Sack of Rocks

Today in Primary, one of the classes had sharing time, it went something like this....

I am the new secretary in the ward, following the master of all masters..... so you can imagine things don't run exactly smoothly in my current state. Well, first of all, I gave the wrong topic to the teacher, or perhaps I didn't even select one at all LOL! And I told the teachers only 10 minutes, when really they have 15, it is just REALLY likely that if a teacher (female) plans a sharing time, it usually amounts to about twice as long as what they had thought was planned. Turns out this time around it was two men..... SO that means I told them 10 minutes and they took 8, so singing time turned out to be EXTRA long :).

Back to the wrong topic. I actually needed what the teacher was teaching to the kids today. He told a story about when he went fishing and his dad caught so many fish he was bragging about it, so the boy and his friends thought it would be funny to fill his dad's bag of fish with a few extra rocks. His dad commented that the bag was sure heavy because of all the fish he had caught. When they got back to camp, his father dumped out the fish and discovered the rocks. The boy was in a bit of trouble..... as you might imagine.

Then he grabbed out a bag (full of rocks) and had one of the cute little 6 year old boys hold it. It weighed likely as much as he did. When asked if it was heavy, he said no, so the teacher let him hold it for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile he had each of the members of his class describe ways to "lighten the load" of this little boy, by discussing acts of service. Some of these were help others, be kind to others, love one another, pray for others, talk to someone at school who didn't have any friends... etc. After each child stated something they were able to remove a rock from the bag and the load of the little boy was lightened. It actually took about 7 rocks before the boy responded that the bag was getting lighter.

As I look back on these last 5 months, wow has it really been 5 months? Have I really be without the most perfect human being I have ever met in my life and ever will for 5 months? Has it really been 5 months since I held him, rocked him, snuggled with him, and thanked my Father in Heaven every day for every single moment I spent with him? Yes, it really has. For every single day in the last 5 months I have picked myself out of bed and carried on, because that it what we do. Carry on in times of trial, even when they seem or are more than we can bear.

I am a firm believer that Father in Heaven answers prayers. He answers them with other people. These people may be friends, family, co workers, strangers, all of which answer our prayers for Him. They perform acts of service; sending cards, a text, a note via email, comment on a blog, visiting teachers, bringing in meals, a QT on a hard day, taking kids swimming or to the park, prayers, fasting in our behalf, SO many. Through all of this and for the last 5 months, my load has been lightened by all of you. All of you my friends and family and fellow bloggers.