Reason 2: When I think about what the Celestial Kingdom looks like I imagine a nice green place with trees, and some water. Oh yeah that's what the course looks like.
Reason 3: There is a line on your hand to show you where you should put your grip, coincidence maybe but I like to think it's not.
Reason 4: I get the most gospel principle connections with the game of golf, than with any other sport.
I know these are little ridiculous but bear with me. Sunday our lesson in Relief Society was on the talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson, "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten."
This was one of my favorite talks this past conference. It was neat to talk about this because it has been a topic on my mind recently. At the beginning of the intermediate golf class my instructor first told my weight was distributed wrong and so that was something I had to fix and once I fixed that he told me something else needing change. With all of these changes I was slicing the ball and had developed a blister on my thumb from the new grip I started using at the suggestion of my teacher. I was frustrated because I had never had real trouble hitting the ball straight but after the many corrections I was becoming a shankopotamus. I didn't seem to be the golfer I was hoping to and was a little irritated with my instructor because I felt like he was just making a fool of me. I was reminded of the following story from the talk,
"President Hugh B. Brown, formerly a member of the Twelve and a counselor in the First Presidency, provided a personal experience. He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say:
“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”"
I know these are little ridiculous but bear with me. Sunday our lesson in Relief Society was on the talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson, "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten."
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| Yep, the Apostle we saw in the Salt Lake Temple when my family visited |
"President Hugh B. Brown, formerly a member of the Twelve and a counselor in the First Presidency, provided a personal experience. He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say:
“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”"
The days when I am laden with fruit in my golf skills will eventually come, just last week I went to class and I was hitting straight. When my teacher came up to instruct me my first ball sliced really bad and I told him that I had been hitting pretty straight. He replied that he knew that because he had been watching when I didn't know he was looking. He told me to relax and that I had a really beautiful swing.
I went and played golf on Monday and didn't do so well but I can see a difference in how I hit the ball out of bounds. (I've also decided that I always go with boys, who I feel are staring at me when I swing, which almost creates the effect of my teacher standing behind me, no wonder I don't golf well)
This principle hasn't only applied in my golf lately, life doesn't seem to be complete if we're not struggling and often I wonder why, when I know Heavenly Father can do great miracles, he can't fix the simple problem I feel I have. Sometimes I feel when I pray for help I just end up feeling worse. At these times it's good for me to remember that there is pain and sorry on the path to becoming who He wants and knows I can be. And although I might feel as though I am currently just an ugly stump for the other plants in the garden to laugh at, the lessons I'm learning as I struggle through life will be important for me to have as I serve and build the kingdom as His daughter.
Number 2- all you have to say is Augusta. Amen corner anyone. I also loved your inclusion of shankapotomus.
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