I have heard it recounted time and time again that to meet these great leaders in person is to feel the Lord’s countenance shining. They are mortal men aspiring to live the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are succeeding.

I am in a different place in my life as I enter my thirties than I was at the passing of my grandfather in my mid-teens. My grandpa was a good man and had a hand in shaping my childhood. I now look towards these wise and reverent men for hope and guidance in the ways which I should go. I’m just now beginning to realize these men remind me of my grandfather; they are hardworking and personable and often show a great sense of humor. My ability to be inspired and affected through their words and actions comes from a feeling that, like a loving grandfather, they want the best for me and are willing to share all the attributes I’ve listed to make the path my path easier.

At the end of what has seemed to be an unending week full of twists and turns, I feel impressed to write about a simple thing that I’ve noticed in my son Beck. At eight months old he has the faculties to be in control of his life. What’s greater is that he uses them.

What am I talking about? Of course, he will for a long long time depend on his parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and numerous other adults to help him through life. But each day as I watch him I am amazed at what he has already learned. Beyond amazement, I marvel at how so many of the natural controls a baby exercises in his life each day are in large part forgotten by the age of adulthood.

To give an example, let me describe mealtime. Beck certainly has not learned manners yet. He sets with his mouth hinged wide open and his arms flailing waiting for the coming spoonful of food to be shoveled in his mouth, and if it does not get there quick enough he surely lets me know. As his belly begins to get full, however, the open cavern gets smaller and smaller until he’s content enough to get distracted with what’s going on around him and his mouth just quits opening. His body tells him when it has had enough and he listens and obeys. (The trick is for me to also be paying attention and stop when he shows me he is full.)

How simple it is for him to eat and stop eating according to his body’s natural ability to regulate itself! It’s not to say I can’t get another bite into him-I can. But, in addition to looking out for his nutritional well-being, my role is to help him recognize moderation and restraint. I can do that by listening when he tells me he is full.

So, why can’t I do that with my own belly? I’m positive my parents were not shoving unwanted food down my throat all through my childhood (french-cut green beans and Spanish rice, aside). It hardly seems useful to try and pinpoint a moment in life where I decided I would start eating to the point of overindulgence. Why do any us of need to do that? Isn’t it interesting, though, that so many of us do push past that point that our bellies tell us not to? I know, of course, that a large problem now is that we’re eating faster and before our stomachs can say, “Enough,” we’re out the door and onto the day’s next event. But, even in those cherished long and leisurely social gatherings when the body has ample time to give us warnings, we tell it, “Shhh,” and keep on eating.

The focus in my mind is not to specifically pick out eating and overeating. It is to realize that as babies grow into children and children into adults there are simple and natural behaviors that are often left to fade away. Only eating until we’re full, getting sleep and rest when we become tired, squirming around kicking our legs and batting our arms because we have energy and know we need to use it-I think these are some of the child-like attributes we are often counseled to express.

David Macfarlane is an excellent musician and gospel teacher. In this episode, he discusses the role of prayer and personal revelation in his conversion.

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Read the Transcript

It’s a new year and not a single cliche on my plate. My new year is starting off great. Which is not to say I’ve foregone making any resolutions at all. I’m just going to give my weight a break and not beat myself up uselessly over the number of hours I spend reading my scriptures. This year my goals are more specific and I feel confident they’re obtainable.

Now, so that in a few months I can be reminded that I did have goals back at the beginning of the year, here are my 2008 New Year’s Resolutions:

Watch less tv and read more books

Adjusting to life as a stay-at-home mom has been a bumpy road for me. Fortunately, I seem to have settled in and treasure the afternoons when all I accomplish is rolling around and laughing with my little boy. Surprisingly, it has given me a chance to slow down and re-explore some of my interests from the past. I want to cultivate those interests by feeding them and making my mind work.

Write once a week

In middle school my free time was filled with creative writing. Sometime between then and now I quit using pen and paper to express myself. Although my creativity has been replaced with much more practical and literal thinking, I want to see my thoughts written down again. It’s always been a source of growth and learning. I want to see where that takes me.

Have fun planning and taking our family celebration trip in Europe

Of my four resolutions, this will be the easiest. I forced myself to wait for January 1 to start making trip plans. Now it’s full steam ahead! My inner desire for this goal is that at the end of it all the three of us will have seen everything we wanted to see and learned more than we could have imagined without bitter feelings or undue stress.

Encourage & support Ben in finding a job that he’ll love in a place that we’ll love

The first half of this year is going to be extremely exciting and extremely scary. We’ve felt already how easy it is to become complacent, but are determined to find ourselves six months from now challenged and beginning life anew in the place the Lord has prepared for us.

I’m shooting towards these goals. Feel free (PLEASE) to ask me now and then how I’m doing. Your advice and support is invaluable, and, please, let me wish you the best of luck in whatever you set forth to do in 2008!