Lily’s
Gift
by
Grandma
Baadsgaard
Happy
fourth birthday my precious granddaughter Lily. I love you so.
Once there was a family of three white
lilies that grew on a hillside above a small village including a grandfather, mother
and young girl. In the winter, the lilies were dormant bulbs that slept deep in
the soil. In late spring or early summer, sun created warm soil and the bulbs
grew slowly toward the light. Gentle rain fell and soon three small spears of
green appeared. Slowly the family of lilies grew upward until delicate petals
appeared at the tip of their stems.
“I want to live on this hillside forever,”
the young girl said to her mother.
“I love it here too,” the mother said,
“but remember people from the village often climb this hill and choose us to
help with their happy times and sad times.
“But if they choose me, I will die,” the
girl said.
“Yes, you will die,” the mother said,
“but only for a season. When spring comes again you will return.”
“Don’t be afraid,” the grandfather said.
“I have been chosen many times. Eventually we all die from the killing frost.
The only question is whether we will learn how to love before our season ends.”
But the young girl was still afraid
because she had never been chosen before and she longed to be with her mother
and grandfather forever.
One bright summer morning, a young man from
the village raced up the hill and quickly picked the mother lily.
“This will be the perfect flower to give
my wife to celebrate the birth of our first child,” the father said dashing
back down the hill.
The young girl was sad as she watched
the father race toward his cottage.
The next day a happy bride in her
wedding gown climbed the hill and chose the grandfather for her bridal garland.
“This will be the perfect flower for my
wedding bouquet,” the bride said.
The young girl was sad as she watched the
bride hurry to her wedding celebration.
Now the young girl was alone. She missed
her mother and her grandfather. She did not want to be alone.
The next day an old woman climbed the
hill and knelt weeping next to the young girl. Then she reached out and picked
the small lily before she slowly descended the hill. At first the young girl
was scared. She did not know what would become of her. Then she felt her petals
and stem placed on the polished wood coffin of the grandmother’s husband. She
felt compassion for the old woman.
Then a man in a black suit opened a black
book and said these words, “Consider the
lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet
I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one
of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is
and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if you are not
of little faith. Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat: or, what
shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” 3rd
Nephi 13:28-33
The young girl did not know lilies were
mentioned in sacred books. She did not know how exquisite she was. Now she knew
and she would never forget.
That fall and all that long winter,
there were no lilies on the hillside. Then one spring day when the sun was warm,
three small green spears pierced the soil. After days of gentle rain long green
stems grew upward toward the light. Soon the grandfather, mother and young girl
lily appeared again.
“You were right,” the young girl said. “We
did die, but only for a season. Here we are together again. I wonder who I will
learn to love this year.”
