Mary Poppins Monday: Larry

I haven't done Mary Poppins Monday in a long time and there are still so many people I want to tell you about. So I thought I would start by sharing a story that I actually typed up a couple years ago. After I started the blog a few of you lovely people encouraged me repeatedly to send some of my Mormon posts in to the Ensign. This post about Cara in particular. I loved the idea of it but I knew that since I wrote that for the blog it was way too casual and messy to submit. And since I never go back and edit anything I could never motivate myself to rewrite it. Instead I picked another favorite story of mine and wrote it in a voice that I hoped would be more Ensign ready and then I saved it and never submitted it. Then the man I had written about passed away and I told my mom that I had written about him so that she could share the story with his family. I told her to wait to share though because I was going to first bite the bullet and send it to the Ensign. I thought it would be even cooler if they read it there. I hurriedly sent it before I could chicken out and then noticed that it was supposed to be double spaced and have a cover letter. Oops and oops! I was going to resubmit it properly but the instructions said not to submit the same piece of work twice so all I could do was hope that someone would still read it and consider it for publication. I don't know if anyone ever read it but I do know that it has been 6 months so I have now given up hope of it ever appearing in the Ensign, but it is a good story so I still want to share it here, if that is okay with you.

So here it is, just cut and pasted exactly as it was submitted.

The Windows of Heaven and the Worth of Souls

As I was preparing to go on my mission I had the misfortune of being laid off from my job. The week before Christmas I went in to work and we were informed that they were cutting the staff by half that day. I knew immediately that I would be among the jobless by day’s end. I already had my mission call. I would enter the MTC the first week of February. It wouldn’t make sense for them to keep me and let someone else go. I braced myself for the blow and left the building with my head held high.

I waited until I got home to fall apart. I lived on my own, states away from my family. I had rent. I had bills. I still had stuff to buy in preparation for my mission and I was already burdening my parents enough with mission costs. I had almost five hundred dollars in my top drawer. It was a few months tithing that I hadn’t turned in yet. It was already in a tithing envelope. I took it out and counted it. I knew that I desperately needed that money, far more than Heavenly Father needed it. I also knew that since I was getting ready to go to the temple and serve a mission that I needed to pay my tithing. I sealed the envelope. It was not my money.

Just days later I received a letter in the mail. It was from a man named Larry who worked with my mom. He had been raised in the church and made some decisions in his life that had taken him another direction. He told me that he admired the work I was about to do and was grateful that I was going to share the gospel with others. He explained that he felt that if he had any redeeming qualities, they came from the years he spent in the church. He enclosed a check for five hundred dollars. Five hundred dollars from a total stranger who knew nothing of my circumstances.

In that moment I gained a testimony of the principle of tithing. I used that story on my mission and it helped me to teach tithing unapologetically and with conviction. I have had several experiences that have deepened my understanding of tithing since then, but I still tell that story. It was the beginning for me.

Along with gaining a testimony of tithing, there was more to what I learned that day. I also realized that I was making the right decision to serve a mission. Roadblocks popped up continually and Heavenly Father knocked them out of the way every time.

But most importantly, I learned a valuable lesson about the worth of souls.

I have thought about the letter from Larry in the years since my mission. I don’t have the actual letter anymore, but I have it etched in my soul. I have been haunted by the words “if I have any redeeming qualities”. That if hurts my heart. This man had forgotten who he was. He had forgotten that by his very nature he was a priceless treasure.

I have thought about the way that he reached out to me. I have thought about the love of God. Heavenly Father used this man as a vessel to do His work. Even though Larry had lost his way in the church, he had not lost the love of his Father in Heaven. Heavenly Father knew Larry. He acted through Larry, his child. We cannot ever go to a place where Heavenly Father’s love can’t reach. Such a place does not exist. God loves all His children. He is aware of us. He speaks to us and He works through us, all of us. We are all equal in value to God, always, no if about it.

I am so grateful for my brief encounter with Larry, who opened up the windows of heaven that Heavenly Father promises will open when we are faithful in paying our tithes (Malachi 3:10). I have recently learned that Larry has passed away and I pray that he left this life knowing his worth as a child of God. I hope he was able to let go of that if.