The day before my husband and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple we gave each other wedding gifts. To my complete surprise my gift was a state of the art fishing pole, complete with lures, reel, and all the tackle equipment a novice would need to get started into a lifetime of fishing the local lakes and streams. As someone who had never even looked at a fishing pole, let alone held one in my hands I hardly knew what to say, but as I glanced at Cal’s anxious and excited eyes I did manage a thank you.
I knew Cal loved to fish, but until this moment I didn’t know quite how much. As we dated he had alluded to his hopes to teach me how to fish and told me of his favorite and out of the way fishing holes. The fishing pole even went on our honeymoon. Now I know all the men in the audience are hoping my next sentence will be that over the forty plus years we have been married, Cal has been able to look down many a beautiful trout stream and see his beloved wife casting and reeling in gorgeous rainbow trout with expertise and artistry. But unfortunately, this tale has a different take.
Cal has been able to look down the stream and see his wife at his side, but with a book in her hands instead of a pole. The state of the art fishing pole has ended up in his collection, but how I treasure the memories of bright sunrises and spectacular sunsets with a man who has taught me much about the world God has given us to enjoy. Sunrises and sunsets are when the fish bite best, you know.
River banks are wonderful, quiet places to ponder and reflect about the things that matter most. You have the magnificent Teton River running close to this fine university. As it continuously runs over rocks and splashes and reflects the sun’s rays the sound of the water is mesmerizing. In the first few days of our marriage as Cal and I sat and listened to the water running and the birds’ melodies, we shared our dreams of the future. We imagined and hoped. We knelt in a lovely verdant green forest and thanked our Heavenly Father for the life we were beginning. We invoked His blessings on our righteous desires. The river spoke peace to our hearts about a life just beginning.
We didn’t know about the challenges ahead and we also didn’t know about the sweetness and peace and joy that can come in the morning after a difficult night with a very sick child, or a lost job, or so many other unexpected and unplanned events. But we were coming to know about the continuous love of the Lord, like a continuous river.
What does it take for a river to run continuously? A source. A reliable and a good one. What sources will enable us to feel the love of the Lord and feel His peace?
“We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”[1]
Peace is centered in Christ.
“Learn of me, and listen to my words, walk in the meekness of my Spirit and you shall have peace in me.”[2]
My husband and I had the great blessing of working with over 350 missionaries in Portugal. As the missionaries came to know the Savior’s Atonement was for them, when they knew the Savior’s gift to them was a remission of their sins and eternal life after all they could do,[3] there was a complete change in each of those young elders and sisters. They were anxious and even joyful most days to arise early and work long hours. They were able to face rejection. It was a privilege, an honor to wear the missionary tag, “Elder Jones, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” The badge was a wonderful and constant reminder of whose errand they were on.
I remember one fine elder who entered the mission field knowing he had said good-by to his mother for the last time on this earth. His unwavering testimony of the Atonement and the plan of happiness sustained him and strengthened him during the time of her death. He knew the restored gospel of Jesus Christ provided answers, he would see her again and she would be whole and free of pain.
Faith in Jesus Christ gave focus to the missionaries and brought them to repentance. They were better able to resist temptation and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. As it says in Mosiah 3:19, they became as little children, obedient to God and more loving. These changes qualified them to enjoy the gifts which come through the Holy Ghost. They came to love those they served better. And as they continued to serve Him, they came to love Him even more. Peace was a blessing that we saw come into the lives of these “peaceable followers of Christ,” our dear missionaries.[4]
Peace is centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace is knowing that God lives and loves us and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Our understanding of the plan of happiness and of the role of the Atonement enables us to see somewhat beyond the boundaries and limitations of this life. And when we are confronted with challenges, a loving Savior grants unto us a peace that extends beyond this mortality and into eternity.
Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace when other sources cease to make me whole? When with a wounded heart, anger or malice, I draw myself apart, searching my soul?
Where, when my aching grows, where when I languish, where, in my need to know, where can I run? Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand? He, only One.
He answers privately. Reaches my reaching in my Gethsemane, Savior and friend. Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching. Constant he is and kind, love without end.[5]
Some years ago our young family lived in a South American country that was struggling with political insecurity. Our five young children attended a school surrounded by barbed wire and policed by guards. My husband was out of the country often and we carried on without his physical protection and nurturing. We came to feel the Lord’s love and protection in the absence of our husband and father in sweet ways. We felt peace in our home, possibly because we thought often about the dedication of that home by Cal. He prayed that as a family we would be able to feel the peace and love of the Savior within the walls of our home as we tried to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes our neighbors and friends were fearful. I can’t say we didn’t at times feel the same, but as we gathered in prayer, we felt the reality of the words of the Savior: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”[6]
How grateful we were then and since to know that Heavenly Father lives and that He loves us enough to speak to us. How important to know that we need to pray with all the energy of our hearts.[7] How wonderful to be able to feel the Spirit direct our ways as we carry a prayer in our hearts throughout each day.
In a movie portrayal about C.S. Lewis, his character made a wonderful statement about praying. He said, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God; it changes me.”[8]
In the Book of Alma chapters 56-58 we read some incredible war stories. Helaman had taken command over 2,000 young Lamanites whose parents had sworn never to take up arms against their enemies. But their sons, who had not taken the oath, placed themselves under Helaman’s direction and helped the Nephites in their critical battles against the Lamanites. Because of their remarkable faith and ability, these young men were instrumental in helping to defend the right of the Nephite people.
Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies . . . Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls.[9]
It is difficult to image how we could build a happy and peaceful life without the words of the scriptures and the words of the prophets that lead us to watch and pray always.
My husband and I had the great blessing of reading the Book of Mormon together the first month of our mission in Portugal. We had started at home in SLC with the specific purpose of allowing the Lord to teach us through his words what he would have us do with not only our missionaries but also the members and members to be. Those first few weeks in the mission were discouraging. Our Portuguese was woefully lacking, our spirits were sagging and we felt inadequate in every way. We had so many questions – from how to drive to our 29 units of the church on roads built before the time of Christ, to how to best teach the gospel to so many anxious learners. But as we read Moroni’s promise that “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things,” we felt a peace and confirmation that the Lord knew of our weaknesses. We knew if we put our trust in Him completely, he would qualify us, he would help us do His work.
How grateful to have had this illumination. We need to hold fast to these moments throughout our lives. They don’t come daily. This particular moment came as Cal and I were praying and reading the words of the Lord for answers to questions we didn’t even know how to articulate.
Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock . . . For behold…if ye will enter in by the way and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.[10]
“I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.”[11]
I love the combination there of both mind and heart. God will teach us in a reasonable way and in a revelatory way, mind and heart combined, by the Holy Ghost. Revelation almost always comes in response to a question, usually an urgent question—not always, but usually.
I saw a young 10 year old boy in Mexico in Primary answer the question, “Do you know anyone in the scriptures that received directions from the Lord?” This bright child moved comfortably from the Book of Mormon and Alma the Younger to the Old Testament and Samuel. Both prophets had heard a voice and both responded and this young boy knew he also could receive answers like the prophets Alma and Samuel.
I traveled to Africa, where the Saints were often hungry for food but, interestingly, even hungrier to feast on the word of the Lord. In each of the two countries I visited, I felt the powerful spirits and the great faith of the people. They had so little temporally, but they were rich spiritually. The children carried their scriptures lovingly. Their well-worn, inexpensive, blue Books of Mormon accompanied them at every Primary meeting. The scriptures gave them great peace and direction and comfort.
In the last several months we have had the privilege of helping a lovely young mother come into the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She was looking for truth. She was looking for direction and she was looking for inner peace. In the mission field we know that the good people of the world are looking for the truth. That description of our new friend fit. Until she began a daily habit of reading the words of the Lord she felt confused, even frightened.
Before her baptism she found the church distribution center, which was at some distance from her home, and purchased her own leather bound scriptures. My husband and I will never forget the confidence and the light she brought into our home as she proudly carried her own inscribed burgundy scriptures. She told us each time she read, she felt a sense of calm, a sense of peace. She and the prepared sister missionaries rejoiced together as the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was taught by the Spirit of truth, the Holy Ghost.
“Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.”
The change in Christina was her reception of the light of truth through the Holy Ghost. We could see it grow each time we were together.
“That which is of God is light and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light brighter until the perfect day.”[12]
“And all thy children [and Christina was certainly one of them] shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”[13]
Light and peace comes as we are taught of the Lord through His words in the scriptures and the living prophets. I know that Heavenly Father lives and that He loves us enough to speak to us through His scriptures.
The scriptures tell us “to go and do”.[14] There is a time to read and ponder and there is a time to go and do what the Lord tells us and shows us.
Among the many admirable traits Nephi possessed, one of my favorites is his initiative. Once the Lord gave him a commandment, Nephi went into action and continued to act even when unexpected problems hedged the way. Unlike Nephi’s older brothers who didn’t harken to the Lord even when rebuked by an angel Nephi never wavered.
“O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments – then had thy peace been as a river, and thy rightousness as the waves of the sea.”[15]
The Lord’s plan for us has always been a plan of happiness. Choosing to be happy brings peace and increases our ability to follow the Lord’s plan of happiness. One of our daughters as she entered her teens was struggling to find her own testimony of the gospel. In her search to find answers she started looking at people she admired that were happy. Interestingly she discovered that her happiest friends and neighbors were the ones trying to live the gospel and keep the commandments. She started to change. It did not happen overnight, but she began to see many things she knew she should be happy about and her gratitude and love for the gospel increased.
If we want our own children to understand and experience the happiness of the gospel of Jesus Christ they will need to see their parents happy as they try to live it. How can they know that peace come from righteousness, when the world would teach just the opposite without an example of happy parents.
It is easy to say we should all be happy, but how do we do it? Happiness is an attitude, a desire. To want to be happy is mandatory before one can ever be happy or at peace. We will want to take time to be still and hear the quiet whisperings of the Holy Ghost. I remember those first few days of marriage on the banks of a river leisurely talking about how we hoped to have a righteous family together. We, without planning to do so, bore our testimonies to each other. We counted our blessings. We committed to keep all the covenants we had made at baptism and in the temple. We weren’t in a hurry and the sweetness of those moments are wonderful to look back on in stressful times. Cal will even admit that the disappointment of his wife not becoming a fisherwoman has been replaced with the good times we have had together looking at, standing by and walking through many rivers throughout the world.
Happiness comes in loosing yourself in the service of others. You have heard the story of President Hinckley and his mission to England when he became so discouraged and homesick. He wrote a letter to his father, Briant Hinckley, saying he wanted to come home and not waste his father’s money any longer. His father wrote a brief note admonishing young Elder Hinckley to forget himself and get to work serving others. Acts of service relieve the burdens of those who are serving. We have all felt the peace that comes, often unexpectedly, as we forget our self and help someone else.
If we are not happy maybe the solution is to let the Lord’s plan work more fully in our lives. We need to allow the light of the gospel to lift us and calm our spirits and bring us peace.
Have you ever tried to follow a single drop of water in a river as it bounces over rocks and falls down steep ravines? At times I have wondered how many droplets it takes to make up the rushing river. Each drop of water moves down the river bed never to return. The water in a river is being supplied by its source and then it runs its course to another body of water, never to return to its original path. But it does take with it that which it flows over, mud, rocks, sticks and more.
So it is with us. Today is the only day we have to go and do and become a better disciple of the Savior. We can not live our yesterdays over and our tomorrows are yet to come. Now I’m not saying we should eat, drink and be merry today because tomorrow may never come, but rather like a drop of water make the most of your journey each and every day. You can’t return to the opportunities of yesterday, but you can learn from them. You will take some of that which you “pass over”.
All the pieces of mud, rocks, and sticks collectively can change the course of rivers. The great deltas of the world have pushed back the mighty oceans and increased land masses. Just so a little experience here and there, in our quest to go and do what the Lord would have us do, can have a large effect on many. You never know when a small kindness here or the sharing of your testimony there, can change a person or even numbers of peoples lives.
In 1974 when our family moved to South America we were supposed to go directly to Argentina, but our government thought we would do better with our large, young family in Brazil where it was more politically secure. We eventually were blessed to move to Argentina as it became more stable. This was initially Cal’s hope as he had served a mission there as a young man.
Years and years later we saw there was a greater plan for the Clegg’s. In Brazil we learned to speak Portuguese. We learned about a new and developing church. All of these experiences and more were brought to the mission field in 1996 when we were called to serve as Mission President and wife. Our unexpected stop in Brazil for two years was a disappointment at first, but provided some invaluable experiences and lasting friendships.
If you have a detour or two that are not in your plan, it just might be in someone else’s plan to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men, which is God’s purpose. How great will be your peace when you see God can make a palace out of the little cottage you thought you were building.[16]
I know the Savior wants us to come unto Him and find His rest. I know I can pray to him anytime and any place and He will give answers to my prayers. As we learn of Him, as we listen to His words and as we seek to offer our “whole souls” to Him[17] and keep His commandments we will become more like him.[18] Great will be our peace like a river running continually if supplied by its true source. His peace can be ours in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] 2 Nephi 25:26
[2] Doctrine and Covenants 19:23
[3] 2 Nephi 25:23
[4] Moroni 7:3
[5] “Where Can I Turn for Peace” p. 129
[6] John 14:27
[7] Moroni 7:48
[8] William Nicholson, Shadowlands, stage play and screenplay, 1994
[9] 3 Nephi 18:18
[10] 2 Nephi 32:3, 5
[11] Doctrine and Covenants 8:3
[12] Doctrine and Covenants 50:22, 24
[13] 3 Nephi 22:13
[14] 1 Nephi 3:7
[15] 1 Nephi 20:18
[16] See writings of C.S. Lewis
[17] Omni 1:26
[18] Moroni 7:48