Remembering what is important

It has been one of those thinking weeks for me, I guess you could say. It has been a busy week, but also a very emotional week. Sometimes when I get thinkin', I get bloggin', so some of my thoughts have been on thinking about what is important in life. Our great, kind Bishop passed away suddenly at the age of 45 from a heart attack on Halloween. It was a shock to get the phone call that evening. Jared gathered the kids together and we said a prayer for his family. I truly believe in the power of prayer. The next day was Sunday, fast & testimony Sunday, where people are able to stand and bear their testimonies and share their feelings about the Savior. You could feel the sadness and loss in the room as the Stake presidency, counselors to the Bishop and a member of the area authority for the Church sat on the stand, many very emotional. The entire meeting was very powerful.

Bishop Ormsby was one of the best Bishops I have had in my life, and I have been able to have a lot of great Bishops throughout my life. I know we only knew him for 10 months, but he was such a help and so welcoming when we first moved to Australia. It made the difference for me to be able to be welcomed so kindly into a new ward, new surroundings, not to mention a whole new country. Every time he visited our home he sincerely asked how we were doing as a family, individually and what he could do for us.

At his funeral, each of his children spoke, and his 10 year old son sang a beautiful song that he had sung with his Dad just a month earlier in sacrament meeting. His wife spoke as well. Each of them said beautiful things and shared great memories about their dad. One thing that I gathered throughout the entire funeral was that the Bishop had a good grasp on what was important in life and he shared that with his family. The way you treat people, your relationship with those that you love, your relationship with your Heavenly Father and Savior, and your testimony.

Both the Bishop and his wife are from New Zealand and as his brothers and father carried the casket outside, it was silent in the church, and all you could hear were his family saying the Haka. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. Then again at the cemetery, beautiful songs were sung and his sons and family member did the Haka again by the graveside. It was such a tender and very touching to be standing there. I was holding Rex up and he was asking me questions. Earlier he asked me what the Bishop looked like in the casket and I told him that his body looked like it was sleeping. He knows that our body stays here and that our spirit returns to live with our Heavenly Father. But he was very concerned that maybe the Bishop was really just sleeping. Rex is very sweet and usually concerned about what is going on around him. I reassured him that the Bishop was ok.

A few weeks ago I watched this message with Jared and we both really liked it. This morning I found out that a friend that I just recently became friends with, her husband just passed away from Scleroderma this morning. Having gone through the heartache with my own sister, with that horrible disease, I feel for her. But again, it made me think about the important things in life....if those things are important in our lives, then when hard times come, we can get through them, knowing the bigger picture. Is it still hard....absolutely. There is a part in the message that I really liked it talks about how if we have that relationship with our Savior then our power to carry burdens can be increased more than enough. Anyway, I really liked the message below...just click on it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coef8G5ax6E