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  • Author's Testimony & Introduction--FAQS
    • Table of Contents
  • 1 His Kingdom to Prepare
  • 2 My Choice Companions
  • 3 Companions
  • 4 Companions II
  • 5 A Mother's MTC Farewell
  • 6 Who Will Dare for Christ
  • 7 To a Chosen Generation
  • 8. I Feel Such a Strangeness
  • 9. Not Me
  • 10. My Brother's Father
  • 11. Not Far Away
  • 12. Questions for Our Leaders
  • 13. Questions From Our Leaders
  • 14. The Visit
  • 15. Show and Tell
  • 16. Within Our Slumber We Will Dream
  • 17. Servants in the Shadows
  • 18. Joya Escojida/Chosen Jewel
  • 19. Las Aguas Del Senor/The Waters of the Lord
  • 20. Come Fasting to the Meeting House
  • 21. As Voices Join in Sacred Sabbath Worship
  • 22. A Child's Baptismal Day
  • 23. In Temple White
  • 24. Temple Hill
  • 25. This Precious Day
  • 26. The Translators
  • 27. I Your Husband Who Have Fallen [First Poem of The Repentance Trilogy.]
  • 28. The Wife's Song
  • 29. Remember Not Past Years
  • 30. A Priesthood Lullaby
  • 31. The Season of Our Need
  • 32. Cherished Daughter, Valiant Servant
  • 33. Daughter, Hear and Heed Your Savior's Voice
  • 34. Bird Mom
  • 35. Eric's Song
  • 36. A Wedding Song of Praise
  • 37. Testimonies to My Daughters
  • 38. Prayer for a Caring Granddaughter
  • 39. Firstborn Son and Firstborn Daughter
  • 40. Father's Day
  • 41 The Hospital
  • 42. The Children of the World
  • 43. For the Healers of the World
  • 44. Simple Heroes of Our Day
  • 45. To This World So Prone to Peril
  • 46. Somewhere
  • 47. Servant of Servants
  • 48. We Wish That You Were Here
  • 49. The Teacher
  • 50. To Protect Marriage and Family
  • 51. Earth's Unborn Children Weeping
  • 52. Prayers for the Peacekeepers
  • 53. That Patriot Dreams Will Come to Pass
  • 54. We Would Do It All Again
  • 55. So Much More
  • 56. Passage and Pilot
  • 57. Because of the Son
  • 58. Growing Up
  • 59. The Olive Leaf
  • 60. Until All Are One With Him
  • 61. Death Has Not Won, But Lost
  • 62. Call to Arms
  • 63. When All Is Done
  • 64. How Rarely Have I Come This Way
  • 65. At a Place So Very Different
  • 66. My Best Years Lie Ahead
  • 67. Sons of Zion, Jesus Calls You
  • 68. Come, Sing Your Song to Me
  • 69. May It Be Always So
  • 70. Until Safe in Heaven's Embrace
  • 71. Seek the Spirit
  • 72. Undertow
  • 73. If I Am Given Time
  • 74. Sons and Daughters, Heirs of Promise
  • 75. Wrestling for a Call
  • 76. When Everything is Ready
  • 77. One Thousand Times
  • 78. Tearful and Fearful I Prayed Through the Evening
  • 79. Tell Us, How Do Servants and Teachers Like You Come Along?
  • 80. Blessings for Beloved Servants
  • 81. Our Gayla's Free at Last
  • 82. I Am a Witness of Your Worth
  • 83. I'll Live With You Again
  • 84. Brother, Friend, and Fellow Servant
  • 85. Grieve Not for Him
  • 86. Press On From Payson's Hill
  • 87. The Righteous Live in Me
  • 88. Homecoming
  • 89. In Honor of My Friends Unseen
  • 90. [An Invitation] We Call to You
  • 91. Fellow Americans, Let Us Talk
  • 92. Brothers and Sisters, Fulfilled Together
  • 93. What We Have Lost in Our Digital Paradise
  • 94. Running Out of Time
  • 95. Ere You Hear the Sound of Battle
  • 96. 21st Century Gadiantons
  • 97 The Setting Apart
  • 98. What Do You Say?
  • 99. To a Woman of Tempered Steel
  • 100. A Correction Soon Begins
  • 101. The Quiet of the Morning
  • 102. Slippery Slope
  • 103. Stormy--We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This
  • 104. Warriors of the Mind and Soul [Poetic Process Discussion]
  • 105. He Wrote Just as He Lived
  • 106. Life Singer
  • 107. Zion's Daughter Leanore
  • 108. Does Your House of Worship Now Seem Lonely
  • 109. Crucify the "Old Man of Sin"
  • 110. We Loved Them Once
  • 111. Winter's Mothers God Holds Most Dear
  • 112. Lord, Please Forgive Us Anew
  • 113. Patriot's Faith Will Triumph Yet
  • 114. Indexing
  • 115. I Am Liberty
  • 116. The Beauty
  • 117. To Aid the Innocents Abused
  • 118. A Noble Bugler Has Returned
  • 119. The Music of the Lord
  • 120. Frog Cat
  • 121. God's Storms
  • 122. The Daughters of the Lord
  • 123. Come Back, Before Our Souls for Error Yearn
  • 124. Don't Tell Me That My Time Has Come
  • 125. From the Dust [Comes The Book of Mormon]
  • 126 To See the Sun Again
  • 127. Mourning America
  • 128. For Baby Adam
  • 129. Despedida Ansiosa/Anxious Farewell
  • 130. Between the Lines
  • 131. Will You Ever Ask the Questions
  • 132. The Days I Spent With You
  • 133. For Nelda
  • 134. The Covenant Path
  • 135. Heartland Dream
  • 136 We Sent Our Very Best
  • 137. Sisters of the Covenant, Daughters of God
  • 138 Sisters Share Their Cheerful Hearts
  • 139 God Looketh On the Heart
  • 140 What of Me?
  • 141 The Return
  • 142 Latter-day Defenders
  • 143. "Come and See, Come and Help, Come and Share"
  • 144. The Best of Father's Seed I've Known
  • 145. [Complete, but pending.]
  • 146. When the Days of Wait Are Over
  • 147. Red Kettles and Silver Bells
  • 148. Victory
  • 149. He Lacks Not Faith
  • 150. "Am I a Friend of Jesus?" [Spring 2020 Semi-Final Examination]
  • 151. Christ is Our Refuge Once Again
  • 152. Until We Kneel at Our Savior's Feet
  • 153. Where You Stand, You Should Still Lift
  • 154. No Day Shall Pass nor Night Shall Fall
  • 155. We Pray for You
  • 156. Bountiful Harvest
  • 157. A Message of Peace and Love
  • 158. Israel, Israel God Shall Save Thee
  • 159. For Those Who Wait
  • 160. Friends Who Intercede
  • 161. Young Women's "Frog Camp"

133.  For Nelda

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THE MOTIVATION FOR THIS POEM:
 
Nelda died last week.  There was no funeral or memorial service.  There was no public internment.  Her vision had gone, her hearing was very poor, and the “hearing aid” she had been given rarely functioned.  She also suffered from diabetes; a mouth without teeth; a broken hip; and so much more.  Despite all such challenges, she “showed up”. Every Sunday, some very dear sisters would lead her to and from the various rooms in our chapel.   To me, she was one of the stalwarts—one of those rare and choice individuals who “showed up”, no matter what. 
 
Rarely did she complain, and even more rarely did she miss a meeting or an event.  She was, to me, an example of “fidelity” to the Lord.  She would offer gracious prayers; she knew her Bible very well (we learned that when someone has memorized large blocks of scripture, they no longer need to be able to read the same); she attended the temple; and she enjoyed the rich sisterhood in our Ward.  She was tempered by her afflictions. 
In her final years, her grievous limitations and health challenges served as a kind of “refiner’s fire” to smooth rough edges and sometimes strained relationships from earlier days. 
 
I was told she had been admitted to the hospital, and was described as this “little curled up ball of inanimate pain” lying in her bed awaiting her final hours.  I had not the courage to visit; and I knew not what I might possibly say, so I declined to see her but merely prayed from the ease of my home that she return quickly to her Heavenly Home to reap the rewards she deserved.  I should have gone.  I should have heeded the promptings.  I should have trusted in the Lord.  I should have.... I should have....

After she passed, and while pondering her circumstances, I learned that the Relief Society (See, No. 122--yes, those Daughters of the Lord) would hold a Remembrance Luncheon to celebrate her life. I asked if the Lord wanted me to give them a message.  It was only after much struggle, the verses below came to me.
  They were the most difficult stanzas I have received in years.  I was taught several lessons by this experience.  Next time, I will "show up".


                                       For Nelda
 
     [I Compare My Cowardice to Her Fidelity.]

I did not go to see her there,
As witness to her final test.
The scene described I could not bear,
Nor had I words to give her rest.
She was a constant in my life,
As faithful as the rising sun.
Despite her suffering and strife,
She ended well what she’d begun.

 
      [I Describe Her Final Mortal State]

She could not see; she barely heard,
She walked in awkward, shuffling steps.
And yet she always showed God’s Word (1)
She would be faithful till she slept.
Bereft of teeth, she still partook
The bread and water of Christ’s grace.
Despite a palsied frame that shook,
She worshiped in God’s Holiest Place.


  [I Attempt to Acknowledge Her Reward]
 
Your cast down clothing is replaced,
With righteous robes of infinite worth. (2)
Christ’s crown of virtue frames your face,
And Temple slippers kiss your earth.     
Your faith defeated death and hell,
Your piety showed Christ’s true light. (3)
In Heaven’s glory you now dwell,  
Triumphant over mortal strife.


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Notes: 

1) God's Word, above, is Jesus Christ--John 1:1-4--"
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

2)  2 Nephi 9:14--"...the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness."

2) 3 Nephi 18:24--"Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do."

ADDENDUM: 


When we humble ourselves before Heaven, and manifest to the Almighty that we have, indeed, learned from errors past, then we may be deemed worthy for experiences beyond our expectations--"songs unsung" of which we will not speak.  See:  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "Songs Sung and Unsung", April 2017 General Conference.  Today, "this time", "I showed up".  


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