Walking on Holy Ground

This was a great week.  Valentine's day was wonderful!  Even though I would rather have been spending the day with Julianne, I enjoyed the 75 degree temperatures and sunshine in Texas.  And even more than that, I enjoyed receiving a thoughtful card and a package from Julianne, as well as a nice little note from my parents.  Julianne spoiled me, sending me both a box of cherry chocolates and a box of milk chocolate sea foam (chocolate covered honeycomb).  They are both my favorites and I've had to try to keep my consumption at acceptable levels so as to make the chocolate last longer.  It is hard to believe that February is over half-way over.  I couldn't be more excited because it means that Spring is coming soon with flowers, blossoms, and consistently warm temperatures!

The Garden Tomb in the Spring

This morning when I woke up, I started thinking back about one of my favorite stories that my grandpa used to tell.  It was about President Kimball and a trip that my grandparents took to Jerusalem with President and Sister Kimball in 1979 for the dedication of the Orson Hyde Memorial Gardens.  Because it was such a memorable event to have the President of the Church traveling in the Holy Land (up to that point, trips like this had been infrequent), BYU decided to send a photography crew to capture the occasion.  Understandably, they wanted candid shots of the President of the Church walking where the Savior had walked.  And they didn't really want his secretary in these pictures.  But just prior to this trip, President Kimball had had an operation to relieve the effects of a subdural hematoma and he was still recovering from the the effects of this operation.

During a fireside years later, my grandpa recalled, "Everywhere we went, I held his arm because he was a little unsteady....We went to the Garden Tomb. And President and Sister Kimball and my wife and I sat in there on that stone bench.  We read the scriptures and President Kimball gave a prayer.  He commented on [the scene] and we meditated.  And then he said, 'I really believe this is where they laid our Lord.'  We stepped out into the bright sunshine....The flooring is uneven because it is made of stone.  I was afraid the President would trip and fall, so I was holding him by the arm.  But again, [the photographers] wanted to take his picture, and without me in it.  And so, reluctantly I let go of his arm.  And as I stepped away I said, 'Now, President Kimball, be careful.'  He turned to me and he smiled and quietly said to me, 'Don't worry Arthur, I'm used to walking on holy ground.'  So I stepped away and they took the picture."

Over the years, I've thought a lot about President Kimball's response, "Don't worry Arthur, I'm used to walking on holy ground," and particularly with regards to this situation.  By this point in his life, President Kimball had spent years walking the halls of Temples and other places of holy ground.  He knew how to recognize holy ground by the way that it felt and the thoughts it inspired him to think.  And this was holy ground!  The fact that the pathways were uneven and even treacherous for one who was still recovering from the effects of a major surgery did not make this ground any less holy.

In this story, my grandfather was right to be worried.  But at the same time, President Kimball was right to be confident.  Each of us will, from time to time, find ourselves upon holy ground that might also be rocky and potentially dangerous terrain.  Our own homes are perhaps the holiest ground most of us tread in this life, but as we all know, family life can be uneven and challenging, and it can be easy to slip and fall if we are not careful.  Our wards and stakes are holy ground where we can be lifted up and edified.  But we also know people who have been offended and deeply hurt by uncaring comments and hurtful remarks.  Just as the dangers of an uneven path did not stop President Kimball from walking on the path at the Garden Tomb, so the rockiness of these terrains should not prevent us from walking on these paths.  The key for us is to do what President Kimball did and focus upon the holiness of the ground and not the unevenness of the paths that cover it.  If, from time to time, someone is a little insensitive or unkind (or even downright mean), we can still know that we are on holy ground, seeking to do the will of our Father in Heaven.  The benefits and blessings of standing on holy ground deeply outweigh the dangers of the uneven paths we must sometimes walk.

Brett

(Hopefully this makes some sort of sense.)