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Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy
Chief Engineer/Tactical Officer - Commanding Officer - Executive and Science Officer - Red Shirted Nobody
We went as a fictitious crew from the Star Trek Enterprise. Scott was our Commanding Officer, and a human. I was an expendable, red-shirted, alien. Key Lime Pie, a vulcan, was our Executive and Science Officer. Kotten Kandy was also a vulcan, and our Chief Engineer and Tactical Officer.
We always have fun dressing up this time of year!
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Key Lime Pie, Applesauce, and Kotten Kandy
Key Lime Pie was one of the leaders for her part. She has such a great musical talent and can pick up any part easily. Kotten Kandy sang soprano - and her stage presence rocks - she's fun to watch! (Applesauce joined them and had a BLAST too!) They are already begging to do it again next year. :-)
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I tell you this story because it has been "cold, dark and miserable" here in Kentucky this week. It's definitely turning into winter. We even had some snow flurries on Thursday. And every morning, getting up for early morning seminary is getting more and more difficult, due to the freezing temperatures and the gloomy, darkened sky. I think if Scotland is anything like Kentucky, I understand. I don't like cold and dark.
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Here is a copy of my talk (It's kinda long, so if you don't want to read it, I'll understand):
When I was a
little girl, my grandma used to tell me stories. She was the best story teller ever. She used to tell me stories about Little
Orphan Annie, or her sisters’ and their oddly shaped mouths, or a wild horse
that needed love. I loved all of her
stories. But there was one story that
always made me a little bit sad, and I didn’t really understand it until I was
a bit older:
There was a
beautiful place where the trees were green, the grass was lush, and the
mountains were tall and majestic. The flowers always bloomed in this beautiful
place - there were purple pansies and yellow daffodils, there were blue
forget-me-nots and pink carnations and the white roses were large and gorgeous
(but there were NO red roses.)
In this
beautiful place there lived a popular and kind girl. Everyone at school loved her. Because she was so popular, many young men
asked her to go on dates. And so she
would ask them to difficult tasks in order to take her out.
There was a
young man in her school, who finally got up enough nerve to ask the girl on a
date. She kindly told him that she would
go out with him if he could get her a red rose.
The boy was heart-broken. He knew
that no red roses grew in the area.
That evening
he went outside to the white rose bush that grew behind his house and
cried. He wondered out loud why none of
the roses could be red. All he wanted in
the world was a red rose so he could go on a date with the beautiful girl. A hummingbird heard his plea. Now this hummingbird loved this little boy. She had watched him grow his entire
life. She knew he was a good boy. And she wanted to help him.
When the boy
finally went inside, the bird decided she would help the boy. She looked at the white rose bush and saw a
beautiful white rose with a large thorn directly above it. The young hummingbird flew as quickly as she
could into the thorn and gave her life. A
few drops of blood from the bird dropped directly onto the rose turning it a
beautiful crimson color.
The next
morning was Saturday. The young boy went
out to the rose bush again wishing for a red rose. He was surprised to see a beautiful red rose
right in the middle of the bush. He
quickly cut the rose to take to the girl.
He didn’t even notice the small dead hummingbird lying on the ground
beneath his prize.
As the boy
ran towards the young woman’s house, he passed his friends playing a game of
baseball. They asked him to join
them. He answered that he couldn’t just
then because he had to go give the red rose to the popular young girl. His buddies started teasing him and began to
beg him to play. They needed another player
to make the teams even. Eventually the
convinced the young boy to join the game.
He dropped the rose and ran towards his friends, accidentally stepping
on the rose as he ran into the outfield.
Sometimes
we, like the boy in the story, take the gift of Christ’s Atonement for
granted. Sometimes we get caught up in
the everyday events of life and forget that the Savior, like the hummingbird, atoned
for us and gave His life for us. I never
wanted to be like the young boy who took the gift of the red rose for
granted. But I have found myself,
sometimes, taking the precious gift of Christ’s redeeming love for me for
granted.
The past
week, as I have studied the Atonement, I have felt gratitude and humility as I
have revisited how I have been able to use the Atonement in my life. Each of us have and will “taste the bitter
ashes of life, from sin and neglect to sorrow and disappointment. But the Atonement of Christ can lift us up.” I think that the principle that has touched
me the most, as I have studied and pondered, is that the Savior’s atonement has
the healing power not only for sin, but also for inadequacy, and all that is
unfair about life.
Why does the
Lord allow suffering and adversity to come to us in this life? - Because it is part of the plan for our
growth and progress! We shouted for joy
when we knew we would have the opportunity to come to earth to experience
mortality. Dallin H. Oaks taught, “Our
needed conversions are often achieved more readily by suffering and adversity
than by comfort and tranquility.”
Sometimes
the weight of the demand for perfection drives us to despair. Stephen E. Robinson told a story about his
wife that I could really relate too. His
wife and he were living in Pennsylvania.
Things were going pretty well; he had been promoted at work, he served
in the bishopric, they had had their fourth child, his wife had graduated from
college, passed the CPA exam and was serving as the Relief Society President. They both held temple recommends and they had
family home evenings. Then one night
everything seemed to crumble. His wife
completely checked out spiritually. She
wouldn’t participate in spiritual things, and she asked to be released from her
callings. When he finally got her to tell
him what was wrong, she said something like this: “All right. You want to know what’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t lift it. I can’t get up at 5:30 in the morning and
bake break and sew clothes and help my kids with their homework and do my own
homework and do my Relief Society stuff and get my genealogy done and write the
congressman and go to the PTA meetings and write the missionaries…” and she
just started naming one brick after another that had been laid on her,
explaining all the things she could not do.
She said, “I don’t have the talent that Sister So and So has , and I can’t
do what Sister So and So does. I try not
to yell at the kids, but I lose control, and I do. I’m just not perfect. And I’m not ever going to be perfect. I’m not going to make it to the celestial kingdom
and I’ve finally admitted that to myself.
You and the kids can go, but I can’t do it all. I’m not “Molly Mormon,” and I’m not ever
going to be perfect, so I’ve given up.
Why break my back?”
Elder
Robinson explained that his wife was trying to save herself. She still had a testimony of Jesus
Christ. She knew Him as a coach, a
cheerleader, an advisor, and a teacher.
She knew Him an an example and the head of the Church and as her Elder
Brother. She knew all of that, but she
did not understand why He is called the Savior.
We can NOT save ourselves. No one
can. No one is perfect, not even the
Brethren. Perfection only comes through
the Atonement of Christ. That is why we
need a Savior.
When Elder
Robinson explained to his wife how it worked, she was so grateful. She said, “I’ve always believed that Christ
is the Son of God. I have always
believed that He suffered and died for me.
But now I know that he can save me from myself, form my sins, form my
weakness, inadequacy, and lack of talent.”
I love 2
Nephi 2:8: “There is no flesh that can
dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and
grace of the Holy Messiah.” There is no
other way. Many of us are trying to save
ourselves, holding the Atonement of Jesus Christ at arm’s distance and saying, “When
I’ve done it, when I’ve perfected myself, when I’ve made myself worthy, then I’ll
be worthy of the Atonement. Then I will
allow Him in.” We cannot do it. That’s like saying, “When I am well, I’ll
take the medicine. I’ll be worthy of it
then.” That’s not how it was designed to
work.
When I was a
teenager, I was bullied. Today the abuse
I received (verbally, physically and emotionally) at the hands of young women
who knew better would have been considered criminal. Back then, I was told to ignore it and be the
“better person.” The bullying continued
throughout my young adulthood. It wasn’t
until I moved away for college that it stopped.
But the emotional scars didn’t disappear so easily. I was diagnosed with depression. I went to many therapists and read many
self-help books to combat the hurt that continued to linger. A great depression had settled upon me. Satan knew when to attack. Finally, one day at Ricks College, I knelt in
prayer to my Heavenly Father and poured out my heart to Him. Through the Holy Ghost, I knew that I needed
my SAVIOR, Jesus Christ. I knew that
only He could save me from this despair.
Through priesthood blessings and the power of the Atonement, I was able
to move on. I now know that all that is
unfair about life will be taken care of by the Atonement. The
Savior mercifully let me know of my true worth and all would be OK.
I bear
testimony to you that all that is unfair in life will be taken care of through
the Atonement of Christ. I have learned
this lesson many times in my life. I
bear testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He is the Savior
of the World, that He is MY Savior. I
pray that we will never trample the special gift that He has given us through
His atoning blood. I bear testimony of
Him. I love Him… Amen.
