Thirsting For Knowledge September 8, 2009

Wow, I don’t know when I am going to sit down and write the many events and happenings over the last several weeks. Dad said today that we are too busy living life to write about it. My weeks are getting away from me and I have so many things about which I have wanted to write. I fear the distance will make me forget.
There is something that happened to me while at Education Week that I do not want to forget so I think I will take the time to write a mini blog. I attended lots of great lectures; I guess that I was really hungry for learning. Education Week was the right place to be. I enjoyed many classes but this is my most profound memory.
I listened to Susan Easton Black talk about the First Vision. She’s an incredibly knowledgeable teacher and excellent speaker. I know several of you have had the privilege of taking classes from her at BYU; an entire term with her, how lucky! In that hour’s time I learned many new things and new ways of looking at this great event.
It was a factual, information lecture. I was quickly jotting down notes so I could retain some of her detailed research. I was hurriedly writing until she started describing the Sacred Grove. The moment she mentioned that the grove was sacred ground, I felt an undeniable witness. It was not fleeting as are so many of my feelings like this. The feeling was all encompassing and lasted long enough that I was able to ask myself, “What is this feeling?” and realize that I was having a most profound witness that what Sister Black was saying was really true.
I have, for many years, wished I could travel to the Sacred Grove. Someday I may. But, without ever seeing it and experiencing it first hand, I know that the Prophet Joseph Smith did see God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph was called by name in that grove, not because he was to be the Lord’s prophet, but because he, along with all of us, is a child of that very God and He knows all of us and loves us equally.
I felt a huge sense of gratitude after that class, not for what I heard but for what I felt. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for the tender mercy of allowing me to feel such a profound witness of the First Vision. I wish I could say that those feelings are a part of my everyday experience. I know my days are directed by the Spirit when I make that allowance but this experience was an undeniable special gift from a loving Father in Heaven.
I love you all. Love, Mom