The Story of Rosemarie Deppe
As a young girl, Rosemarie spent her summers with my grandma, and she spent much of her time in her garden. She didn’t have a nice, small garden in the corner of her yard like other grandmas. Oh No!! She had what she called a “work-hard-and-eat-well” garden. We would get up early in the morning before it got too and spend hours weeding, watering, and eventually picking the vegetables from the garden. The only thing that kept me going was that once in a while, a fresh breeze would come along to help cool us off.
My grandma didn’t say very much, but she worked a lot. I followed her around the garden, but my mind was usually thinking of something else. I thought to myself: “Gardening is for grandmas!” But my grandma would smile at me, and that smile told me she was pleased as she looked over our work. She made me promise that I would follow the counsel of the prophet (President Spencer W. Kimball) and plant my own garden someday.
Sowing Seeds of Obedience
Eventually Rosemarie grew up, and had a family of her own. She decided that it was time to plant a garden—not because she was too excited about it, but because she had a at least out of a desire to obey the prophet and to keep the promise she had made to her Grandma. She daid: “As soon as I dug up a small area of ground, I realized that I hadn’t paid very close attention to what grandma was doing in the garden when I was younger. What had come so easily for Grandma now seemed impossible for me. Did I pick a good location? How should I arrange the rows? How close should I plant the seeds?”
Continuing her story Rosemarie said: “I tried to dismiss the need to plant a garden. “What’s the big deal, anyway? I can just buy this food from the store and save myself all of this work.” But I had made a promise, and I wanted to keep it. I called Grandma for reminders and tips about gardening. I began to remember again our summer days together in the garden. At first, nothing happened—all that work and nothing. But finally, after several weeks, a few plants struggled through the ground and began to grow.”
Weeding Out Distraction
After planting the garden, Rosemarie got distracted by the challenges in her life, that she forgot her garden. The kids got sick. Life got busy. The dog ate some of the young plants. Other things seemed more important, and she didn’t think much about her garden until grandma came to visit.
Rosemarie said: “I cringed when grandma asked to see the garden. The walk out to the garden seemed long and terrible. When we went outside, I was completely embarrassed by what we both saw. The plants had withered down to nothing, and the weeds were choking out the vegetables. Grandma’s looked around, and didn’t say very much. After looking things over, grandma turned to me, with disappointment in her voice and said: ‘You have neglected your garden.’ “
“I had neglected my garden—and my promise to her. I had not cared about my garden until she was there. I knew I had disappointed her. I thought of a thousand excuses, but none of them mattered. “It’s hopeless, Grandma. I’m hopeless!”
Cultivating Hope
She looked at my garden intently. She looked at me and then looked back at my garden. “No, it’s not hopeless,” she said with a comforting smile. “I think there is something in here worth saving.” Her eyes settled on a scrawny, pathetic-looking green bean bush. I don’t even like green beans very much, but that was the plant she thought would survive.
I would have given up, but Grandma doesn’t give up on anything or anyone. She knelt down beside the little plant and began to clear away the weeds. She instructed me about what I needed to do. This time I listened carefully. Grandma believed that this green bean bush had value. It was important that it lived. I began to care about it too. I did not want to disappoint her again.
It took days to bring that little plant back to life and weeks of nurturing and care to keep it going. I’ll never forget the day I picked three green beans from that bush—I was thrilled!
Learning about Gardening—and God
Many years later, after having many gardens, Rosemarie came to understand what grandma meant when she said: “You will understand more about God if you tend your garden.”
Rosemarie wondered what she meant by that. But then she remembered back to a time in college when her life had come to look like my neglected garden. Her spiritual life was withering. Her gospel roots were not very deep. She said: “In the garden of my life, weeds were growing everywhere because I had neglected scripture study and prayer and had let other things become more important. I went to church, but I didn’t really listen. I made some mistakes, and I knew I needed help.”
The walk to the bishop’s office—like the walk to the garden with my grandma—seemed long and terrible. I was embarrassed by what my life had become. I felt I was hopeless.
My bishop listened. He looked at me intently. Finally, with a comforting smile, he said, in effect, “No, it’s not hopeless. I see something in you that is worth saving.”
I began to understand that the power of the Atonement could restore my withered life. I came to know that Heavenly Father doesn’t give up on anybody, and I determined to try my best to not disappoint Him.
Just like the revitalizing breeze I had felt in my grandmother’s garden, the repentance process restored me. Through the blessings of the Atonement, my withered hopes slowly came back to life. It was a blessing—a blessing just for me.
I now realize that I am responsible for my garden—the garden of my life. It takes daily effort to grow closer to the Lord, just as it takes daily effort to keep a garden. Repentance repairs our mistakes, and the Atonement allows us to keep trying. I have learned that the fruits of the Spirit cannot be purchased from a store; we have to grow them ourselves by following Him.
I have never forgotten how pleased I was to see those three green beans on that scraggly bush long ago. But more important than saving the plant, I came to understand that the Lord sees someone worth saving in me.
In Rosemarie’s story, we see that it takes a conscious effort on our part, if we are to keep our spirits in tune with our heavenly father. He has much that he wants to bless us with. We can have the blessing of the Holy Ghost to dwell with us, to help us overcome our weaknesses, and to more clearly see right from wrong.
If we don’t try to weed out the distractions, and things in our lives that can choke out the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lives, our spirits may become like the tiny bean plant in Rosemarie’s garden, struggling to survive and to bear fruit, but severely hampered by neglect, which allowed the weeds to grow all around it, and to steal the sunshine, water, and nutrients in the soil. By clearing away the weeds in our lives, we can open the way toward greater spiritual growth, and strength. We will be better able to grow and enlarge, and reach the potential that is within each one of us as Children of God.
The Seeds of Death Valley
· Death Valley Normally receives 1-2 inches of rainfall per hear. (Salt Lake City averages between 18-20 inches per year, by contrast.)
· Some years Death Valley can go an entire year without any rainfall at all!
· This winter, there have been 6 inches of rainfall in the last 4 months. What do you think has happened as a result?
· (Show pictures of wildflowers)
· Rainfall like this occurs only about once in every 100 years in Death Valley
· Embedded In the dry and parched desert soil of Death Valley, there are millions of tiny seeds, just waiting to spring forth into life, when the conditions are right. This year the conditions were right, and you can see the results.
· Just as there are wildflower seeds, embedded in what normally looks like dry, arid soil, there are hidden within each of us, seeds of the divine.
· Each of us is a child of God. We are precious to him.
· We carry within each of us some of his own divine and noble attributes, just like we carry many of the physical attributes of our earthly parents.
· Like the wildflower seeds waiting for rain, the seeds of divinity, inherited from our Heavenly Father, are waiting us to make the conditions right for those seeds to spring forth into life.
“We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny.”
(C. A. Hall, The Home Book of Quotations, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1935, p. 845.)
Elder Delbert L Stapley, of the Quorum of the Twelve said:
“We are not born into this world with fixed habits. Neither do we inherit a noble character. Instead, as children of God, we are given the privilege and opportunity of choosing which way of life we will follow—which habits we will form.”
Good habits don’t happen overnight. We must first resolve to make a change. But just having made a resolution won’t make it happen. Good habits are formed in our daily lives, by the things we do, one day at a time. As our habits change, from bad ones, to good ones, our character is changed as well. It is not in the moments of great trial that build our character. Rather, these moments display the character that has already been built in our lives, through our day to day actions.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley Said:
“The character required to attain eternal life must be formed in this life with good habits. Goodness in a person is not simply the absence of wrongdoing. It is a love of and practice of all things that are true, honest, lovely, and of good report.”
Let us set high goals for ourselves and work to achieve those goals by making God the center of our lives. He is the fountainhead of all truth, justice, and peace. Let us remember that God’s laws are eternal. They do not change. There is no moral or spiritual code that changes with what is popular in the world, or what might be politically correct. Some may presume that they can change the laws of God to fit their own selfish needs or desires. But God is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever. Truth is Truth, and it will endure and abide forever. Evil or bad habits can never lead us to joyful living. For as the prophet Alma said: “Wickedness never was happiness”. God’s standards and truths for his people will always point toward the true way of life for all of his children.
The Lord has said: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— “And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (D&C 130:20–21.)
Our efforts to love and serve God will be openly rewarded by him. He always extends to us the hand of love and mercy. He loved us so much that he suffered and died for us. He knows that like the tiny bean bush overcome with weeds, that within each one of us, there is something worth saving. We need only have faith and trust in Him. Have faith that He is there. Have faith that he loves us, no matter how many weeds we may have in our gardens. We need to have faith that he has the power, and the willingness to help us overcome our weaknesses. We need to have faith that he will bless us, as we follow him, and keep his commandments.
Maintaining good personal habits which are pleasing to our Heavenly Father will strengthen our character, increase our influence for good, improve our example toward others, bless our loved ones and friends, enrich our lives, and enable us to accomplish those things that yield true personal satisfaction and build peace and happiness in our hearts. We will have joy eternally, possessing a treasure to be much desired and sought after, for the Lord gives this assurance: “Inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.” (D&C 58:28.)
It all starts with a single step—we decide that we can do it.
May we forsake all evil and take that first step to shape our lives for eternity through good habits and righteous standards of good character.
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