Peace, Yes, Rest, Not on your Life

There are some people that you just know will never rest. Not in this life or the next. And I have come to believe that those who continue working are the blessed who will find peace up there. It's the people who pass on with every intention of finding rest that my never actually find peace. After all, how peaceful can an eternity of floating around on a cloud watching everyone else really be? It sounds to me a bit like the life of a gossip. Which is not in fact restful at all, but full of emotional tension and working their jaw in an attempt to befriend everyone and love no one. But those who work, especially those who continue their work once their pathway takes them away from us, they are the few who actually find some peace in eternity. Theirs is the business of loving without the pressure of others perceptions, because they in fact gain that perfect perception that relieves them of the emotional work that really gets us down.

Too much at once? Let me explain. Have you ever taken a "stress day" from work and found yourself going a little stir crazy before you get an hour into your freedom? Have you ever passed your children off to someone for an afternoon in the hopes of finding some peace and quiet, and instead found that without having them in earshot you can get no peace at all? These are the things that make me wonder about the cartoon image of heaven, sitting on a cloud strumming a harp for all of eternity. How can anyone enjoy that? Sure it might be nice for a few years, but by the time you have mastered it and become bored with it and written your own harp improvisations for every melody you ever heard (Gun's N' Roses, unplugged and angelic?) you will be tearing your halo off begging for an opportunity to go raise a little hell (literally, probably...) Eternity is a long long long time to be stuck with a harp on a cloud. You might last longer if you make the brass ensemble (they have a few more engagements scheduled in the upcoming millenia) but eventually even a Trumpet voluntary will become bland and distasteful to you. But consider if you actually pressed on into that next life with a variety of tasks and purposes to pursue. Imagine you can move forward with some knowledge and a preparedness for any assignment. Imagine if instead of being handed a harp and assigned a cloud, you could be handed a "To Do" list and assigned a stewardship. And this isn't any "To Do" list. It contains far more important duties than the mundane survival tasks we have here, and it comes with that promise and perspective that not only is your list significant and important, but it is pertaining to people and things that you actually love. Rest from triviality, perhaps, but work and all the strength to accomplish it still the same.

The Stake President who helped me fill out my mission papers passed away yesterday. He was and is a giant among men. More than a scholar and an author, he taught me and those around me some wonderful and profound lessons. Every time I had opportunity to interact with him he left me both introspective and improved. When we met for my mission interviews, he initially encouraged me to stay home from my mission for a few silly reasons, but then as the interview progressed he began to both teach and encourage me. By the time he signed my papers he had not only soothed my fears and concerns regarding my ability to be a good missionary, his confidence in me had convinced me that I could be better than I ever imagined possible. He had a gentle laugh that put me at ease and yet an ability to correct that encouraged repentance. And the thing that stuck out to me the most was his encouragement and enthusiasm for work. "Sister Pratt, I only want missionaries who understood the value of work. You understand it, and you will be a valuable missionary to your mission president because of it. And you will be happier for it as well."

There was absolutely nothing conditional in his statement to me. He didn't tell me "if"or ask that I try, he simply stated that I was capable and would find happiness. And he was right. I was capable, and I did find happiness. And I am capable, and I will find happiness. Not if.

When I arrived in my mission, my mission president told me he was impressed by the recommendation that I received from my stake president, and at the time I brushed it off as owing to this man's impressive credentials. But as I pressed forward throughout my mission and I lived up to that recommendation, I learned to trust the text more than the signature. And I found more than happiness in work. I found peace.

So as President Madsen embarks on his new portion of this journey I am one random student that passed though his office a few times and tried to serve as well as he thought I could. And I don't believe it is appropriate to wish him the traditional "Rest in Peace". Because I know he won't rest. There are no harp laden clouds waiting for men such as this. Instead, my prayer is that his to do list will be eternally filled with meaning and power. As surely as he taught me there is peace in work, I have no doubt that he will Work in Peace.