Caleb Easter Sunday Talk

This is Caleb's talk from yesterday.  It is very good.  It had me crying.

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

Introduce your self

What does Easter mean to me? As a child I can remember the excitement Easter morning brought to my care free life. I often knew what was planned for the day ahead because I bothered my mom so much about what our activities were going to be. Most years it consisted of waking up to baskets filled of candy and toys the Easter bunny had brought. I would run up to the baskets and find which one I thought was mine, which really just turned out to be the one I wanted most since I was the youngest. Aside from the toys and the candy, Easter is and was and always will be a day to spend with my family. We love Easter Egg Hunts. Consequently we always found ourselves in some trouble since our family would use real eggs that we had dyed the night before as a family activity. We would often get worried as the end of the hunt came near because we couldn’t find the egg my brothers decided to hide the hardest, and somehow they would hide the egg so hard that even they forgot where it was. This left us hunting for eggs for days. My brothers probably planned it just to start some family chaos.
   
    As we become older we soon realize the true meaning of what Easter morning really is. I often think about the symbolism if Easter. Is it merely a coincidence that the season Christ was resurrected in was spring, a season of new life and hope, when natures animals are born and flowers blossom? Is it merely a coincidence that we celebrate Easter on a Sunday, a day that we are meant to remember Christ as we partake of the sacrament and renew our sacred covenants which could have only been made because of what Jesus Christ himself has done for us? Brothers and sisters the symbolism of Easter is not a coincidence. It is meant as a day of communion with the Lord and a day of remembrance for what Christ did for us on the Earth.

    The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a turn of events that showed us the resurrection was real. It shows us that one day we will live again, and we will have no imperfections. We will be glorified and we will be able to live here on earth with those we love and those we have lost. We wont suffer from disease, from hunger, thirst, pain, and from self conscious ideas about what people think of our appearance. We will be perfected. Easter morning is the day Christ arose from the tomb, he defied everything man knew to be normal and showed his true power by defeating the one thing no man had conquered. death.

    In conference Richard G. Scott tells a story from his personal life:

One night our little son Richard, who had a heart problem, awoke crying. The two of us heard it. Normally my wife always got up to take care of a crying baby, but this time I said, “I’ll take care of him.”
Because of his problem, when he began to cry, his little heart would pound very rapidly. He would throw up and soil the bed clothing. That night I held him very close to try to calm his racing heart and stop his crying as I changed his clothes and put on new bedsheets. I held him until he went to sleep. I didn’t know then that just a few months later he would pass away. I will always remember holding him in my arms in the middle of that night.
I remember well the day he passed away. As Jeanene and I drove from the hospital, we pulled over to the side of the road. I held her in my arms. Each of us cried some, but we realized that we would have him beyond the veil because of the covenants we had made in the temple. That made his loss somewhat easier to accept.
    This story shows us directly the blessings that can be attained from being able to enter into the temple and make covenants with our heavenly Father. Because of their faith, they will be able to be with again and finish raising there beloved son Richard. I too look forward to the day when I will be able to be with my family agin and be able to meet my big brother Billy Boy.My Mom’s first child was a stillborn.  As newlyweds my parents were excited to have their very first child but after one of my mom’s appointments she was informed of news that would change my parents life forever. She was referred to a different hospital where they could more fully examine the child and confirm his death. Quoting a blog my dad wrote called “Lessons I Learned From My children: Billy Boy, A Time to grieve    he says:
From this experience, I learned there is a time to grieve. The grieving process was not just a one-day thing, but took place over several weeks, even months. How do you grieve for a baby you never cuddled and held? It wasn’t hard. The baby was real to us, and we had made plans to make him part of our lives. Sheri’s grieving was intense, because she had felt every kick and movement while the baby was inside her body. I had felt kicks, but only when Sheri shared them with me.

We went to spend a week with Sheri’s family for bereavement. It was a comfortable week for me. Not so much so for Sheri. They had given her what would be an inflatable tube for her to sit on to aid in her heeling process. We spent most of our time in the living room while Sheri tried her best to get comfortable.

We returned to Duckwater after at week of grieving leave. I worked for the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, and while we were gone an elderly tribal member had passed away. I am not sure why, but where this gentleman had been a member of the Church, it fell upon me to talk at his funeral. Preparing that talk, and remembering the eternal nature of life and family, helped me along my grieving process. The funeral was attended by the entire reservation of almost 200 people. I had received delivery of two large turkeys from BYU Community Outreach, which I brought back with me for a tribal dinner for the Holidays. We used these for a tribal feast to honor our newly departed elder. I felt I was handling everything OK.

Sheri did not grieve for some time. In fact she really didn’t grieve until a couple years later. My niece had a stillborn baby boy, Skyler, for whom they had a funeral. Sheri finally was able to grieve at that funeral, and let out her feelings about Billy Boy. In the mean time we had a new baby girl.

It’s funny about grieving. It is not a one-time process and then you’re done with it. Grief is less intense over time, but it is something that comes back. I wrote in my journal about having a bitter day a month after losing Billy Boy. Bitterness is evil and to be avoided. It can blacken your soul. I avoided bitterness by leaving things to the Lord and accepting that all will work together for our good. (See D&C 122:7) There is peace in that thought, and peace replaces bitterness.

A couple years later I wrote in my journal:"When Billy Boy died I remember asking myself inside for a long time, 'Why? Why? Why?' The question went away, but I’m not sure if I ever really answered it for myself. I do know when Tali was born and I saw how beautiful she is, the hurt seemed to fade—although for a time it was more piercing as I realized what we had missed. God, I know, has blessed me greatly, but it was after the tribulations and trials that allowed him to pour our more abundant blessings and make Tali so beautiful."

I am grateful for Billy Boy, and his short time in our lives. I still look forward to the day when I will be able to parent him and hold him in my arms. In the meantime, I feel his presence, and his loving concern for Sheri and I, and our family.
It’s wonderful to know that because of what Christ did on Earth we will be able to live with our family again. I truly look forward to the day when I will be able to meet my big brother.
We all have hardships. Some harder than others. We all have trials. Some more trying than others. Consequently because of these trials, we all make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. But through the atonement we can become clean again and take back upon us the name of Jesus Christ our Savior.
 Brothers and Sisters I encourage you to remember Easter as a time of remembrance for all the blessings we receive. Have you ever had those days when you start thinking about all the power God has or one of those beautiful times when you sat beneath the stars and just gazed into the galaxy and thought about how small you really are but remembered that God loves you and knew you personally. Remember the days when you just cant wrap your head around things? Brothers and Sisters I want to challenge you to make today one of those days. Make today an Easter to remember by setting aside time to just think. Although the activities are important, its more important that we remember Christ IN our activities.
BEAR TESTIMONY