Teaching
Obedience and the Value of Work
By Fay
A. Klingler
Fall
is such a rewarding time of year! With the change of seasons
comes the harvest from the summer’s effort in the garden.
In September our extended family gathered for a harvest
dinner in the backyard. We had fresh-dug, red potatoes
seasoned with butter and gravy, tender green beans, sweet
corn, delectable zucchini bread, plums, grapes, and tomatoes
— all from our garden.
I
remember hearing President Spencer W. Kimball ask us to
plant gardens. I was a young mother at the time and felt
obligated to comply. Of course it helped that I loved
to be outdoors and work the ground. Each spring, my children
joined me in preparing our little garden area. The most
enjoyable years for them were when they “owned” specific
rows. They carefully planned what would be planted, and
nurtured the seedlings to blooming, productive plants
through the summer. When it was harvest time, they beamed
with pride.
Click to Enlarge
The author’s grandson, Austin, learns the value of work
by gardening with his grandfather, Larry Klingler.
One
year, we had a bumper crop of tomatoes. My children filled
their wagon with the juicy, red vegetables and went door-to-door
in the neighborhood, selling them. They paid their tithing,
then pocketed the earnings.
President
Kimball said, “I hope that we understand that, while having
a garden … is often useful in reducing food costs and
making available delicious fresh fruits and vegetables,
it does much more than this. Who can gauge the value of
that special visit between parents and children as they
weed or water the garden? How do we evaluate the good
that comes from the obvious lessons of planting, cultivating,
and the eternal law of the harvest? And how do we measure
the family togetherness and cooperating that must accompany
successful home preparedness projects?” (President Spencer
W. Kimball, “And the Lord Called His People Zion,” Tambuli,
Dec. 1984.)
Click to Enlarge
These pumpkins provided work and gave a
Halloween reward.
Now
my children are grown with families of their own. Only
a few of them continue that therapeutic work with the
ground, but all of them have a strong work ethic. And
that is the unexpected, yet deeper, more lasting harvest
or blessing that has come from complying with a prophet’s
request. All of my children know how to work to provide
for themselves and their families. They know how to contribute
to the extended family, to neighbors, and to friends,
as needs arise. And of great importance today, they know
how to work in their homes to seek solutions instead of
stewing in despair.
Please
don’t misunderstand me. I’m aware all of this “character”
was not developed solely by working in the garden. With
age, in addition to experience and jobs outside the home,
they all had daily, at-home chore requirements — chores
that would have taken so much less time if I would have
done them myself. But what would my children have learned
if nothing was asked of them?
Of
course, as grandparents, our influence on children may
or may not be daily, but it is consistent, whether we
recognize it or not. Do our grandchildren value work and
obedience because of our examples? Are we doing our best
to be self-sufficient and obey the prophet’s requests?
My
husband and I, at this point, must continue to work to
provide for ourselves. Retirement is not an option. But
we have been able to devote one day a week in answer to
President Hinckley’s request for couples to serve missions.
We provide hosting at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building
in Salt Lake City. It may not be a mission around the
world in India or Africa, but it is an effort and an example
of obedience to our grandchildren. We may not have the
time to do a lot of family research, but we are putting
together an extended family slumber party, at which we
will honor our faithful ancestors, telling their stories,
and bearing our testimonies. We may not have assigned
chores or regular gardening requirements for our grandchildren,
but they contribute to our work (some have helped me a
great deal with my writing efforts) and add to our joy
in the bountiful harvest.
As
I mentioned in last month’s article, three grandchildren
enthusiastically helped me build a paver patio in the
backyard. Five grandchildren came this week to contribute
to a news segment being filmed at our home in conjunction
with the new release of The LDS Grandparents’ Idea
Book. They shelled black beans from the garden, played
games, and ate candy fish swimming in blue Jello. I couldn’t
have done it without them!
A
few days ago, a two-year-old granddaughter stayed the
evening with us while her parents went to an appointment.
Because of the season, that evening we needed to pick
and freeze the last of the summer sweet corn. With her
bobbed, red hair swaying, she dutifully carried her little,
empty white bucket up to the garden. We picked and husked
the corn and filled her bucket. She got tired of carrying
the bucket and placed it on the ground. Then she sat down
in the garden row next to the bucket, with the tall corn
stalks behind her and the string beans dangling by her
little feet in front of her, and proceeded to pick up
one ear of corn after another and eat them raw. It was
so funny to watch! She’d finish one ear, throw it in the
garden, and grab another. When she was full, we picked
cherry tomatoes. She filled her chipmunk cheeks to capacity.
With that healthy food, at a very young age, our granddaughter
was given a simple lesson in the value of work and the
law of the harvest.
Next
weekend the extended family will gather here for our annual
trick-or-treat party. The parents each bring enough treats
for every child attending. The treats aren’t necessarily
Halloween candies. They might be notepads with pencils,
pictures of children with Christ, or simple dollar-store
toys. Most of the rooms in the house are used. The parents,
in their costumes, are stationed in each room with their
treats. Some years, the parents have decorated the rooms,
or at least the doors, where they were stationed. One
year, a daughter and her husband even brought their fake
smoke machine and turned their room (and as it turned
out, the whole basement) into a spook alley. The children,
in their costumes, go from room to room to trick-or-treat.
We’ll have a fun dinner (probably this year it will be
fun-shaped pasta, meatballs, and homemade tomato sauce)
and every child will decorate a can of soup for home storage
and select a pumpkin from our garden to take home.
Click to Enlarge
The author and her husband Larry don’t
just work with their grandchildren; they act silly with
them, too.
Who
can gauge the value of that special visit between grandparents
and grandchildren as they weed or water the garden (or
wash a car, or dust the furniture, or set the table for
the family gathering)? How do we evaluate the good that
comes from the obvious lesson of planting, cultivating,
and the eternal law of the harvest (whether it be in making
paver patios or carving pumpkins)? And how do we measure
the family togetherness and cooperating that must accompany
successful home preparedness projects (like shelling beans
for storage, freezing and packaging corn, or decorating
soup cans)?
As
grandparents, we have many opportunities to teach discipline,
service, endurance, the value of work, and the building
of character. We do so by rooting our families in healthy
family traditions that develop a sense of dedication,
obedience, belonging, and
love.
