Oliver Granger

I was studying my scriptures this morning and I ran across these verses in D&C 117:12-13.
As I read, my mind was drawn to a talk titled "The Least of These," by Boyd K. Packer given in October, 2004. In it he discussed these verses and Oliver Granger.

Oliver was a normal church member who was left behind to sell the church members' land after they were driven from Kirtland, Ohio. He was not very successful. But he and his wife did their best.

The part that impresses me is underlined. The Lord says, "when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase." Elder Packer elaborated on this:

"Some worry endlessly over missions that were missed, or marriages that did not turn out, or babies that did not arrive, or children that seem lost, or dreams unfulfilled, or because age limits what they can do. I do not think it pleases the Lord when we worry because we think we never do enough or that what we do is never good enough."

The Lord didn't use the word "if," he used the word "when." We all make those mistakes that distract and delay. Yet, as long as we choose to, we can rise again and move forward.

As a friend told me last night, the past doesn't matter as much as today. Where we are today and what choices we make today is what is important, even if we are a little late (see parable of laborers in the vineyard, Matthew 20: 1-16).

That is the beauty of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

And so I post this to honor the example of Oliver Granger.

(Also see Jeffrey R. Holland, October 2010, "Because of Your Faith.")