If you haven’t read or heard the parable of the spoons, I think you’re in for a treat. Elder Howard does a beautiful job teaching that if you want something to last forever, you’ve got to treat it differently. So get a date (spouse if applicable), pull up a chair, (or car, or chore, or whatever), pop up some corn, and listen to the last episode of our dating and marriage series. Next week we start the series on music, art, and media!
Jenni and I have had so much fun working on this podcast together that we decided to attempt to write a book together on the topic we’ve been discussing. We don’t dare to make any promises, because we don’t know all the ins and outs of preparing a book for publishing (especially with permission issues and copyrights, since we’ll share talks and quotes written by others), but we would like to try.
What do you think of our idea? Should we write a dating/marriage book? What would you like to see included in it?
P.S. Last week’s trivia was: what on earth is flotsam and jetsam? The answer is – in common use, a collection of miscellaneous items of little importance. But originally it meant little floating bits left over from a shipwreck. There’s more detail on Wikipedia, but I’ll let you go there on your own if you want.
“I am satisfied that a happy marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one’s companion”
Several months after I regained my strength [after starvation following a hurricane], we were caught in another violent storm, only this time at sea. The waves became so big they flipped our small boat over, throwing the three of us into the raging, churning ocean. When I found myself in the middle of a tumultuous sea, I was surprised, scared, and a little upset. “Why has this happened?” I thought. “I’m a missionary. Where is my protection? Missionaries aren’t supposed to swim.” But swim I must if I wished to stay alive. Every time I complained I found myself underwater, so it didn’t take long to quit complaining. Things are how they are, and complaining doesn’t help. I needed every ounce of energy to keep my head above water and make it to shore. Having earned my Eagle Scout Award, I was a pretty confident swimmer, but over time the wind and the waves began to sap my strength. I never quit trying, but there came a time when my muscles simply would move no more. I had a prayer in my heart, but still I began to sink. As I was going down for what could have been the last time, Read the rest of this entry »
Once a man received as his inheritance two keys. The first key, he was told, would open a vault which he must protect at all cost. The second key was to a safe within the vault which contained a priceless treasure. He was to open this safe and freely use the precious things which were stored therein. He was warned that many would seek to rob him of his inheritance. He was promised that if he used the treasure worthily, it would be replenished and never be diminished, not in all eternity. He would be tested. If he used it to benefit others, his own blessings and joy would increase.The man went alone to the vault. His first key opened the door. He tried to unlock the treasure with the other key, but he could not, for there were two locks on the safe. His key alone would not open it. No matter how he tried, he could not open it. He was puzzled. He had been given the keys. He knew the treasure was rightfully his. He had obeyed instructions, but he could not open the safe.
In due time, there came a woman into the vault. She, too, held a key. It was noticeably different from the key he held. Her key fit the other lock. It humbled him to learn that he could not obtain his rightful inheritance without her. They made a covenant that together they would open the treasure and, as instructed, he would watch over the vault and protect it; she would watch over the treasure. She was not concerned that, as guardian of the vault, he held two keys, for his full purpose was to see that she was safe as she watched over that which was most precious to them both. Together they opened the safe and partook of their inheritance. They rejoiced for, as promised, it replenished itself. With great joy they found that they could pass the treasure on to their children; each could receive a full measure, undiminished to the last generation. Perhaps some few of their posterity would not find a companion who possessed the complementary key, or one worthy and willing to keep the covenants relating to the treasure. Nevertheless, if they kept the commandments, they would not be denied even the smallest blessing. Because some tempted them to misuse their treasure, they were careful to teach their children about keys and covenants. There came, in due time, among their posterity some few who were deceived or jealous or selfish because one was given two keys and another only one. “Why,” the selfish ones reasoned, “cannot the treasure be mine alone to use as I desire?” Some tried to reshape the key they had been given to resemble the other key. Perhaps, they thought, it would then fit both locks. And so it was that the safe was closed to them. Their reshaped keys were useless, and their inheritance was lost. Those who received the treasure with gratitude and obeyed the laws concerning it knew joy without bounds through time and all eternity.
Boyd K. Packer, “For Time and All Eternity,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 21
If you haven’t read or heard the parable of the spoons, I think you’re in for a treat. Elder Howard does a beautiful job teaching that if you want something to last forever, you’ve got to treat it differently.
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