Faith of My Mothers

In the fall of 1962 in Madison, Wisconsin, my mom was introduced to the Church by a friend of hers.  My mother immediately informed her mom about this new religion she had found and my grandma instantly wanted to know more.  My mom was baptized a couple of months later along with my grandma and grandpa.

My grandma was born in 1908 and passed away in 1996.

The memories I have of my grandma are not the most favorable.  Her house smelled like moth balls and onions.  All of her furniture was covered in cat hair because of the numerous strays she'd let in.  She was very short and wore floral patterned silk dresses that emphasized all the wrong curves on her body. She had thin pursed lips and always tied her hair up tight into a bun that perfectly matched her rigid disposition.  She was staunch and stubborn, an orthodoxed bible-thumper, and a blunt little nitpicker (which would explain why my grandpa absolutely refused to wear his hearing aids.)

My cousin, Julia, and I used to entertain each other with our impersonations of the crazy things grandma would say or do, acting out her quirky gestures and facial expressions, pretending to talk without teeth and toot every time we sat down.  We would roll on the floor laughing until we cried .  It was probably not very considerate to humor ourselves at her expense, but such was the "innocence" of our adolescence.

I regret that these were really the only memories I had to hold on to when she passed away.  I remember the closing hymn at her funeral was "Nearer My God to Thee."  As an 18 yr. old, and a little more contemplative about spiritual things, during that hymn  I felt a deep sense of gratitude that she always sought to draw nearer to God, She spent a great deal of her life searching for truth, had attended many different religions, and finally found the fullness of the Gospel that fall in '62.  I felt sorry that she was gone before I had taken the time to get to know my grandma more. 

It's funny because I felt like I knew my dad's mother much better than my mom's.  My dad's mom passed away from breast cancer long before I was born so I had no personal stories of my own interactions with her, no memories of her voice or her face, her gestures or her demeanor.  I guess the only way I became acquainted with her was listening to my dad always speak of his mom.  And yet here, my other grandmother who had been part of 18 yrs. of my life, was the one I didn't really know much about.  Perhaps if I had not let her prickly nature intimidate me, I could have peeled past her spiny shell and discovered something beautiful.

I'm not sure what compelled me to yesterday but in my family history class I felt impressed to see what memories and stories I could find about her.  I found 51 memories posted on Family Search.  I knew my aunt, Naomi, was into ancestry but didn't realize she had made so much available about my grandma. I decided that this would be how I'd spent my Sunday afternoon, reading and searching as much about grandma as I could.

I find it no coincidence that today is her birthday! (something I never knew until yesterday.) Perhaps she is the one who was compelling me to turn my heart to hers.

I discovered my grandma lived in Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Georgia, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.  When she was in her late teens, she served a Baptist mission with her parents in Barbados, West Indies.  She moved to Utah sometime in the 1970's I believe.

I found out that from the day of her wedding and every day thereafter, my grandpa never made an effort to kiss her. (It's a wonder they ever had children.)  I'm sure that grandpa's complete lack of affection was something that caused her an immense amount of pain.  Perhaps this accounts for some of her bitterness.

Living through The Great Depression, she was extremely poor and only had an 8th grade education.  Despite her lack of schooling, she loved writing stories of faith in God and especially loved poetry, so did her mother (both women after my own heart).  She was bold in her witness of The Book of Mormon, something that the rest of her family grew quite irritated with and partially distanced themselves from her because of it.  But to her dying breath, she would remain firm in her testimony of the truthfulness of that book.

On Family Search I found one of the poems she used to recite.  It's beautiful and I love how it applies to my life right now! This was an exciting discovery for me.

THE WINDS OF FATE

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

One ship drives east and another drives west

With the self-same winds that blow;

   'Tis the set of the sails

   And not the gales

That tells them the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the winds of fate

As we voyage along through life;

   'Tis the set of the soul

   That decides its goal

And not the calm or the strife.

Last night, I called my mom to ask her some questions about grandma.  I asked her about this poem and she confirmed that grandma was always saying, "it's the set of the soul that decides the goal".

I was surprised to learn that out of all the grandchildren, grandma really liked visiting with me because I listened to her.  I honestly don't remember that.  Even still, I like to believe that somehow she spoke to me yesterday and I listened.  I like to believe that it was her who gave me the impression to learn more about her.  It just makes today so much more special.  Happy Birthday, Grandma!

I found this picture of grandma on familysearch.org
Helen Naomi (Cushing) Thayer age: 7

-Alicia

Come What May

"I used to complain that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet."  This is an old Indian Proverb that I love to repeat in my mind whenever I start to focus on what is missing in my life.

There is always someone who has struggles far worse than my own.  I have discovered, the greatest cure for sorrow in my heart is to look for someone who is in a worse situation and help them.  In doing so, I am able to forget about myself.  And oh, how I need to forget about myself more! I came into this world with nothing, so the smallest things are truly blessings and gifts that I am undeserving of.  Besides, I have my Savior, I have His true Gospel... with this alone. I hold a treasure far beyond any price and I am deeply humbled to thank my Father in Heaven all my days for it.

The following are quotes from a man who truly understood what gratitude was because he lived it to the fullest.  I love Elder Wirthlin!  He inspires me to be more humble and to gratefully receive whatever the Lord sees fit to allot unto me.

...................

"Come What May, and Love It:" 

Address Given by Elder Wirthlin at October 2008 General Conference

"Over the years I have learned a few things that have helped me through times of testing and trial. I would like to share them with you."

Learn to Laugh

"The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable."

Seek for the Eternal

"Because Jesus Christ suffered greatly, He understands our suffering. He understands our grief. We experience hard things so that we too may have increased compassion and understanding for others....Sometimes the very moments that seem to overcome us with suffering are those that will ultimately suffer us to overcome."

The Principle of Compensation

"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."

Trust in the Father and the Son

"He who descended below all things will come to our aid. He will comfort and uphold us. He will strengthen us in our weakness and fortify us in our distress. He will make weak things become strong... The simple secret is this: put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to Him"

"Come What May, and Love It:" Address Given by Elder Wirthlin at October 2008 General Conference

"His Priesthood and His Church"

As I put "The Living Christ" into memory, I noticed that not only did I feel the witness of Jesus Christ's Divine mission but I felt a powerful and undeniable witness that Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the restoration and that we have prophets on the earth today. 

In "The Living Christ" I love the way Joseph Smith describes the attributes of the Savior from first-hand experience; His eyes, His hair, His countenance, and His voice. Wow, can you imagine what that would have been like? I long for that day! But even here and now, I believe I have seen glimpses of my Savior in the faces of those who love Him, and I can only imagine all of that beauty and glory combined billions of times over into one being.  There would be no strength for me to stand.  I would fall to my face and my heart would sing, "Oh, love effulgent, love Divine! What debt of gratitude is mine!"

 His Spirit bears witness to me about the wonderful gift we have been given to have apostles who speak and testify in Christ's name and authority today. The sentence, "We bear testimony as His duly ordained apostles that Jesus is the Living Christ", brings peace into my heart. I can't think of a time in all human history where the world has had greater need for prophets and apostles on the earth than now.

Gethsemane 2007

In the summer of 2007 my friend, Nathan, took me and my husband with him to the Holy Land.   There, I "walked the roads of Palestine." I strolled the streets of Bethlehem, I waded in the waters of Galilee, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, gazed upon the hill of Calvary, and sang hymns in the empty tomb. Words are not sufficient to describe what an experience that was!

But, do you know where I felt the Spirit the strongest? 

Surprisingly, that overwhelming Spirit that causes your heart to leap inside your chest and heaven wash over your entire soul, was felt the most as I walked into sacrament meeting at the BYU Jerusalem Center. I felt as if I stood inside the Temple. The design of the room was unlike any other. I entered from the back of the chapel, the seats were in an steep theater style so the podium where the sacrament talks are given was down at the bottom of the room in front of me like on a stage. Behind where the podium stood, there was no solid wall, choir seats, or organ pipes like we often see. Instead, it was all glass, an open window to the world and, you could see from any point a perfect panoramic view of the Old City, Jerusalem. 

Also from where I stood in the back of the chapel, below the vertical pipes for the organ, there were pipes that looked like trumpets jetting out and facing the direction of that great city. When the organ played I looked back at these trumpets and expected to see angels on the other side, I thought of the angel Moroni who stands on all our temples proclaiming in great glory that the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored to the earth! I wanted to join in and shout it with those angels!

If you want to go to a city that has almost every possible religion represented there, go to Jerusalem. The scripture that came to my mind when I thought of the countless numbers of religions in that place is Jacob 5:30 where the Lord in His vineyard sees a tree with many different kinds of fruit but none of them the right fruit the tree was supposed to bear. It was so awesome meeting people of all kinds of faith and I will forever cherish the discussions I had with them. But as I stood on that Sabbath day in the chapel of that dedicated building, and as I looked out over the Holy Land, I wanted to fall to my knees in reverence and humility for all that I have been given. I cried tears of gratitude to know that I had the fullness of the Gospel, His Priesthood and His Church.

 I testify that His Gospel, His Priesthood, is the key to unifying the nations of the earth and the tool to bringing people together of all faiths.