Aimee's farewell talk January 27, 2013

 A speaker began his seminar by holding up a twenty dollar bill. He asked everyone at the conference, "Who would like this new twenty dollar bill?" Hands went up all over the room.

He said, "I’m going to give this twenty dollar bill to one of you, but first I need to crumple it." He wadded up the bill and asked, "Who still wants it?"

Hands were quickly raised. The speaker dropped the bill and ground it into the floor with his shoe. He picked up the crumpled, dirty bill.

"Now who wants it?" Everyone still lifted their hands.

"Friends, you have all learned a valuable lesson” the speaker concluded. “No matter what I did to the money, you still want it because its value hasn't changed. Even though the bill is crumpled and dirty, it’s still worth twenty dollars.” No matter what we look like, what we do, or what our circumstances are, we will always be priceless in our Heavenly Father’s eyes.  In The Doctrine and Covenants  18:10 it reads: “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”

This reminds me of the story of the Ugly Ducking retold by President Uchtdorf.

A mother duck discovers that one of her newly hatched chicks is unusually large and very ugly. The other ducklings, however, cannot leave the ugly child alone. They punish him mercilessly, pecking at him and teasing him and making him miserable. Finally, the ugly duckling decides it would be better for everyone if he left his family, and he runs away. During the bitter cold of his first winter on his own, the poor duckling nearly freezes to death, but somehow he survives. In spite of his privations, he feels himself getting stronger, and he loves spreading his wings and taking flight even though he’s alone. Then one day he sees flying overhead a flock of majestic birds, white as snow, graceful in their movements, with beautiful long necks and wide, elegant wings. The ugly duckling longs to fly with them. He is afraid that they might kill him because he is so ugly. But then he decides that would be better than being pecked at by the other animals forever or freezing to death in the winter. And so he takes flight and follows them to a beautiful lake where they settle onto the water.

As he lands, the ugly duckling looks into the water and sees the reflection of a magnificent swan. Gradually, unable to believe it at first, the ugly duckling realizes that the reflection is his own! To his surprise the other swans welcome him, and they even agree that he is the most beautiful, most majestic of all the swans. At last he has discovered who he really is.

Unlike the Ugly Duckling, we are given the gift to know where we came from, who we are, and our potential in the future. 

A couple years ago just after Christmas we were doing our chores and Michael and I got assigned to put away all the Christmas decorations into the attic to store until the next year. He was in the attic putting the boxes away while I grabbed the boxes from the ground, climbed the ladder, and handed them to him.

One particular box was very heavy. As I picked it up off the ground, I realized that this was beyond my limits and I would not be able to make it all the way up the ladder to give this box to Michael. I told him that I couldn't do it and I would just need to wait for dad to come out so he could lift it. Michael told me to just try. So I decided to limber up and try again. The awkward angle of the box was hard to grab, but I managed to get a hold of it just enough to grab onto the ladder. The further I went up the ladder, the harder it was to step, and the heavier the box seemed. With a couple steps to go, I started to slip. I panicked and told Michael, “I’m going to drop it or else I’ll fall off!” He gave me very wise advice. He said, “It’s okay. You can do it. You’re almost there. My hand is reaching and I am here. Just push a little farther. I will take it from you as soon as I can reach.” Trusting him, I took a deep breath and pushed. With him guiding me and telling me how much farther, I lifted the box just high enough to feel the weight release from me as he grabbed the box lifting it into the attic.

This simple chore reminds me of Christ and His example to us. In this story, I represent all of us trying to return back to Heavenly Father. The box of Christmas decorations is our trials. My earthly brother, Michael represents our Spiritual brother, Jesus Christ. When we are in the midst of our trials, our elder brother is there with his hand reaching down to help us and take away our burdens. All we have to do is to call to him, do our best, and reach a little further.  He will be there. Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” If we open our hearts and let Christ into our lives, He will help us throughout our trials.

           

This experience showed me that because of my individual worth, my Savior know me as well as my earthly brother. He knows how far I can push, and he picks up where I can’t.

I know that I am a daughter of Heavenly Father who loves me. I know that He cares about me more than I can imagine. I know Jesus died for us. He was sinless, but yet he suffered my pain. I know that He knows what I am going through and can help me through it if I let Him in. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.