First off, I’d like to provide a short update. I’ve had my head down deep in a variety of projects. These are the kind that take time and so I haven’t been as prolific in posting as I have in the past. There have also been some challenges on my journey that have been very consuming of my attention as well. It feels good though to sit back down and write some of the things of my soul and share them.
Since my oldest two kids are adults now, I want to post a little about them.
My oldest daughter, Sariah, just returned from her mission where she was called to serve in two missions which was something I had not heard of before. She started off in the Kirtland Historical Sites Mission where she was able to learn a lot about the history there and give tours of the Kirtland temple and the early church sites.
We were able to go up there and spend the day with her and get tours of all the different sites where wonderful things happened as the restoration unfolded. After a few months she flew out to the Arizona Tempe Mission where she was a proselyting missionary.
2 months before returning home my second oldest daughter left for the Mexico and then to the Chile Puerto Montt Mission where she has been enduring some very cold and wet weather. It has been so wonderful to hear many of their stories that take me back to my own mission.
It has been great to see some of my girls and many of their friends enthusiastic to accept a call to serve and share what is in their hearts at a great sacrifice to them at this stage of their lives.
Last night, I was attending an open house for a missionary that is just getting ready to leave for his mission. I offered him some advice and I’ll share it here.
I told him that his time as a missionary will be filled with opposites, the highest highs and the lowest lows. There will be many expected and unexpected moments. The people he will meet will be from all kinds of backgrounds and belief systems.
That there will be times where he will see outpourings of miracles and other times where you will wonder where God is and why he doesn’t seem to answer your prayers.
Of that latter time, I asked him to consider the allegory of the olive tree and to think of himself as the tree. He will remember the love that the Lord of the vineyard has for his trees but also that he doesn’t just sit there with them constantly day after day.
The Lord of the vineyard does three things to his tree, he prunes it, he grafts in branches, and he dungs the roots. After this, having done his work, he leaves the tree to be to see how it takes in the interventions he performed.
It is in this time that we can sometimes cry out to God and wonder where his voice is. But, if we recall back to the last moment we had with the Lord, and what he did for us. Did he graft, or add something new to us that we didn’t ask for? Did he prune, did he take away something from us that we are longing for? Did he dung, or dump what appears to be a load of crap at our feet? (Yes, I did say load of crap)
It is in those times that we should realize that the Lord of the vineyard is stepping back to see what we do. So in those times, we should expect his return and in the mean time, take in the graft and bear good fruit, reassess what we lost and direct our energy to what we have and bear good fruit, to take in the ‘crap’ and find nourishment in it and bear good fruit.
And patiently await the return of the Lord of the vineyard and rejoice with him in the good fruit.
This takes a lot of trust, but it’s true, and I have experienced this in my own life through many visits from the Lord of the vineyard.
In fact, I happen to be in one of those waiting periods right now. There has been a lot of pruning and a lot of dung, but the Lord of the vineyard knows what he is doing and I trust him. I look forward to the fruit as I know that he does and I pray that I can faithfully bear it for him.
