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So I was asked a few weeks ago to give a talk on Eliza R. Snow at my church on mother's Day. I was the first one my bishop asked and I ended up being the first one to present. I couldn't tell you how nervous I was standing up there at the podium on Sunday morning with my notebook in my hands, staring out at a few faces I actually remember from the times I did actually attend services in the 13 years I have been a member of that congregation.
My mom really surprised me by actually making it in time for my talk- she got up and out specifically for my talk, and she even more rarely attends. So seeing her face in the back row really surprised me... man, I could not keep from tapping my foot behind the podium. But yeah, I did some research on Eliza R. Snow and decided that I wanted to give a talk stating a point and using some things Eliza said to support those points rather than simply reading her wiki page. I actually didn't type it until I got home afterwards, and it was only 1.2 pages typed... I saw the other speakers with 5-6 pages typed and felt my talk would be woefully short.
So yeah, for those curious this was my talk, I ad-libbed a couple of things at the podium that I didn't type up but it's pretty much what I went up there and said. I don't talk about my faith much or even my religion really. I was baptized a Mormon, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints... not the reformed Church or the fundamentalists or the polygamists, thanks. But as a person who grew up in the Church, I'm still trying to figure out for myself what I honestly and truly believe- even though, I mostly classify myself as a Mormon.
But I digress, here's the talk:
Time is such a precious thing – for all our efforts, it just seems to slip away from us. How many times do we sit down to project for “only 5 more minutes” to find that an hour has passed? Or how many times does, “I’ll get to it tomorrow” become next week or next month? There just never seems to be enough time for us to do everything that mean to do; and in our hurry to get things done, we sometimes forget the real reasons why we are doing them. What should be labors of love become Herculean tasks set upon us to make our lives difficult.
Things get so hard sometimes that we just want to surrender and do something else. In our torment, we lose perspective, and we don’t think of the hardships and trials of those that came before us. I can see a woman being forced from her home, on account of her faith, taunted by a soldier with a single comment, “Maybe this will cure you of your faith.” And I see that woman looking at him with a sense of confidence and strength of resolve to retort, “It’ll take much more than this to cure me of my faith.”
The year was 1838 and the woman, Eliza Roxey Snow during the exodus of the Latter-Day Saints from Missouri when the governor signed an order that encouraged the extermination of any Mormons within the state. Eliza was a wife of Joseph Smith, a poet, a governess, and most importantly, in 1866 she became the second President of the Women’s relief society. She was often seen throughout her day checking the large pocket watch she carried to make sure she was on time for all of her many meetings and tasks that she had meticulously planned out.
When asked by a ward relief society officer about her own duties and responsibilities in 1869, Eliza gave the officer this response, “Tell the sisters to go forth and discharge their duties in humility and faithfulness and the Spirit of God will rest upon them and will be blest in their labors.”
Emily Dickinson once wrote:
“If I can stop one heart from braking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching;
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”
When we perform our good works, we mustn’t lose sight of all that we’re accomplishing – no matter how daunting the task. If the path gets too rough, we can’t be afraid to pause and seek strength and help from those around us. Do that which is right because it is right and there will be some measure of peace there. If we hold true to our faith, our ideals and our morals, in the end, we’ll end up where we want to be.
“When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I’ve completed
All that you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation,
Let me come and dwell with you.”
- Eliza R. Snow, “Oh, My Father”
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