Food and gratitude

I apologize for my tendency towards pontification in this blog. To balance the overwhelming amount of my own sometimes scattered thoughts, I'd like to share a story from our Stake Conference this morning and thus make this worth reading.

Today Elder Glenn L. Pace spoke at our Stake Conference (kind of a big deal here in Michigan). He was relaying an experience he had with President Hinckley. They were alone in a room together on assignment, and Pres. Hinckley asked Elder Pace how his son's mission was. Now, Elder Pace didn't even realize that Pres. Hinckley knew about his son, or that he'd recently returned from his mission. Elder Pace shared a lot of information about the social and political climate in Russia, where his son had served. Pres. Hinckley said, "I know all of that. How was his mission, really?" Elder Pace thought about it, then said this: "We took our son to a celebratory dinner at Sizzler (a buffet restaurant). My wife and I filled our plates and went to sit down, but realized that our son was just standing, plate in hand, in front of the salad bar. We walked towards him and realized as we got closer that there were tears in his eyes. I said, 'Son, are you okay?' He replied, 'Dad, I can't eat.' I said, 'Are you feeling sick? What do you mean you can't eat?' He looked at me and said, 'For our last farewell dinner in Russia, we had a meal with one of our favorite convert families. Dinner was a bowl of soup, and two apples cut in half. I just can't eat.'" At this point, Elder Pace noticed that Pres. Hinckley was weeping - that's the word he used, weeping - and Pres. Hinckley said, "He had a good mission."

Naturally, I cried too. I was in public, so I couldn't weep. But I have, after big disasters like the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, and at the terrible (and largely needless) death of impoverished people all over the world. We all try to help. But Elder Pace exhorted us today to do a little bit more. Be a little better, serve a little better, have a little bit brighter attitude, etc. Since we're the only creatures capable of self-reflection maybe now is a good time for me to think over my blessings and look for ways to share them.

And I have to add this - on the other side of the coin, I saw a yellow Porsche Roadster in the parking lot at church after conference with the license plate "SUCSES1." And I knew the people getting into it. And after all, if you can afford a Porsche Roadster, perhaps there are other ways to spend that money...but that's just my un-asked-for opinion.

"The key to happiness is service."