Tuesday, September 23, 2008

My Hero

The following is an extract taken from an article that appeared in the church news this week. Elder Richard G. Hinckley spoke at the Salt Lake City North Stake Conference and part of his talk was quoted in this article about his father President Hinckley. I miss President Hinckley!

The focus of Elder Hinckley's address was an offering of gratitude for the love the Lord has shown to His children. "Specifically, I have felt within me a renewed sense of awe and wonder for the keys that He has restored in this dispensation, and, even more specifically, for the keys and authority made manifest in the ordinances of the temple."
He said that just over a year ago, members of his family were in Salt Lake City for the sealing of his sister's youngest daughter, the 24th of 25 of President Hinckley's grandchildren to be married.
"This was the last sealing my father performed in mortality," Elder Hinckley said. "As is customary, he made a few informal remarks before beginning with the actual sealing ordinance. His comments were unrehearsed and spontaneous. He talked for a minute or two, then paused and looked around the small sealing room, filled primarily with family and a few friends of the bride and groom. He then said something that struck me with such force that I vowed to remember it always.
"He said, speaking quiety, almost as though speaking to himself, 'It has just occurred to me that I have sealed all five of my children and all 24 of my married grandchildren in this temple.' He then paused for a moment or two and concluded, 'I think that is the finest thing I have ever done.'
"I thought of his 97 years, and of the tremendous, untiring efforts he had made to bring the kingdom forward in the earth, yet when all was said and done, just eight months before the end of his long and productive life, in the quiety privacy of that sealing room, he reflected that the finest thing he had ever done was to bind his family--his posterity--together for eternity."