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| Elizabeth and Michael playing in the rain and with the hose. |
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| Have you ever seen a fuller diaper? |
It has rained all week. Elizabeth took Michael outside when the rain had stopped for a few minutes. They played on the slide and swung in the swing. I was inside with the other children when Elizabeth came in sopping wet laughing and smiling. "Come out, you have GOT to see this." We all went running outside, the rain had picked back up and Elizabeth had the hose out and was playing with Michael. We heard lots and lots of laughter. It was such a delight. Michael loved it and Elizabeth was happy.
"Reyn
confided that he had had a cigarette in his mouth only once in his
life, and then for only a fleeting moment. It occurred when he was a
student at the Roosevelt Junior High School in Salt Lake City. [The
school’s] entrance was on a quiet side street that had very little
vehicular traffic. On this day, Reyn had just walked out of the front
entrance of the school with a friend who smoked who urged him, as he had
often done, to ‘just try one.’ On this occasion, the friend succeeded.
Reyn took one of the cigarettes and lit up. A few puffs later, who
should pull up at the curb in his car but Reyn’s father. Rolling down
the window, Elder Smith said to his astounded son, ‘Reynolds, I want to
talk to you tonight after dinner’ and drove off. Reyn reported, ‘When my
father called me Reynolds, I knew he meant business.’ Elder Smith let
Reyn stew in his guilt the rest of the afternoon and during the evening
meal, when he had surprisingly little to say. Afterward, seated
uncomfortably in his father’s study, … Reynolds faced judgment. What he
received was merely a kindly, loving lecture about the evils of ‘that
filthy habit’ and a reminder of who he was and how his conduct reflected
on the whole family. It ended with the request that Reyn promise he
would never again put a cigarette in his mouth. Reyn took the pledge.
‘It never happened again,’ he said. Through all the intervening years,
including a stint in the United States Navy during World War II where
smoking was endemic, he honored the commitment made to his father.”
Reflecting
on this experience, Elder Gibbons observed: “The odds against Joseph
Fielding Smith appearing on that out-of-the-way street at the very
moment his young son lit up his one and only cigarette are astronomical.
Although he did not say it, Reyn’s manner and tone implied that the
incident convinced him of the extraordinary depth and power of his
father’s spiritual sensitivity, especially as it related to the welfare
of his family."
I
love this story, not only does it display Pres. Smith's obedience to
the Holy Ghost but it also shows great parenting. By listening to the
Holy Ghost, by using the Lord as our partner in parenting we can help
our children at just the right times and in just the right places. I
also think that a "kind, loving lecture" is the best way to talk to a
child. I find the more patient I am with my children, the more I
listen, the more I use the Holy Ghost, the better our experience is and
the better the lesson is learned.
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