Believing in Good Things to Come

This morning as I realize that the Superbowl is tonight and that my once-beloved San Francisco Forty Niners are in it, I can't help but think back to 1989 when I was seven or eight years old.  That year the Forty Niners played the Cincinnati Bengals in the Superbowl.  At that time I was at least as devoted to the Forty Niners as I was to BYU, and as is still often the case, I was nervous and fidgety before my team had a big game.  Not wanting to miss any of the game (which wasn't even going to start until well after Church had ended), I actually feigned illness at Church that day so that my Dad would take me home from sacrament meeting.  Looking back I'm not proud of that moment, but it does make me smile.  In the years since then, my love for the Forty Niners has sharply declined while my commitment to the Church and my realization that a big game is not an acceptable reason to miss Church have increased.  Gratefully I've grown up a little.

I just had to throw that little anecdote in for fun.  What I really wanted to write about today has to do with some news that I received this week.  For a long time I have dreamed of being able to teach religion at BYU.  It's a position that I would be excited about and one that I think I could do pretty well in.  In order to make yourself known to the faculty and to help them see if you would be a good fit or not, they often bring in adjunct professors during the spring and summer months when the regular professors want time off to enjoy their summers.  This year I received an email inviting me to apply for a position teaching Doctrine and Covenants at BYU this summer.  I was ecstatic.  Not only was this an opportunity to get started towards my dream job, it came with pretty good summer pay (which is something that is always needed).  I applied at the beginning of November and finally heard back from them this week, informing me that I had not been selected and that they had chosen other candidates who were further along in their doctoral programs.

I must admit that I was quite disappointed when I received this email, even though I knew it would afford me more time to prepare for my comprehensive exams that I will be taking in September.  It seemed like I was missing out on something that I have wanted so badly--and as is usually the case in moments of disappointment, it felt like I had lost my opportunity.  I couldn't help but wonder if I had just wasted my time pursuing a job that was never going to come.  Gratefully I had sympathetic ears from Julianne and my family who knew how disappointing that news was for me and let me vent a little while still encouraging me to keep going.

Nana and Papa and the Family in 1954

In the middle of my frustration, I thought about my Papa Haycock.  He had grown up during the Depression and had not been blessed with the opportunity to attend a university or a college.  To compensate he had taken a few extra business classes in high school, hoping that these would allow him to gain a secretarial position.  Shortly after he had finished high school, he was called on a mission to Hawaii where he had the opportunity to be present when President Heber J. Grant came to establish the first stake in the Islands.  President Grant brought his able secretary, Joseph Anderson, with him on the trip.  As my Papa watched Brother Anderson take the minutes and do other things for President Grant, he was impressed with the idea that he would like to do something similar, and Brother Anderson encouraged him to apply for a position at the Church when he returned home from his mission.  Upon returning from Hawaii, my Papa took a couple of low paying jobs at a hotel and at the Salt Lake Tribune and was miserable at both.

He wrote, "It was then that I remembered the visit of President Grant and President Clark and Joseph Anderson to the islands, and I decided I would pursue my desire to get a job at the Church Offices.  So every Monday at noon, on my lunch hour, I would walk up to the Church Offices and apply for a job....Finally after a six month period of regular visits, I was offered a job at $100.00 a month.  The same day, I was offered a job by the FBI to work in the office and then become a special agent at $150.00 per month.  I decided to take the job at the Church Office and began there September 8, 1938."

As I thought about this short little story, I realized that my Papa had not immediately gotten the job he wanted.  For six months he had gone to the Church Offices every Monday to apply until they finally took a chance on him.  Eventually he was blessed to be able to perform a similar role as that he had watched Elder Anderson perform.  I am convinced that it was my grandfather's persistence that allowed him to get the job he had dreamed about.  And even when the job offer finally came, it also came with a decision as he was obliged to choose between working for the Church and working for the government with a higher salary.

Too often we give up on our dreams too quickly.  We let a setback here or a failure there keep us from realizing our dreams.  Sometimes all we need is just a little bit of patience and persistence, followed by commitment to those dreams when it seems like a better offer may have presented itself.  On the days when it seems like our dreams are failing, it will help us to remember Elder Holland's words to himself as he remembered a discouraging day in Kanarraville, Utah.  "In that imaginary instant, I couldn't help calling out to [myself]: 'Don't give up, boy.  Don't you quit.  You keep walking.  You keep trying.  There is help and happiness ahead--a lot of it--30 years of it now, and still counting.  You keep your chin up.  It will be all right in the end.  Trust God and believe in good things to come.'"

Brett