Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Passing of a Prophet


I have a book that sits in my living room entitled "One Bright Shining Hope" messages for Women from Gordon B. Hinckley. I was thumbing through it and came upon this quote:
"As I look back upon my life and think of the wonder of the companion who walked so long beside me, I cannot get over the tremendous influence that she had on me. She was the mother of my children. She gave them life. She nurtured them. She guided them through their formative years. She loved them and dreamed of them and prayed for them.
She was so wise and good. She just seemed to have present in her all the good qualities of her most sterling forebears. All of those seemed to come together in that one little girl who bewitched me when I was young and in love.
Now a beautiful marker of enduring granite marks her final resting place, and engraved in that stone, beneath her name are the words, "Beloved Eternal Companion."
And so she will be mine and I will be hers through all of the eternities to come."
A few days after reading that, President Hinckley passed away. I thought of the quote that I had just read and it gave me great comfort to know that he is reunited with his wife and many other relatives and friends. During the press conference with President Thomas S. Monson, he said "all is well with President Gordon B. Hinckley. " I am so thankful for the knowlede we have of life after death. Our lives our eternal.
My friend e-mailed the other day with this challenge: Since President Hinckley lived for 97 years, she is challenging people who are interested to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days, either individually or as families.