A Rather Long Introduction

I have never wanted to write a blog.  The very idea of it feels more like a burden than a joy.  That is because I am not a writer.  It takes me a long time to formulate thoughts and ideas.  For me, it is a painful and often time-consuming process. 

But recently my thoughts have been towards my family—more specifically, how I can keep our growing family connected, and how I can make sure my family knows that I have a deep and abiding faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

So I began tossing around the idea of starting a blog as one way of accomplishing this. . . but I was still hesitant to commit. Then one night, while I was reading the biography of one of our Church leaders, President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I read a story that touched me in such a way that writing a blog no longer seemed like a burden.   

Early in his career, President Eyring was teaching Stanford.  But he left tenure there to become the President of Ricks College.  During the first few years of his service there, his life was incredibly busy.  Besides all the obligations that came with being the president of a college, he was also asked to chair a 20-person Select Committee on the future of higher education in the Church.  He was asked to preside over a “Role of Ricks Task Force” that would involve a self-study and strategy development for Ricks.  He also dealt with standard issues that developed among college students in the late 1960s.   He also dealt with budget cuts at that time that created major organizational upheaval at the college.  He was also asked to be on the board of the Church’s regional hospital in Idaho Falls.  He served diligently as a high councilman in his stake.  And he was constantly receiving invitations to speak.  Most importantly, he was also the father of three young boys—soon to be four.

So what is impressive and amazing to me is that during this stressful and unusually busy time, he felt it was important to develop intimate and sustained contact with the students at Ricks College.  To help accomplish this, he committed to teach a religion class at the college every semester.  President Eyring talks about one of the experiences he had in one of his classes. 

“I was teaching from section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants.  In that section Emma Smith is told that she should give her time to ‘writing and to learning much’ (verse 8).  About three rows back sat a blonde girl whose brow wrinkled as I urged the class to be diligent in developing writing skills.  She raised her hand and said, ‘That doesn’t seem reasonable to me.  All I’ll ever write are letters to my children.’  That brought laughter all around the class.  I felt chagrined to have applied that scripture to her.  Just looking at her I could imagine a full quiver of children around her, and I could even see the letters she’d write in purple ink, with handwriting slanting backwards; neat, round loops; and circles for the tops of the i’s.  Maybe writing powerfully wouldn’t matter to her.

Then a young man stood up, near the back.  He’d said little during the term; I’m not sure he’d ever spoken before.  He was older than the other students, and he was shy.  He asked if he could speak.  He told in a quiet voice of having been a soldier in Vietnam.  One day, in what he thought would be a lull, he had left his rifle and walked across his fortified compound to mail call.  Just as he got a letter in his hand, he heard a bugle blowing and shouts and mortar and rifle fire coming ahead of the swarming enemy.  He fought his way back to his rifle, using his hands as weapons.  With the men who survived, he drove the enemy out.  The wounded were evacuated.  Then he sat down among the living, and some of the dead, and he opened his letter.  It was from his mother.  She wrote that she’d had a spiritual experience that assured her that he would live to come home if he were righteous.  In my class, the boy said quietly, ‘That letter was scripture to me.  I kept it.’  And he sat down.”  (I Will Lead You Along, The Life of Henry B. Eyring, pp.211-212)

And there you have it.  My motivation to write a blog.  While I would never view my thoughts in writing as scripture, I do want my children to know, without a doubt, the convictions of my heart.  And my desire to accomplish this was deepened after watching General Conference this weekend.  (https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng)

So, my dear, sweet family, this blog is for you.  My desire is not only to document events and include pictures, as we have previously done, but to frequently share my thoughts, feelings, and testimony. 

My first inclination was to keep this blog private.  But I decided a public blog would also be a good way to keep our extended family and friends updated as to the happenings in our family.  And another great desire I have is to share the convictions of my heart with all my dear friends.   

So I have decided to make this blog public and have chosen to title it Glimpses—meaning it will provide you and others with glimpses into our family and my heart.  You can find it at glimpsesfromkathypage.blogspot.com.

I love you all,

Mom and Grandma