I have had wonderful health for 92 years. I had 59 years of happy marriage with one wife and 5 children. I have enjoyed many church callings and activities with adults and youth in 8 communities. I served as a Bishop, missionary, scoutmaster, and singer in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I worked on farms, sugar factory, smelter, shipyard, served in the Merchant Marines, worked on road crew; building construction projects, was a bookkeeper, auditor and insurance salesman. I worked for 30 years as a plumbing contractor, and have been an apartment owner. I've taken or attended 12 night schools and correspondence courses. I had 4 years of business college and university. I am a voracious reader of many books. I have traveled in Europe, the Caribbean Islands, South America, Panama, Mexico, South Pacific Islands, Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, Canada, and 40 US States. I enjoyed water and snow sports, hunting and fishing.Ever since I've been in the ward, I've looked forward to Fast Sunday, a special Sunday day that occurs once a month, that is set apart for fasting. On this day, members may be get up and speak to the rest of the congregation, and share their feelings, advice, and testimony. Because of the relatively short duration of the meeting, and due perhaps, to the relative shyness of a majority of members (or perhaps a respect for those who feel they have something important to share), during a typical meeting, we may hear from only a handful of members. Maybe 7-12 members in total, of maybe 500 in total.
Because of that, you don't hear from any one member very often. Except for Ward. As long as I can remember, Ward always makes his way up to the pulpit, and in his kind, and fatherly way, he imparts a message of commitment to the gospel, and tells us about how it has blessed his life.
Today, I asked fellow members of my priesthood group if they could share a bit of their wisdom on this blog, by either posting it themselves, or by sharing any material they would like me to post on their behalf. (recognizing that our group is fairly senior; and that none of us are Millenials.) So we have necessarily adopted the Internet at middle age, or perhaps even later. This means its not our native environment. At best, since all of us "predate the Internet", we learned to use it, and none of us natively arrived at it, as our children, or even grandchildren have.
At the end of the meeting, Ward appeared, and gave me a note. He explained that he has written a few poems and posted them on a blog. The note had the address: www.HappyPoems.blogspot.com on it. Later, as I discussed it with Ward, he explained that there are hundreds of writings on the blog, and that all of the poems he posted are his own. Remarkably, yet consistent for Ward, he told me that "using his own ability and strength, he could have never done this work, but he was able to, because the Lord gave him help."
In the meeting when I surveyed the eyes of perhaps 80 of my colleagues, I could tell that many of them were of typical passing familiarity with the Internet, and my request to just start blogging and posting information to the Internet was more of a daunting task than I had at first thought. To find out that Ward Hicken had been blogging on the Internet actively since 2007, and had amassed a giant body of high quality work, informed me that we can all do this work. Let's follow the example of Ward Hicken, and get our ideas, wisdom, and sensitive and compelling stories and impressions about the gospel of Jesus Christ, out there for others to enjoy. The message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is so beautiful. What can you share about it?
Ward, thank you for allowing me to link to your amazing blog of poetry and wise advice.
Ward Hicken's blog: www.happypoems.blogspot.com
Enjoy his testimony each fast sunday and also his own blog posts, 92 years of wisdom is something earned.
ReplyDelete