With ten children every day was hectic. On this particular day, however, I was having trouble doing even routine chores—all because of one little boy.
Len, who was three at the time, was on my heels no matter where I went. Whenever I stopped to do something and turned back around, I would trip over him. Several times I patiently suggested fun activities to keep him occupied.
“Wouldn’t you like to play on the swing set?” I asked again. But he simply smiled an innocent smile and said, “Oh, that’s all right, Mommy. I’d rather be in here with you.” Then he continued to bounce happily along behind me.
After stepping on his toes for the fifth time, I began to lose my patience and insisted that he go outside and play with the other children. When I asked him why he was acting this way, he looked up at me with sweet green eyes and said, “Well, Mommy, in Primary my teacher told me to walk in Jesus’ footsteps. But I can’t see him, so I’m walking in yours.” (Davida Dalton as told to JoEllen Johnson, Ensign, April 1994)
I had a mother in whose footsteps I could follow. She wasn't perfect, but if I can walk the walk she did, I know I'll be on the right path. It sure made life easier.
In some ways, we are all like this little boy. We can't see Jesus, so we watch those we can see. We learn much of godliness from other people. Anne Madsen has said that most of what she has learned about Godhood she learned in her home.
We can and should learn of God from Him, by study and by revelation. There is none beside Him. He is incomparable.
But I have learned much of the divine from family and friends, from church leaders, and from saintly people I've heard or read about but never met.
I am grateful for what I have learned from others. Glad that I could walk side by side with saints. Glad that I could see up close the majesty of a righteous soul. Glad that I have rubbed shoulders with giants.
I'm grateful for footsteps I can follow.
I'm glad that I know you.
"You and I cannot hope to exert, even to a small degree, the personality of our great Teacher, Jesus Christ. Each one's personality may be to the Savior's only as one little sunbeam to the mighty sun itself; and yet, though infinitely less in degree, each personality should be the same in kind." --David O. McKay
3 comments:
You always have such neat, uplifting posts.
Thank you for them!
Dana
You make me want to be a better person, a better example, a better mother. Like you, I know I can walk in my mother's footsteps and that will always keep me on the right path. Thank you.
I can totally related to tripping on one of my kids, after reading that story I feel so humbled. You do that to me over and over again.
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