Gratitude Challenge Day 2: He Could Not Rest

Of our six children, only one came quickly. At the end of her second pregnancy, as my wife and I were just going to sleep on a Saturday night about 9:00, her water broke. Within three hours our second child and oldest son Samuel was here. He was in a hurry to get life started and he has been busy ever since. Shortly before he was two he was on the verge of climbing out of his crib and so we had to take that away and put him in a toddler bed. For him that meant that he was free to come and go as he pleased, and I remember many times lying on his floor in the middle of the night exhaustedly trying to get him to sleep and stay put. I even recall a family reunion around this time when I got so desperate in the middle of the night that I just loaded him into the car and drove him around so he could be strapped in and perhaps fall asleep. He has always had lots he wanted to do and places he wanted to be and an unfailing determination to see his desires fulfilled. When we moved into a new house when he was almost three we were a bit embarrassed to meet our new neighbor with a knock at the door as she returned a nearly naked Samuel to us. He had escaped and run down the street with only a diaper on. I guess he had exploring to do and a simple lock on the front door was not going to hold him back (top locks were quickly installed)! Since then I have often been amazed at how he pushes himself to achieve the things he wants to accomplish. One classic example is when shortly after his fifth birthday one day he decided he wanted to count to 1000—and twenty minutes later he had it done with my wife very ready for him to stop counting! Later when he was in kindergarten he fell in love with the Magic Treehouse books and quickly had them all read and reread many times over. And so it has been for many other things in his life such as when he got his nearly 500-piece Lego set from his grandparents last Saturday evening and had it completely put together by Sunday morning. If he is set on doing something, he rarely lets anything get in his way. Today I express my deep gratitude for my oldest son Samuel who has taught me so much about perseverance and hard work!

               The scripture that comes to mind when I think about Samuel is Mormon’s description of Alma near the end of his life. After decades of service to his people, including time both as the chief judge and as the high priest, and after essentially passing the baton off to his sons concerning the work of the ministry, we read this: “And now it came to pass that the sons of Alma did go forth among the people, to declare the word unto them. And Alma, also, himself, could not rest, and he also went forth” (Alma 43:1). Alma just could not sit still while there were people to still share the gospel with and he had any strength left to do it. He could not rest, and in more ways than one, it has often been the same for Samuel when he has something he wants to accomplish. Last year in the weeks leading up to Christmas he took over one of the basement bedrooms, gathered up all the tape, boxes, wrapping paper, and gift bags he could find, and he went to work with his little brother on the “Christmas awards” (as he named them). He found small household items that he could give as gifts, and then they created probably about two dozen gifts for the other members of the family. So, after the regular Christmas presents were opened, he came out with his enormous quantity of additional presents that he passed around to his siblings and parents. I was simply amazed at his determination to do this great act of giving all on his own—something he spent hours and hours getting ready. Despite the rather large mess it created in the basement, how grateful I was for his example of selfless giving! And just today he pulled in his brother for a “planning meeting” for the 2020 Christmas awards…. Though we have certainly had our share of struggles—sometimes those most determined to succeed have the hardest time with failure—I feel so blessed for these nine years I have had with him as his father. I give thanks to God for the gift of our determined son Samuel!