Tuesday, January 20, 2009

My Mother's 88th Birthday

Today is my mother Wanda Kartchner's 88th birthday. I don't know what to write to pay an adequate tribute to Mom, but I do remember giving a talk about her in sacrament meeting about half-way through my stay in the MTC. I described how, when I was a small child, she often sat up with me at night as I experienced horrible growing pains (or what she and I used to call "legaches"), applying hot, moist towels to my legs to lessen the discomfort. I compared the experience of becoming a missionary to childhood, stating that the Savior would do as my mother had done -- assuage our "spiritual growing pains" with comforting reassurance -- if we would put our trust in him. It wasn't the first time in my life that I thought of my mother as a Christ-like individual, and it certainly hasn't been the last.