by Daryl Hoole
Daffodils! Elaine could hardly believe what she saw as she looked upon dozens of beautiful, happy flowers lining her driveway early one morning in March. Tears of joy mingled with those of disbelief ran down her cheeks. Joy, because those lovely yellow blossoms became symbols of life and hope and she knew spring would come. Disbelief, because she had not planted them. Who did? How did they get there?
Nevertheless, there they were--bright yellow flowers dispelling the dreariness of the long winter and the despondency and exhaustion that were hers from months of chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer. She suddenly felt energized as a wave of optimism flooded over her.
Six months earlier a thoughtful neighbor had faith enough in her recovery to plant the flowers for her. Seeing them that morning was a miracle for Elaine, just like the return of her health and strength would be.
They were a gift of great worth.
A ward Relief Society president, in tune with the spirit, welcomed a senior couple home from their mission with a current copy of the Ensign, rolled and tied with a ribbon. The couple, whose Ensign subscription had not caught up with them yet and who were feeling a little down after months of highly rewarding full-time missionary service, were thrilled. It was just the boost they needed to perk up and enthusiastically face the next chapter in their lives.
“A mother’s love can lift when the whole world is pressing down upon us,” said Sister Cheryl Lant, Primary General President, in her message at a Multi-region conference, Sept. 14, 2008. Love is best shown by giving someone our time—and mothers give this gift every day.
During the very busiest season of my entire life when I was involved with major activities in our large family such as missions and marriages, teaching and writing about home management, and serving as ward Relief Society president, a neighbor kindly offered to address invitations for the up-coming marriage of our son. She, limited in her service due to health challenges, said, “I can do this from my home so that you can go out of your home and do something else for others.” I’ll remember such a gift always—it was of great worth to me.
The doorbell rang at our house one day and, as I answered it, I was greeted by the smiling face of one of the missionaries who had served with us in the Netherlands Amsterdam Mission twenty years ago. As I invited him in my husband joined us and he handed us a little bag containing four Dutch cookies. It was a holiday in Holland, and he had just purchased the cookies at a local Dutch store and dropped by with the treat to express appreciation and love for his mission. What a wonderful time followed as we reminisced about our “Dutch Days.”
Elder Neal A. Maxwell told of receiving the usual form thank you letter after completing his mission as a young man. But his mission president had taken the time and thought to pen a sentence at the bottom of the page. Elder Maxwell said he had lived by that sentence the rest of his life.
A pot of fading, frost-bitten geraniums on the doorstep was magically transformed into a pot of blooming pansies that could endure the freezing temperatures of winter and still be colorful in February. Someone’s unexpected gift gave heart and hope to an over-burdened single mother.
This season is a good time for us as mothers, grandmothers, neighbors and friends to prayerfully ponder gifts we can give for Christmas and during the months ahead in the New Year. We can’t cure others’ illnesses, make their children behave, or pay off their mortgages, but we can think of ways to give them heart and hope through gifts of great worth.
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