Being called

About 6 weeks ago Ryan was asked to help give a blessing. He'd been gone most the week. He needed to catch up on sleep. The lawn needed mowed. Tanner was asking if "Daddy was ever going to stop working" and I heard myself ask Ryan when he called to check in "how his other home" was. It was a bad rotation and that's how it goes. But, when I got a call asking if he would help give a blessing, a couple things went through my mind. First, they must have tried others and Ryan must have been on the bottom of the list so they needed him, and secondly, I felt like saying, "Not tonight, I just got him home!" But I didn't. I accepted the invitation on his behalf, because I knew he would have said yes. That's how he is- just like all the other good men I know who understand their sacred duties.

He helped to give a blessing to a young mother of 2. She was not a member. She was sick and struggling. I've thought about her and her acceptance of this faithful gesture of love- her seemingly willingness and ease to accept an offering of a blessing. She was struggling more than I think many understand and took her life 4 weeks later. We were both so sad when we heard. I am grateful that Ryan was able to stand in and assist when his name was called. I am grateful that the gospel teaches us about our purpose and that we are divine and eternal beings of our Father's. I hope that when my name is called to help I may be quicker to help and less to murmur.