Rejoice

Maybe because I recently came across this picture of my grandparents on Family Search, or maybe because Elder Oaks reminded me so much of my grandpa last week...I don't know.

But I have been thinking about them.

By the way, I love that picture.  I think I mostly love the goats and I love my grandma's handwriting.  My dad wasn't born yet when the picture was taken but I asked him about the goats and he told me some goat stories.  I said, "I did not think Grandpa was the type of person who would have goats."

My dad said, "Well, he did."

I am one of many grandchildren and one of many girl cousins about the same age.  As such, I didn't ever have a lot of one on one time with my grandparents, but I always felt loved by them.  I had the good fortune of having them nearby for most of my growing up years.  We celebrated holidays together.  They'd come to our house for birthdays.  We would roast hot dogs over a fire in their yard on willow sticks that my brothers and/or boy cousins trimmed with their pocket knives at least once every summer.

I also heard them speak in church and I heard them pray.  I saw them serve in big and small, but always consistent, ways.

I saw them react to really hard things that happened to them (like their house burning down or people they loved making bad choices).  I am sure they had private times of discouragement but from my distance as one of many granddaughters, I never saw them downcast or in despair.  I saw them optimistic and full of faith.

The older I get, the more there seems to be a potential to be weighed down by sorrow and discouragement and disappointment.  The more people you love the more worried and anxious you can become for their welfare and choices.

President Nelson said (and I think my grandparents lived this):

The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything with the focus of our lives.

One of my favorite passages of scripture is the second half of 2 Nephi 4.  I have been thinking about this sentence from verse 28:

Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.

Once upon a time, my grandparents hitched up two goats to a cart and bundled their young family up and took a picture.  Then they sent it as a Christmas card.  If that doesn't make my heart rejoice, I don't know what does.