THEN...
When I was a kid there were a lot of contests on the radio and on the back of cereal boxes which asked the participant to reply--"in twenty-five words or less"--with an advertising jingle or a testimonial to the sponsor for their product or their promotion.
When I was a kid there were a lot of contests on the radio and on the back of cereal boxes which asked the participant to reply--"in twenty-five words or less"--with an advertising jingle or a testimonial to the sponsor for their product or their promotion.
I never entered any of those contests, but word smith that I am, I was always rolling some string of words around in my mind to see if I could satisfy the requirements. You have to be pretty succinct to get your message across in so few words. Words need to be weighed for their importance because no superfluity can be accommodated in that small of a parameter.
That's why, when I first heard of Jay Hess who had been shot down over Viet Nam on August 24, 1967, I was intrigued with the message he was finally able to send to his family. Jay C. Hess was a prisoner of war in Hanoi. Neither his family nor the U.S. government had heard from him for over two years when his family received a terse letter . His captors' requirement for him was the message had to be short, not much more than twenty five words. Lieutenant Colonel Hess knew his message had to be one that would let his family know it was genuinely from him, and that it would also give counsel and advice to them in the briefest of missives
Following is the content of that letter dated Dec. 13, 1969:
"Above all I seek for eternal life with all of you. These are important: Temple marriage, mission, college. Press on. I had a slight flesh wound and last summer some sickness. All is well now. Set goals, write history, take pictures twice a year."
He was released on March 14, 1973 , 5 1/2 years after he was captured .
In a later interview with the Deseret News Jay Hess shared that the prisoners could hold "school" in the afternoon where he taught others the gospel. Reciting the Lord's prayer and saying the Pledge of Allegiance was a Sunday worship ritual for all of the men who were imprisoned with him. He spent long hours remembering words to hymns, scriptures he had memorized, and other details of his life prior to his imprisonment. Those are some of the things that took up those long, long days in addition to keeping himself as fit as possible to withstand the rigors of interrogation and whippings.
Throughout his retelling of this horrific time in his life, Elder Hess maintained that this BAD experience changed his life--for the better. He then remarked that the same could be true for our bad experiences, too, if we want them to have that power to change us.
NO! Jay C. Hess wouldn't want to do it again, but he said that's how he grew.
Throughout his retelling of this horrific time in his life, Elder Hess maintained that this BAD experience changed his life--for the better. He then remarked that the same could be true for our bad experiences, too, if we want them to have that power to change us.
NO! Jay C. Hess wouldn't want to do it again, but he said that's how he grew.
After reading about this or hearing about Jay C. Hess (I think in a fireside where he was speaker is where I heard of it the first time ), that's when I started trying to accomplish similar goals with our own Nichols family. These seemed succinct and important.
So, we also emphasized mission and college. But I didn't even think twice about your marriages. I made assumptions they would be in the temple.
I set goals for you, then supported you when you set goals for yourself.
I didn't do so well writing the family history. The daily journal entries didn't include ALL the important things and rarely the spiritual experiences which should have been the main stuff I recorded. Instead it was the mundane and the fluff of our lives more often than it was the meat.
So, we also emphasized mission and college. But I didn't even think twice about your marriages. I made assumptions they would be in the temple.
I set goals for you, then supported you when you set goals for yourself.
I didn't do so well writing the family history. The daily journal entries didn't include ALL the important things and rarely the spiritual experiences which should have been the main stuff I recorded. Instead it was the mundane and the fluff of our lives more often than it was the meat.
Also after reading this letter, I started having pictures taken of you kids all the time. Now we have a plethora in the picture box at home that is just too, too much and nobody really cares about them anymore.
"Press on" was probably the most important phrase of Jay Hess' whole message. What good if we only get half the way there before going off the rails. It's enduring to the end--doing our very best with our life to the end--in spite of setbacks, disabilities, death, divorce, and other tough stuff.
NOW...
I ran across the same interview in the Deseret News a few weeks ago. It made me wonder what kind of message I could write now to my family in 29 words. After thinking about it quite often since then, I decided I would record pretty much the same written exhortation as Jay Hess did to his family. In fact, his message is MY message. Especially the "press on" part.
NOW...
I ran across the same interview in the Deseret News a few weeks ago. It made me wonder what kind of message I could write now to my family in 29 words. After thinking about it quite often since then, I decided I would record pretty much the same written exhortation as Jay Hess did to his family. In fact, his message is MY message. Especially the "press on" part.
In the ensuing years I have learned I CAN be happy in that journey!
It may look to you that I am not happy because of current circumstances in my life. But I am. I am square with the Lord. I am temple worthy. I feel the love of friends and family. I have been trusted with a calling to build the Kingdom of God here on the earth. I have been blessed with good health, a compensation for a couple of really crappy things that have happened to me. I live in America. I am grateful for employment, though at this time I--along with about 2-3,000 other flight attendants--am trying to play the cards right for a buyout so there is more money in my retirement account. Most important, I have a desire to live a celestial life. Yes... I am happy! I feel joy!
"Saints can be happy under every circumstance. We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year! ...the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." Russell M. Nelson
"Saints can be happy under every circumstance. We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year! ...the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." Russell M. Nelson
May I gently--and with deep love for each of you-- remind you that we are in the business of building an eternal Nichols Family. Won't you please join with me in making that happen...
No empty chairs!
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