My mom and
dad taught me sound principles while I was growing up. Some of them
stuck and others kind of just bounced off and trickled down into some
pool inside my brain/heart. They were, I would learn later, hanging
around awaiting the Proper Teaching Moment.
While I
may have had no ears to hear some lessons when first taught, the
volume was suddenly turned way up.
I wrote a
very short poem about it some years back, which was included in a
little book called Apron Strings — Tender Ties Between
Mothers and Daughters. My mom had passed away a few years before,
and this seemed my way of finally, fully, grieving her passing —
missing her and her wisdom.
Anyway,
here it is:
Volume Control
Then,
Defiant, free spirit
I would not hear it
When you quietly warned me
Of false friend,
Or proud choice.
Now,
Relying on memory,
Of things you advised me,
This internal alarm
Has remarkably
Loud voice.
I now
realize that it’s not just about mothers and daughters. It
applies to any of us who attach heart to heart, and will learn from
each other while we have opportunity to do so.
Learning
sound principles from loved ones allows us to more openly accept from
them the ongoing sources that can best prepare us to live a
Christ-centered life.
President
Ezra Taft Benson taught, “We must be devoted to sound
principles in word and deed; principle above party, principle above
pocketbook, principle above popularity.” (God,
Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalties,
1974)
True
principles bring me strength and give me hope. While people may
displease me, and programs may change or unsettle me, the everlasting
principles of truth allow me to stand steady. You know?
In
addition to the basic principles of truth, here are a few I thought
to share with you today. Chosen because they are common sense as well
as long-reaching in truth, and sound:
“I
believe a man should prepare for the worst while working for the
best.”
President Ezra Taft
Benson
“The
Lord is saying to us — Here is how you worship. You worship by
emulation. You worship by imitation. You worship by patterning your
life after mine. You worship by magnifying me and my course, by
doing what I have done.” Elder Bruce R. McConkie
“Our
opportunities to give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they
are also perishable.” President Thomas S. Monson
Service is
all about blessings that come to us. It’s like a magical,
beautiful, endless of cycle of Giving/Receiving/Giving/Growing. No
matter how much we offer in the way of helping, assisting, loving —
it comes back around as a blessing upon our heads. And we
quietly have the understanding that, “When ye are in the
service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your
God,” (Mosiah 2:17)
Just
yesterday I learned that one of my lifelong friends’ children
passed away. So quickly he is gone from mortality. We never know how
long we have to be a blessing to someone. Today — now —
is the time, isn’t it?
“Every
sacrament meeting ought to be a spiritual feast.” President
Gordon B. Hinckley.
Okay,
let’s stop here for a moment. Having sat through some pretty
tough sacrament meetings in my time, this one — similar to
something President Spencer W. Kimball also said — used to be
hard for me to wrap my mind around. (I know I have ended a sentence
with a preposition…. My apologies to you English grammar
folks.)
There have
been some extraordinarily long fast and testimony meetings. There
have been some interesting goings on up at the pulpit sometimes.
I’ve
had my own journey of learning and acceptance. Sunday meetings become
a time between me and the Lord, a way of saying, “Thank you”
and worshipping God and Christ. The rest? It is what it is.
This last one is not
from a leader or the scriptures, but it is beautiful and true and
necessary for us — as children of our Father and as siblings
of our Savior — who want us to lengthen our stride and find
our best selves: “You is kind. You is smart. You is
important.”
From the
book The Help, a beautiful and inspired maid says this over
and over to a little girl who is basically ignored by her mother. The
message is powerful. It brings me to tears, for there are many who
need to be taught these simple, profound principles who never hear
them.
I am
grateful to know I have kindness in me. I’m thankful that I am
endowed with intelligence and that I’m important to my Maker
and to my Savior. It’s awesome to know I matter to my family
and to others, as well. It helps me in my mortal journey.
I wish I
could hold a world seminar that would last for only, maybe, fifteen
minutes. In that time, I would want to speak with all of the power of
the Holy Spirit I could gather, and share words to help each child of
God know it is so. I’d teach a few principles of
goodness and truth.
I would
want every single one to know they are loved. That there is goodness
in them. That they matter. While they may not have ears to hear
it at the time, maybe some day — down the road — the
volume would be turned up. And they could understand.
Vickey Pahnke Taylor is a wife, mom, grandmother, teacher, author, and songwriter. Her
undergraduate study at BYU was musical theater. She has a Masters degree in interpersonal
communications.
A Billboard award-winning songwriter with hundreds of songs to her credit, she uses music as a
teaching tool. But her favorite way to use music has been to sing to her children. You should
hear the family's rousing versions of "Happy Birthday"!
In addition to three solo albums in the LDS market, she co-wrote "Women at the Well" with
Kenneth Cope and "My Beloved Christ: with Randy Kartchner. She is co-writer of the theme
song for Utah's Make-A-Wish foundation, the song for the Special Olympics program, and
EFY's theme song.
She writes for several online magazines and columns, and has authored several books. Her
website, www.goodnessmatters.com, is her way of continuing to grow goodness in the world,
pointing people gently toward Christ and eternal principles of truth.
She has spoken for the Church's various Youth and Family programs for 25 years. She and her
husband Dean have eight children and four grandchildren. She adores being a wife, mom and
grandmother. She loves flowers, brownies, cooking Italian and Southern foods, the ocean, and
laughing every chance she gets.
Vickey was baptized a member of the Church as a teenager in Virginia. She serves as gospel
doctrine teacher in her ward, and Dean serves on their stake high council.