We sat at the back of this large hall filled with women. The ladies were all different ages, with varying histories. One woman talked about a trip to Antarctica. I'm sure there were other women there like me who would never have the money to go to Antarctica. Bonnie Parkin taught from the front of the hall and chirped, "On your tootsies!" anytime anyone made a comment.
The topic was charity, the pure love of Christ.
We were admonished to receive it and then share it. We all talked about ways we had felt the love of Christ. My little grandma sat next to me just enjoying it. She is such a powerhouse of a woman, but in that room of busy women, she seemed so diminutive.
At one moment, she gave me a look of gratitude that made my heart swell. I swallowed the tears and just enjoyed the opportunity to share in being a part of a worldwide sisterhood with my dear little grandma.
That afternoon, my friend Christie came over and we laughed and cried together over the trials of the last month or so. I met her randomly in the lobby at church three years ago and she quickly became a lifelong friend.
My mom is staying with me tonight so she doesn't have to drive too far in the snow tomorrow morning to catch her flight to Atlanta. We shared some great laughs and now she's sound asleep.
Doctrine and Covenants 88: 125 And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.
Somehow in this very full day, I managed to get laundry done, do the dishes and run sound for Charlie Brown. I am exhausted. I am loopy!
Today I had so many opportunities to choose charity--either to receive it or share it--and I am grateful for the perfect peace that I feel as I slam my head into my pillow. Whatever I have left to do, whatever I flaws I carry with me into tomorrow, in this moment, I am perfect. And I shall sleep like the dead.
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