A GIFTED LIFE

I had just started the second half of my 16th year of life when my friends and I decided to received our Patriarchal Blessings. I think at that time it was ‘the thing to do,’ but there is little doubt that what seemed rather insignificant that evening with Patriarch J. Roland Sandstrom in his home in Santa Ana, California, has turned out to be a keystone of my life.

At the time I was on a math/science path in my studies at Garden Grove Union High School and since I had mentioned this to Brother Sandstrom in the pre-blessing interview he assured me in the blessing, in just a few short words, that if that was my desire I would find success following that path.

He immediately added that I should always remember that Theology was the science which engulfed all sciences and then changed course and informed me that when I was converted to a gospel principle I had the gift of being able to explain these principles to others and that such a call would be mine if I desired it.

It wasn’t long after receiving my Patriarchal Blessing that I was called to my first teaching opportunity in the Church. This was followed by being called on a full time mission to invite the good people of Northern Mexico to come unto Christ. Shortly after returning from Mexico I was given the opportunity to teach early morning Seminary for the Church Education System. This assignment lasted for four years during which time Kathleen accepted my plea to become my wife and our first son Cevin was born. I was then hired to be a full time Seminary teacher and served in Kearns and Tooele, Utah for several years before receiving the assignment to teach Institute in Reno, Nevada. This assignment continued until I was 51 and Kathleen and I now had a posterity of six children and two grandchildren. We were called to preside over the Colombia North Mission, where I was given the commission to convert the missionaries to the gospel by Elder Perry an apostle of the Lord. After three wonderful years in Colombia, we were assigned by the Church Education System to teach Institute in Mission Viejo, California, which I joyfully did until I retired in 2005. President Zundel of the Mission Viejo Stake then called me to teach the adults of Southern Orange County in these words ‘we will ride this horse until it drops.’ I taught for five years before I dropped due to a knee which needed to be replaced and a back which had to be relieved of spinal stenosis by having a triple laminectomy surgery. By this time I was pretty sure the calling revealed to me by Patriarch Sandstrom of being given the gift to explain the gospel had come to a beautiful end. Silly me! When I retired, Paul Maddox had mentored me into a state where I was no longer fearful of computers. This had allowed me to write my own curriculum during those last five years of teaching adults. In spite of not being able to do the classroom thing, I quickly discovered I had not been released from teaching and even though I could no longer stand and deliver in front of students, I found with the help of Rod Santiago, who set me up with a blog page and becoming conversant with Face Book, I soon had a classroom which was much, more vast than anything I could have imagined.

There is no doubt as I am now able to look back on the 6 decades and counting since I received my Patriarchal Blessing, I have become certain about many things contained therein, but absolutely sure that my Father in Heaven had revealed to me through Patriarch Sandstrom more about my mortal journey than I knew as a teenager.

If anyone is still reading this Thought after that lengthy review of my life of teaching the principles of the gospel, I would like to quickly assure you that there is a point to be made.


As I came to the conclusion of the writings of Nephi in the Book of Mormon, I was drawn to do a review of his life and I was struck with the idea that when he was a young lad he probably, just as you and I, had little understanding of where his mortal journey would lead him.

As his writings unfold his life to us we wonder when he realized he was not entirely the author of his journey. I suspect like so many of us it happened gradually as his life unfolded. I am pretty sure he started to wonder when it was he who had to take the lead in obtaining the Brass Plates of Laban. There is no doubt that the intervention of angels at various junctures of his life when his older brothers beat him and even tried to take his life would have given him clues. The pronouncement of his father Lehi that he would rule over his brothers had to be enlightening. Every step he took on his mortal journey seemed to be guided as he completed the assignments he was given by his Heavenly Father as one of the noble and great ones who would come to this earth.

Since during my life I have always had a need to be somewhat in control of my mortal journey, two things have become clear to me, I never really was in control and as Kathleen has reminded me countless times, we have greater joy and progress further when we just follow what the Lord asks us to do.

As we peruse the last three chapters of Second Nephi we witness that he came to understand and continued to fulfill his calling as a prophet of God to the very end.

Chapter 31

3 For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.

5 And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!

9 And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.

13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.

19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.

20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

Chapter 32

4 Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.

5 For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.

8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.

Chapter 33

10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

Hopefully, as you read Nephi’s last words and do your own perusal of his life and the marvelous doctrines he gave the world and think of the millions whose lives have been made more meaningful because he was sent to fulfill the commission given him by his Heavenly Father, we might also take the time to ponder our own journeys and perhaps refresh our understanding that we too were sent to do the Father’s will and yield to him our lives.


THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY