For years, I have attended BYU Women’s Conference to “refill my bucket.” When I was a busy mom, with a houseful of kids who needed me all day every day, it gave me two days a year where I could sit and not be asked for anything but an open heart.
This year was no exception. The theme for this year’s conference was taken from Moses 6:34: “Behold my Spirit is upon you, … and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me.”
Primary General President Susan H. Porter spoke to thousands of women assembled in the Marriott Center in Provo about walking with Jesus. One line in her talk really spoke to me.
“The Lord loves a plodder,” she said.
President Porter shared that when she was a young mother with three children age 3 and under and living in a different country, she felt alone, isolated and like she did not have much to offer. She was busy and did not feel part of her neighborhood or her church congregation. However, when she taught a lesson at church and then as women came up to her to express their gratitude, she said these words came clearly into her mind: “The Lord loves a plodder.”
“Those five words delivered by the still small voice were like a healing balm to my soul,” she said. “I was a plodder. I was walking slowly, but I knew in that moment that not only was the Savior perfectly aware of my situation, but He loved me. He was walking beside me. He recognized that I was not moving forward in great leaps and bounds, accomplishing amazing things, but that I was moving — and that for Him was enough. I had not given up but was plodding forward. And that, for Him, was enough.”
When I was so busy raising our large family with a variety of needs, I too was a spiritual plodder. In fact, I spent years — years — without being able to attend Sunday School or Relief Society for adult instruction and adult interaction. Sometimes, I would stand outside a room and look through the window of the closed door, hoping to absorb inspiration vicariously. Instead, I spent time in nursery, time in children’s classes, time walking the hall with the latest child who was scared or cranky or needed a diaper change.
And, it was a privilege.
Still, I needed to nurture my own internal, spiritual self, one plodding step at a time. I read scriptures, prayed, went to the temple (occasionally), listened to religious music and read uplifting books.
I was having a hard time finding the divine in the diapers. That part was not exactly my dream job. Neither was finding out that my children preferred to use the wall to wipe their nose on instead of a tissue. Or have very loud tantrums in public places.
And yet as I plodded along, I learned something more. I learned that there is some of the divine in diapers and endless messes and mouthy teenagers and tantruming toddlers.
I learned to pray mightily for help, and I was strengthened. Sometimes, I felt like the old donkey that fell into the dry well. The farmer felt the kindest thing would be to just bury the donkey, so he began shoveling dirt on top of the donkey. I, too, thought at times that I would be buried by life’s circumstances. But like that old donkey who made it out of the well by telling himself, “Shake it off and step up; shake it off and step up,” I’ve survived and made it out of many difficult times. As I have continued to plod through life’s difficulties, I have learned that hard times, slow times and plodding times don’t last forever.
I’m in a different season of life now. I hope my plodding has picked up to at least a brisk walk. Through it all, I have tried to walk with Jesus.
At the end of her talk, President Porter had the audience join in singing “I Will Walk With Jesus.” The song’s chorus says:
“As I walk with Jesus to my home above,
“He will bless me with His Spirit and fill me with His love,
“Change my heart forever and help me clearly see.
“I will walk with Jesus, and He will walk with me.”
That is my commitment too: I will walk with Jesus, and He will walk with me.
Originally published in the Church News
