COULD YOU MAKE ARRANGEMENTS

Thomas S. Monson continued....

Long years ago a severe drought struck the Salt Lake Valley. The commodities at the storehouse on Welfare Square had not been their usual quality, nor were they found in abundance. Many products were missing, especially fresh fruit. As a young bishop, worrying about the needs of the many widows in my ward, I said a prayer one evening that is especially sacred to me. I pleaded that these widows, who were among the finest women I knew in mortality and whose needs were simple and conservative, had no resources on which they might rely.

The next morning I received a call from a ward member, a proprietor of a produce business situated in our ward. “Bishop,” he said, “I would like to send a semitrailer filled with oranges, grapefruit, and bananas to the bishops’ storehouse to be given to those in need. Could you make arrangements?” Could I make arrangements! The storehouse was alerted, and then each bishop was telephoned and the entire shipment distributed.

The wife of that generous businessman became a widow herself. I know the decision her husband and she made brought her sweet memories and comforting peace to her soul.

____

My mother-in-law was widowed prior to my marriage to Chris. Through our marriage Chris consistently expressed concern over his mother and sought to watch over and care for her. I admired the care he showed for her, but it was not until I was a widow myself that I could catch a glimpse of the comfort she must have felt through the years, knowing he would care for her needs. As I look at broken things in my home and chores that seem out of my realm, I am glad he provided the service to her to care for these things. She was (is) a strong woman, and certainly one I classify as being 'more cut out' for being a widow. I say that simply because she harbored no fear and was willing to work hard to keep her home as beautiful and perfect as it always had been. She could look around her home at the end of a summer day and feel good about the work she had accomplished. She knew what needed to be done, and feared not in doing it. (I know what needs to be done... but my lack of know-how sends me to the fetal position!)

My mother-in-law re-married about six months before Chris was diagnosed. Somehow, I do not see the coincidence in that as much as I see a loving Heavenly Father, always mindful of the widow.