A story was told at our FHE tonight that I would like to share with you.
There was this lady in Salt Lake in whose ward President McKay lived. One Sunday she saw he had a new suit. She had a piece of silk she thought would make a nice tie to go with his suit, so she made the tie and took it over. As she was walking up to the porch she thought, "This is silly. He probably doesn't need a tie." And she turned to leave. But just then Sister McKay opened the door. When Sister McKay heard the sister's story she said, "Never suppress a generous thought."
And I might add, never suppress another person's generous thought.
6 comments:
Oh, shoot. I tell that story but attribute it to the Hinckleys. Oops. Carl, can we get a "fact check" on aisle seven?
In a BYU devotional, Bonnie D. Parkin attributes it to the Kimballs, via 'her daughter-in-law's mother' (is that better than my cousin's friend's byu roomate?):
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My daughter-in-law’s mother, Susan, was a wonderful seamstress. President Kimball lived in their ward. One Sunday, Susan noticed that he had a new suit. Her father had recently returned from a trip to New York and had brought her some exquisite silk fabric. Susan thought that fabric would make a handsome tie to go with President Kimball’s new suit. So on Monday she made the tie. She wrapped it in tissue paper and walked up the block to President Kimball’s home.
On her way to the front door, she suddenly stopped and thought, “Who am I to make a tie for the prophet? He probably has plenty of them.” Deciding she had made a mistake, she turned to leave.
Just then Sister Kimball opened the front door and said, “Oh, Susan!”
Stumbling all over herself, Susan said, “I saw President Kimball in his new suit on Sunday. Dad just brought me some silk from New York . . . and so I made him a tie.”
Before Susan could continue, Sister Kimball stopped her, took hold of her shoulders, and said: “Susan, never suppress a generous thought.”
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from Personal Ministry: Sacred and Precious, Bonnie D. Parkin, BYU devotional, 13 Feb. 2007.
My custom is to objectively point to a source and not render opinion or commentary, but I think the story would be more effective as a parable about Jesus along the lines of:
I got lost in the desert and found an old pump. I pumped and pumped and nothing came out, then I saw an old bottle sticking out from under a rock. The old bottle had booklet of cigarette paper in it. The following story was written on it, in rusty ink and a shaking hand:
"Rich Man was riding around on his Segway when he saw Cowboy Jesus walking down a dusty road wearing an oily hat and smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. Rich Man wanted to give Cowboy Jesus his Segway, as Cowboy Jesus had somehow misplaced his trusty steed, but the Rich Man didn't feel worthy to speak to Cowboy Jesus. Cowboy Jesus looked up from under the brim of his hat, crushed his cigarette under his boot, and, with tears staining his dusty face, said, 'Rich Man, never suppress a generous thought'. Then Cowboy Jesus swept up Rich Man in a spiritual vision about the Big Ranch in the Sky. 'You see, The Big Ranch is about 30,000 acres in SW Montana...'" The story breaks off suddenly there as someone (I'll leave it up to you whether it was Rich Man or Cowboy Jesus) evidently needed to roll some more cigarettes.
Are you making fun of me?
Hummm. Reminds me (the parable), if I may be so bold, of my mom's quoted reaction to some flip thing I once said: Gal. 6: 7 plus six words from the middle of Ether 12: 26. It didn't sooth my troubled soul, but I never forgot it.
Definitely not making fun. -Carl
Come here, Carl, I need to give you a hug. So, according to utube (which could be a defender or an apologist or anything else), Levi Peterson is "one of the most important LDS authors of the 20th century." Hummm. So since he's not dead, does that mean he hasn't written anything since 2000 or he's just gone downhill since then?? :=) I'm not too impressed with his own pocket version. You should be impressed that I would have considered reading it (until hearing his summary). Life's too short. Luv you though, you know.
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