A few weeks ago, I was privileged to teach (to the adult women of my ward) a lesson on Living a Christ-Centered Life and felt I should emphasize this to my class as the move each of us should make for 2016. It was just after the turning from 2015 to 2016 and the time many of us choose to make goals or resolutions to accomplish during the coming year. I also felt I should emphasize not the setting of goals or resolutions, but the art of making commitments. I shared the following story from the life of my mother:
My mother was a saint and a woman of faith long before she became a Latter-Day Saint. At her funeral, one eulogist called her a “woman without guile,” a compliment of the highest order. She never had an agenda. She just lived a Christ-Centered Life and her family-brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews all knew her as an example in their lives. They are Christians, but none are members of the church she eventually found the truth in.
At the time of this story, she had never heard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, although she was a very spiritual woman and believed in God and prayer. I was about 2 ½ (and I was adorable!) and my younger brother was just a few months old.
Mom and Dad didn’t have a lot of money and lived in the country in a little one-bedroom house. Their driveway was long and very winding. In fact, you couldn’t see the house from the road because of the switchback in the driveway.
On this particular day, my parents had risen early so my dad and his brother could go rabbit hunting. When his brother drove up, my mom walked dad outside to the car and she waved goodbye until they were out of sight around the curved drive.
She turned to go back to the house and as she approached the porch, she saw a poisonous snake slither through the open door, into the house.
Now, I must explain how much my mother disliked snakes. Her fear of them bordered on the psychotic. When my family and I lived in north Phoenix, my mom and stepfather lived in Illinois and decided to come for a visit. When she found out that my oldest son had a pet snake, she refused to stay with us unless he removed the snake, cage and all. Of course, we complied.
As she stood in that driveway, she was paralyzed with fear. She couldn’t call anyone for help because they had no telephone, plus, she would have had to enter the house to use it, if she had! No one lived close enough to run to for help and she wasn’t willing to leave her babies for any length of time in the house alone, anyway. So, she dropped to her knees to pray. She poured her heart out to Heavenly Father. She told Him how frightened she was and how her two precious children were inside that house asleep and that she needed His help to kill that snake. She promised Him that if HE would help her kill that snake and save her children, she would go to church and never miss a single Sunday.
She finished her prayer and as she rose to her feet, she saw a garden hoe leaning against the doorframe. It had not been there before. She grabbed that hoe and walked into her house, surrounded with the spirit of courage. She entered the bedroom, knowing that was where the snake had crawled to and saw it slithering into my brother’s crib. She wielded that hoe as if it were the His terrible swift sword and cut that snake in half. She again fell to her knees and cried her thanks to her Heavenly Father for His blessing, then, gathering her courage once more, she scooped the two pieces of snake onto the garden hoe and carried them outside to the trash can where she immediately set it on fire. All this as her two babies slept peacefully in that bedroom, unaware of the drama and the miracle that had just happened around them. My mother began attending many churches, looking for the truth over the next several months, never missing a Sunday, until one day, two missionaries walked down that winding driveway and brought her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which she recognized as the Gospel that Christ had taught during his ministry on this earth. She attended church every Sunday of her life - and every Sunday of my life - unless she was contagiously ill or in the hospital. Even on vacations, she would find the nearest LDS church and attend Sunday meetings.
Now, that woman knew how to keep a commitment!
I want to be as much like her, in my own flawed way, as I can. I want a Christ-centered life and as of now and 2016, I am committed to creating one.
I hope and pray the same for each of you. In the name of Jesus Christ,I testify to the truth of these events, Amen.
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