ETERNAL TREASURES

I am compiling 100 of my Thoughts into a book - as of yet I don't have a price - but I want to get an idea of how many books to print - if you have an interest in buying one please send me a reply to this Thought.



Our son Sean and his friend Peter joined us this last week for lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Besides celebrating our son’s birthday and enjoying a wonderful lunch together we were blessed with a view of the Pacific Ocean while we were eating. I was able to record in my journal that it was a wonderful time. The visiting continued when we returned home as Kathleen shared her two volumes of remembrances of our cruise of the British Isles last summer. Since they are leaving for England and Scotland in a couple of weeks they seemed to really enjoy the books she had prepared from our trip. Well, to tell the truth, Peter seemed to have a lot more interest than Sean. Perhaps because he is fewer generations removed from the Motherland.

Kathleen also spent time pointing out a lot of ‘treasures’ which we have accumulated during our 50 plus years of marriage and were passed down to us from our deceased parents. Before they left Peter was referring to our house as a museum. Kathleen calls it a storage unit. Interestingly, even though there had been quite a few ‘oohhs’ and ‘aahhs’ during the day, when they departed they only carried out a very small box of rather insignificant items.

It has been a virtual ‘pulling of the teeth’ experience as we have tried to unload the ‘treasures’ of our now called ‘museum’ on our children as they come to visit.

As the hand of refusal was raised time and again the vision of our children gathering, after our time on earth has passed “as if it were a dream,” with a gigantic dumpster and a Deseret Industries truck parked in front of the ‘museum’ doing some kind of sorting act that goes something like: dumpster, truck, dumpster, Cevin, truck, dumpster, truck, Sean, dumpster, dumpster, truck, truck, dumpster, Troy, dumpster, dumpster, truck, truck, truck, Brendan, truck, truck, dumpster, Rynn, dumpster, dumpster, dumpster, truck, truck, truck dumpster, dumpster, Erin. This rotation will then be repeated until the dumpster is spilling over and the Deseret Industries truck is full and the Museum is empty.

As the time for this virtual vision to turn to reality shortens, my caring about what happens to the stuff also lessens. But it does make me think about what the real value is of our being on this beautiful planet. It seems that the real value of our lives is that which we take with us and not what we leave behind.

The comfort I had enjoyed in my parents’ ‘museum’ during my formative years, ended when I left ‘all that’ with a small bag of stuff and Kathleen and I started our own accumulating. However, what I didn't leave behind were all the parent tapes which could be turned on and played for the rest of my mortal life and I anticipate beyond. It was that I took with me.

My formal education was spread over several states and many of my mortal years. I probably sat in more than 100 classrooms and lecture halls and never thought of removing one item of the stuff which adorned those locations. However, what I was able to remove was a vast array of thoughts and views of what the world is about and what we should be doing while we are residents of this world. I took from those years a thirst for learning, a quest to understand and references and resources which have been able to be called upon in moments of need. It was that I took with me.

My career as a teacher in the Education System of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints spanned more than 50 years. I had available to me libraries of books, media presentations, desks, pictures, lesson plans and all the other stuff which were deemed essential to create a teaching and learning environment. When I finally turned the magic markers over, the total of stuff that I left with were my files and a few books. However, I also took with me memories of students some of whom have now joined me in the senior phase of life. If teaching really is the best way to learn, I took with me a treasure trove of repetitious learning and the memory of being able to share what I had learned. It was that I took with me.

When I stand at the ‘Pearly Gates’, I really doubt I will even be tempted to look back on the scene as my progeny play dumpster, truck, mine. I suspect I will be counting the blessings of all that I had the privilege to learn and anxiously be looking forward to asking all those unanswered questions and getting on with the quest of filling in all the blank spaces in my knowledge bank. It is that which I shall have with me eternally.

There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. (Proverbs 20:15)

If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal. (Doctrine and Covenants 42:61)

O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect. (2 Nephi 9:13)

And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; (Doctrine and Covenants 89:19)

Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. (Doctrine and Covenants 130: 18, 19)