The resplendent Sun shines in a moment early morning today after several days of downpours as if to celebrate with us on this special day. The cold breeze of the northeast monsoon seemed to rest awhile as to not even move a small twig of the large and tall trees in front of our home as if to remind us of the peace and tranquility we experienced during those past moments of having chosen the paramount turning points in our long and grueling forty four (44) years of nerving crossroads.
However, as it is in this cold and rainy season, monsoon rains dominate and the cold winds blow as to defy the beauty of the much needed sunshine and environmental harmony; the same way that in summer we are irritated by the unquenchable heat of sunshine and desire for more rains. This jogs our memory to the compelling realities of sunshine and shadow; calm and wind; joy and sorrow which are indisputable variations associated with our journey of a lifetime.
All the while we thought as we grow old and gray that there’ll be no more of these challenging crossroads and the ways are cleared of barriers and hurdles for the weary travelers to advance to their destinations unmolested. Yet the fact remains that greying is never an exemption or a smooth pass through the variables along the far-reaching course of life.
However, as it is in this cold and rainy season, monsoon rains dominate and the cold winds blow as to defy the beauty of the much needed sunshine and environmental harmony; the same way that in summer we are irritated by the unquenchable heat of sunshine and desire for more rains. This jogs our memory to the compelling realities of sunshine and shadow; calm and wind; joy and sorrow which are indisputable variations associated with our journey of a lifetime.
All the while we thought as we grow old and gray that there’ll be no more of these challenging crossroads and the ways are cleared of barriers and hurdles for the weary travelers to advance to their destinations unmolested. Yet the fact remains that greying is never an exemption or a smooth pass through the variables along the far-reaching course of life.
And so at this time of wanting to reach our 50th wedding anniversary we just join in singing the humorous version of Julie Andrews’ song “My Favorite Things” posted in the internet which I quote in part:
When the pipes leak,When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad
[We] simply remember [our] favorite things,
And then [we] don’t feel so bad.
Back pains, confused brains, and no fear of sinnin’,
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin’,
And we won’t mention our short shrunken frames,
When we remember our favorite things.
When the joints ache,
when the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then [we] remember the great life [we’ve] had,
And then [we] don’t feel so bad.
Whilst what’d been described are actual realities, yet we are reminded of the words of Paul to the Romans: “I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
During those 44 years of nerving crossroads in our married life we have made the family as our ultimate turning point. We set aside all the desired personal comforts and ambitions to give place for the temporal and spiritual welfare of our children and posterity. After all, this journey is logically of spiritual consequence. The words of Wilford Woodruff inspire: “Bless your souls, if you lived here in the flesh a thousand years, as long as Father Adam, and lived and labored all your life in poverty, and when you got through, if, by your acts, you could secure your wives and children in the morning of the first resurrection, to dwell with you in the presence of God, that one thing would amply pay for the labours of a thousand years” (Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 21:284, as quoted, S. Michael Wilcox, The House of Glory, p. 138).
We know that even a hundred years would be too long to endure and therefore our hearts are pained at the clear witness of today’s ever increasing assaults of the devil against the family using its strongest arsenal of evil influences. Our only remaining hope is the fact that “Mankind are elements designed to endure to all eternity; it never had a beginning and never can have an end… It is brought together, organized, and capacitated to receive knowledge and intelligence, to be enthroned in glory”(Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:356, The House of Glory, p. 120).
Families can never be annihilated unless they yield to the enticing of the evil one. This is the very reason why during those 44 years of marital partnership family relationship is ever preeminent. But no matter our efforts to secure family boundaries, the devil is clever enough to institute seducing baits and greased slides as to successfully entangle his desired victims into his dragnets.
We know with certainty that our call from home will come sooner than the length of those 44 weary years of our struggles. Therefore, to our children and posterity we leave our tear-filled pleadings that they will live up to the teachings and virtues that we have exemplified with earnest prayers that they will remain in service to God in righteousness and in truth to the end, and establish a multi-generation of actively participating disciples of the Lord.
While we are praying for possible extension, yet we are sure to embark into the realms of an endless end to meet our Maker. So said the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson:
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for [us]!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When [we] put out to sea, …
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When [we] embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear [us] far,
[We] hope to see [our] Pilot face to face
When [we] have crossed the bar.
(Idylls of the King, Crossing the Bar, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, quoted by President Thomas S. Monson, October 2007, LDS General Conference, “Mrs. Patton — The Story Continues.”)
How we, indeed wish that Hazel and family; Robert Sherwin and Analiza and family; Lori Lynne and Fraodel and family; Kathleen Beth and family, Shauna Megan and her future family, our foster daughter Angelica, and the rest of our coming posterity may so live to their full immortal potentials and be worthy to live in God's presence in the eternities according to the sealing promise and eternal covenants.
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