I just heard on the news that President Hinckley passed away this evening. I'm devastated, but at the same time, I feel so relieved for him. Sam and I were in President Hinckley's ward from the time we were first married until we moved to West Jordan (4 years). He was a wonderful man and a great example of what it means to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He had been the prophet of the church since March 12, 1995 (Sam's 19th birthday!). While I am going to miss him terribly, I know he is in a better place and now he is with his wife once again.
He always gave inspiring talks about doing the very best you can. I'd like to share one of my favorite quotes from a talk he gave at a Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting on January 10, 2004:
"I have been quoted as saying "Do the best you can." But I want to emphasize that it be the very best. We are too prone to be satisfied with mediocre performance. We are capable of doing so much better.
Brethren and sisters, we must get on our knees and plead with the Lord for help and strength and direction. We must then stand on our feet and move forward.
I am absolutely confident that heaven will smile upon us. The Lord will hear and answer our prayers if we will commit ourselves, giving our very best to this work.
I pray for you. I plead with heaven in your behalf. I thank you one and all for all you are doing and pray that you may have the strength to do more as we face the great, almost overwhelming challenge that comes with life in our time.
God bless you is my humble prayer as I express my love, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."
President Hinckley will be greatly missed!
4 comments:
Carrie's mom works in the church security department. A couple years ago she organized a fireside with Dave Sayer (spelling?), who was President Hinckley's personal bodygaurd at the time. Dave said something that I will never forget. He said something to the effect of..."in all the years I have worked with President Hinckley I have never heard or seen him say or do anything that was contrary to his calling as a prophet."
When you consider that Dave rides in every car, plane, and train, sits in every meeting, and interview, walks in every tunnel and parking lot with the prophet...that's pretty amazing to me.
the words that have impressed me the most from Pres. Hinckley these past several years is that the urgency that we as a people stand in holy places, that we take a stand and not sit idally by- that we be and do better- he will be missed but like Pres. Kimball for me, he will always be with us, in our thoughts and in our hearts.
It's a quiet, somber day here in the Security Department. Our group will be seeing things from behind the scenes, doing their best to keep things calm and respectful. It's touching to look down from the 28th floor and see all flags half staff, from the capitol building up the hill, to all the flagpoles around the Conference Center, Church Office Building, and in front of the temple. How grateful I am to be a part of this great work.
One thing I loved about Pres. Hinckley is that he always knew the right thing to say. He never apologized for church principles or past church practices such as polygamy or the black members not being able to hold the priesthood. That was the way it was and that was that. He had an amazing way of looking at the positive aspects of the gospel and pointing that out to all of its critics.
I know he will be missed, but what outweighs that sorrow for me is the joy and happiness he is experiencing with the great reunion going on right now with his friends and family, not to mention our Savior waiting to welcome him home. What a fabulous time for him. God bless him!
Post a Comment