It’s good to remember, when the “right now” looks impossible or insurmountable, that there have been better days and there will be better days, and I will get through them and still have these snapshots of the best moments of my life during what feels to be the worst days of my life.
I will do my part to defend the freedom I treasure because I know it is not enough to simply remember; I must act, I must do, I must serve so that the terrible price that you paid is not lost to neglect and apathy.
Nothing of our hard work remained.
Ezekiel and William stood side by side in front of me. I couldn’t see their faces, but I could hear the heartbreak in Ezekiel’s voice when he finally turned to William, tears in his eyes and asked, “Why dad? Why did God let our garden get destroyed? We worked so hard on it, why did he let this happen?”
All things break.
It is the law of the earth that the grandest mountains eventually come to dust and the sweetest of dreams-come-true make their way to memories.
It is the law of Heaven that we come to understand why.
To understand that joy is born in the breaking.
“…I close my eyes at journey’s end, and sit beneath the shade.
The heat of travel flows from my fingertips and toes to the soil beneath me,
The earth returns a cool stillness in trade.
I open my eyes to the golden touch of sundown.
The last rays illuminating the treasure I have traversed.
There is no hurry in me now and so I remember…”
I had forgotten Brother Tingey, his kindness, his generosity, his strength of spirit; Brother Tingey had forgotten himself, his wife, their life together, and his family; but there was someone who had never forgotten him. Through the simplicity of a song and the imperfect voices of a group of teenage girls Brother Tingey was reminded that he was still a Child of God.
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“I can tell you beyond any doubt that God hears our prayers and He answers them. He doesn’t take away our troubles, but He gives us joy in the midst of them. He doesn’t make us comfortable, but He gives us the chance to comfort others and find respite from our own woes through service. He always answers our prayers, but not always in the moment that we pray.”