Sealing & Salting

I

The last time the Young Women presidency in my ward got released, a young woman got up to bear her testimony. It was probably the first time she ever had—she had only been coming to church for a few months. You could tell she was nervous, but you could also tell it was important to her to speak. As she expressed her gratitude for the outgoing leaders, conviction strengthened her voice. She knew that those women had made a difference in her life.

I don’t know this young woman well, but I recognized that feeling. I know something about what it means to find a refuge among the Saints. I remember being twelve years old, living in a ward member’s basement and wearing donated clothes after my family’s moving truck was stolen and we ended up between homes. It’s disorienting to have so much of the familiar torn away. Back then, I sometimes resented the ward’s kindness and the way it reminded me of my own vulnerability. But most of the time, it was good to have people to try to trust. Reaching out for the spark of God in them helped me learn to recognize the spark of God in myself.

I hope that the young woman whose testimony moved me finds the same lasting meaning in the gospel that I did. Sometimes, faith sinks its roots into the soil of our need. Maybe she’ll get baptized. Maybe she’ll go to the temple someday. Maybe she’ll join herself to the network of relationships the temple points us toward, extending her own threads of trust through time and eternity.

Then again, maybe her time with us will be brief. People drift into and out of groups all the time. There might be some stumbling block that gets in the way. Or maybe she’ll end up getting interested in something else. In her life, it’s entirely possible that this isn’t a new foundation so much as a temporary haven. If that’s the only role we end up playing, does that mean we failed? I don’t think so. Jesus called his people to be like salt. Sometimes, salt’s job is just to get people through the winter.

Whatever path that young woman chooses, I’m glad to be part of a community whose doors are open to her. I’m proud of the outgoing leaders who were there for her when she needed them. I’m proud of the newly called leaders who will freely offer her their time, energy, and attention over the coming months or years. I’m content to leave the rest of her life to whatever combination of human choice and God’s will guides the world.