The Nudgings of the Spirit

This woman is a very special lady.  She is 95 and has lived a very full life.  She also happens to be my Grandma and one of my most favorite people on this earth!  Few people have impacted my life the way that she has.  Notice the items that are in the background of this picture--a pedigree chart on the door, the pictures of the leadership of our church, ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE, and a bookmark with a gold heart.  If you know my Grandma, you know that she is all about each of these things!  She is my hero!!

My Grandpa Bingham passed away more than sixteen years ago.  My second son Blake, was only a few weeks old when we attended his funeral and how the time has flown by.  I have never forgotten the words spoken by one of the speakers during his memorial.  They were directed to his family, specifically my grandparents grandchildren.  He said, "Grandchildren, remember your grandmother."  Those words have never left me and I have striven to do as he counselled.  Though I have lived a great distance from her, she is never far from me in my thoughts nor in my ability to pick up the phone and call her.

I have had a busy week this past week, okay honestly, I have a busy year!  That word "busy" always bring to mind the conference talk given by President Uchtdorf when we he said,"...we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life."  I promise I am not wearing mine as a badge of honor, or think that because of my busyness that my life is somehow superior in any way.  I do not enjoy being busy like I have been lately, but I think that it comes with the school year winding down, and getting prepared for all that is coming.  Anyway, several times this week and last, I had the prompting to call my Grandma.  With each prompting I thought, "Yes, I will call her later today," and then as the day turned to night I would think to myself, "Tomorrow, I will call her tomorrow."  I even wrote her name down on my to do list and guess what?  I didn't get it done even then!  Shameful!!!

This morning I received an email from my Dad informing me that my Grandma was in the hospital with clots in her lungs.  Immediately I started to panic.  What ifs started flooding my mind, the biggest one being, what if she did not make it and I never spoke to her while on this earth again?  What if I had been prompted this whole week and because of my busyness missed a tender mercy in allowing me to speak with her one last time?  I called my dad in tears over my predicament.  He told me that I could call my Aunt Nancy to get a number to the hospital where my Grandma was.  I won't go into the rest of what took place.  But I will share with you that I did indeed speak with my Grandma and I am so grateful that I did.  A lesson was taught to me AGAIN of the importance of heeding the promptings we receive when we FIRST receive them.  The scripture, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear," means volumes to me right now. 

So~ do better than I did...do not delay when the Spirit guides and you will have no need to fear! 

You will be

glad you did!