Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008

With the passing of the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, my thoughts have been turned to his sweet eternal companion and how he has missed her since she passed three years ago. What a joyous reunion it must have been yesterday! I love this story that Sister Hinckley told and I think it is true (in terms of the spirit of selfless service) for both of them. I hope it will also be true of me.

I Really Lived by Marjorie Pay Hinckley

I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.

(Photos by Scot Facer Proctor ~Used with kind permission from Meridian Magazine)