My dear counselor, Pres. Lloyd Rockwood, lost his mother on Monday to the effects of Alzheimer's disease. She was a lovely woman and she raised a wonderful family. Pres. Rockwood asked me to speak at the funeral on Saturday (today). I am including the text of my address for journaling purposes--don't feel compelled to read it!
Funeral address-Fern Rockwood funeral-September 6, 2008
The motivation for my remarks today comes from a brief excursion through the pages of recent news accounts. There, mingled with the ordinary reports of trouble, were several heart-warming accounts of human concern and unselfishness: a school group giving hard-earned vacation money to an ill classmate; a small group of miners losing their own lives in the futile attempt to save the lives of colleagues; a noble, unknown soul sacrificing his own life to rescue a stranger in peril.
These particular events were reported because they were exceptional. The news media, like history, often emphasizes that which is unusual or sensational. But as a noted historian reminded us, “history as usually written is quite different from history as usually lived. …” If the whole story were told, “we should have a much duller but more impartial view of the past and of man.” Behind what he called “the red facade of war and politics, misfortune and poverty, adultery and divorce, murder and suicide, were millions of unwritten, unheralded stories—of orderly homes, devoted marriages,” strong, loving families, and inspiring examples of goodness, courage, and kindness. In our own community—in our own neighborhoods, many such stories are played out every day, unreported and uncelebrated.
One such example we commemorate today: A wonderful woman, who, as her Master before her, “went about doing good,” raising an exemplary family, serving in a quiet, unassuming way, until she was cruelly overtaken with a devastating disease that, for all practical purposes, isolated her from the lives of her family and friends and confined her to a very restricted life about which precious little is known. In the ensuing years, her loving, devoted husband and family kept a watchful, tender vigil, ministering to needs, foregoing pleasures and many physical freedoms, uncomplainingly sacrificing personal desires to give help where it was needed. And now that family gathers at the funeral of their precious mother and bears thankful testimony that they have found in their period of lengthy affliction that Jesus Christ and His strength are sufficient for any need.
What motivates such people to unselfish, courageous actions? Are there wellsprings of strength and consolation accessible to those who suffer, or are alone, or afraid, or steeped in sin, or depressed? What is the source of the moral energy for good and lofty acts, particularly for unheralded acts?
The scriptures answer: “I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God. …“If a man bringeth forth good works he hearkeneth unto the voice of the good shepherd, and he doth follow Him.” (Alma 5:40-41.)
As life’s difficulties threaten us, we have a crucial need for the consolation that comes from knowing that God is good, that He is near, that He understands, that He loves us, and that He has both the power and the will to help us and strengthen us for the realities of a world where sin and affliction exist.
Courage to meet these adversities comes from the quiet awareness of the nearness of a compassionate and competent Savior who Himself was not spared the most keen and intense suffering; who Himself drank of the bitter cup; who in fact took “upon Him [our] infirmities, [to the extent] that His bowels [were] filled with mercy…that He [could know] according to the flesh how to succor His people….” (Alma 7:12)
From this source—from God and Christ—wisdom and strength can be found that make endurance possible, and relationships generous and helpful, that lead to abundance of life here and to everlasting life hereafter. God indeed “tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,” and helps us to endure all things while maintaining integrity in the face of desperate situations.
Christ came that men might have life abundant and life eternal, and He declared that “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3)
And I testify that that knowledge is the most important treasure man can possess or seek. Through Jeremiah the Lord counseled, “…let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgement, and righteousness, in the earth….” (Jer. 9:23-24)
All of the prophets taught this truth about God, and their prime purpose was to testify that He lives and to make His will known among men. Christ revealed the Father in his life and teachings and parables. Through His Son the Father was not only bringing salvation and making eternal life possible for all men, but was offering the ultimate opportunity for men to know God Himself.
The opportunity to “know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge” and thus to “be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19) is the source of the greatest comfort and consolation in this world, and the greatest motivating power for good.
How do we gain this indispensable knowledge? The scriptures are clear that the “works of the Lord, and the mysteries of his kingdom” can only “be understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love Him, and purify themselves before Him; to whom He grants this privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves.” (D&C 76:114, 117)
What, then, is our course? God clearly points the way for all of us. If we would know Him, we must put off the “natural man” and become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which [He] seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father.” (Mosiah 3:19)
Again He counsels: “…It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.” (D&C 93:1)
And finally this counsel: “They did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.” (Hel. 3:35)
We know that the Lord needs instruments of His love. He needs a Simon Peter to teach Cornelius, an Ananias to bless Paul, a humble bishop to counsel his people, a home or visiting teacher to go into the homes of the Saints, a father and mother to be parents to their children.
But it is also the privilege and the need of every child of God to seek and know for himself the comforting personal assurance that comes with confidence in the wisdom and character of a beloved Heavenly Father.
The solutions that we wish and pray for do not always come about. The power that remade Paul—that poured in love and washed out hostility and hate—did not save him from the brutality of Nero’s dungeon or a martyr’s death. In the midst of bitter trials, he wrote that Christ lived in him—that he had found the peace of God that passed all comprehension. Nothing, he confirmed, not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come, height, depth, nor any other creature, could separate him from the love of Christ—and the love of God. As Christ died on a cross, and won his victory; so to have his disciples and followers been subject to the brute forces and calamities of this world, yet through enduring faith they have shared and will share in that same victory.
Like Habakkuk of old, we may in our anguish feel that we could bear anything if we could only understand the divine purpose in what is happening. The ancient prophet learned that the righteous live by faith and that faith is not necessarily an easy solution to life’s problems. In its purest form, faith is unwavering confidence and trust in the character and purposes of God.
Later in his life, a faith-filled Habakkuk declared:
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.
“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
“The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet … to walk upon mine high places.” (Hab. 3:17-19)
I humbly witness that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is not weight, it is wings. It can carry us through the dark times and help us to drink the bitter cup. It will be with us in the fiery furnace and the deep pit. It will accompany us to the hospital room and to the place of bereavement. It can guarantee us the presence of a Captain on the rough voyage. It is, in short, not the path to easy disposition of problems, but the comforting assurance of eternal light, by which we may see, and eternal warmth, by which we may feel. “The Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.” (Ps. 34:8) I am grateful beyond words for my own precious and sacred witness of these truths which I humbly share with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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