Reflections

My Grandma Stoker broke her hip badly a couple of weeks ago. She's melancholy but has been moved from the hospital to a convalescing center where she is recovering. She's a rock. At the risk of sounding trite, she is the reason I enjoy the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ today. She has six children, thirty nine grandchildren, and over 120 great-grandchildren. She has the best sense of humor, and is always so upbeat. She had my Aunt Jane do her hair before she'd let them take her to the hospital with her broken hip, and upon hearing that she had, indeed, broken her hip, simply said: "Oh, Nuts."

Also, as most of you know, our beloved Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, President Gordon B. Hinckley, died on Sunday night at the age of almost 98. I've been watching bits and pieces of the five-hour funeral, and have had such a wide range of emotions. Feelings of gratitude, sadness, relief, hope, even glimpses of joy were evoked as I thought of his sense of humor, his humility, and his love for all mankind throughout the world. I'm so thankful to have a living prophet on the earth at all times to guide and direct us in an ever-changing turbulent world. Good thing Heavenly Father hasn't left us to fend for ourselves just because we don't live in times of Moses, Abraham, or Adam, to name a few. I am grateful for modern-day revelation. I know he was a man called of God, to a calling he neither sought nor felt worthy to hold many times, I'm sure. He motivated us to stand a little taller and be a little better. Thank you, President Hinckley. Grandma Stoker was lucky enough to have lived right by Pres. and Sister Hinckley off of West Temple in Salt Lake City for years. I love this photo of them together sometime in the mid-90s. She often spoke of his kindness and sense of humor. http://www.mormon.org/