Today is a Gift,, & that Why it is called the Present--

I was remembering today a younger brother whose fifty-first birthday would have been today. He only lived an hour, but I still think about him and wonder about him as he is on the other side and an angel at best. I would call my mother on his birthday every year. I was the only one of her children that acknowledged her loss as she grieved over the years.

There was an incident that happened that I felt his joy and presence when I was sealed to my parents, and so was he sealed at the same ceremony. My older brother, who had died two years earlier, was also sealed to my parents. My other sibling were not members or endowed. But, I have one sister who became a member at eighteen, which was thirty-five years ago. She married a non-member.

The sealing itself and feeling that this younger brother’s spirit made him so real, and not just a memory. I think of his valiance and service on the other side and the reunion he had with my parents when they came through the veil.

This week I am preparing my R.S. lesson, which is regarding the coming of Elijah and the restoration of the keys of the sealing power for families. I pray I can share those things pertinent and uplifting about this great work, and mission of Elijah.


I was talking to a friend today and I was sharing with her about my questions if my brother was around me as I recalled it was his birthday today. She said, “Of course, Anna. She said when she misses or thinks of her mother, she thinks of the good times and happier days with her, not of her death and the separation…it gave me comfort and I hope it does you too.

I also think of my parents, and their love for me, yet go back in my mind and see the times when I was growing up and how I loved to be with them. Or when I lived near them in California as a young wife and mother and just going over to their home to visit with my children. It was like a visit in and of itself of the past. We can go back and remember with love and joy for the experiences we had together…Life goes on, and we can’t look back and wish away our lives. It helps me to just live in the present, that way I can leave the past behind and not worry about the future and just be in the NOW.