I didn't get to go to church today. It was Stake Conference, and I wimped out; I didn't feel like spending 2 hours chasing Adana around the church. So Nathan took the boys & I stayed home with the girls.
But when he came home, he looked up a talk that had been referenced during the meeting and asked me to read it. I love it when he does this, because he has a great intuition for finding exactly the sort of thing that I need/want to read.
This particular talk was given by Jeffrey R. Holland at a BYU Devotional on January 13, 2009. It is entitled Remember Lot's Wife.
I encourage you to read the whole talk. It is profound and funny and inspired. It addresses a number of "issues" that I have been contemplating, and I think it has a very universal message - whether you are LDS or not.
Part-way through the talk, Holland includes a poem by E. A. Robinson entitled "Miniver Cheevy." Unfortunately, he doesn't include it in its entirety, so I'll do that here:
Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons.
Miniver loved the days of old
When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;
The vision of a warrior bold
Would set him dancing.
Miniver sighed for what was not,
And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
And Priam's neighbors.
Miniver mourned for the ripe renown
That made so many a name so fragrant;
He mourned Romance, now on the town,
And Art, a vagrant.
Miniver loved the Medici,
Albeit he had never seen one;
He would have sinned incessantly
Could he have been one.
Miniver cursed the commonplace
And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;
He missed the mediaeval grace
Of iron clothing.
Miniver scorned the gold he sought,
But sore annoyed was he without it;
Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,
And thought about it.
Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
And kept on drinking.
*I had intended to go into a bit more depth on this poem, the talk, life lessons, etc. But I've got a sick toddler who is at this minute begging me to snuggle her because she has a headache. So I'll just click "publish" and leave it at that. Hope you enjoy the talk as I did.
5 comments:
I love this line: "It is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound which the Son fo God Himself died trying to heal."
You don't know how needed this was right now, Brooke. Thank you.
It's me again! I answered your question on my blog. Drop by when you get a second!
Hugs,
D
Funny thing, Brooke. I listened to that same talk on my ipod on Sunday afternoon while getting dinner ready. Loved that talk. Loved the marriage references in it. And I love Miniver Cheevy. I read that poem in high school and vaguely remembered it. That is so funny that you did the same thing on Sunday. Hope you have a great week.
I think I got more out of it than I did church on Sunday. Maybe that should be the new schedule. Skip church, put kids to bed, read something inspiring.
Thanks, Brooke, for posting the link to the talk by Elder Holland. I heard the talk in Stake Conference that referenced it, but probably wouldn't have gotten around to actually looking it up if you hadn't made it so easy! I don't usually dwell on the past, but I do get stuck in the present and am fearful of change. There were several good messages in there for me, too.
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