My grandpa Montgomery was a great example to me in a lot of
ways and I learned a great deal from him. He taught me the importance of hard work. He use magic to entertain us.
And I never doubted his love of the gospel. And, to be honest, there are
lessons he taught me that every time I think of, I smirk. There is one lesson
he taught me, however, that I think about every single time that I mow my lawn.
When my grandpa was still alive he had a nice garden out
behind their house. Each summer we grandchildren would help him with different
chores. Some of us helped a lot more than others. I helped build walls, plant
seeds, pull weeds, and irrigate each week. (though often that latter activity
turned into a giant water fight with me and my friends.)
Each spring we would get grandpa's small tractor and get the
garden ready by tilling, disking and plowing. Once the ground was ready, we
would dig the trenches for watering. I remember the year the grandpa finally
let me drive the tractor for this part.
As I drove up the garden trying to dig the trench, I would look back to
see if the plow was still in the dirt, then look back ahead. As any of you who
would've ever tried this know, that's not the way to make a straight row, and
mine was anything but straight. Grandpa told me, "stop looking behind you
and look ahead."
I tried that, and my next couple rows were a little better.
But still far from straight. That's when he taught me the lesson. He said
"Brian, you can't just look right in front of the tractor. You have to
have a goal insight." He pointed up
to the top of the garden where the ditch was that would have the irrigation
water in it and the small floodgates that would let water go down each trench
in the garden. He said "do you see where the floodgates are?" I told
him I did. He said "keep your eyes on the floodgate that you're going to.
If you do that, your rows will be straight." I tried what he'd suggested,
and I'll be darned if he wasn't right. My next row was nearly straight. It
wasn't as perfect as grandpa's row, but it was so much better than my first.
And, within the next couple of tries, I had it down. My rows were straight.
Every time. I still think about that lesson every time I'm all my lawn. I pick
a spot on the fence and I go towards it. I make a straight line, and I think
about my grandpa, and I smile.
In our lives, we can learn a lot from my grandpa taught me
that day. If we are constantly looking behind us, will never see where were
going, and our paths will veer from where we want it to be every single
time. If we're looking directly in front
of us, we can still lose our way. However, when we have a goal in sight, when
we look at where we want to end up, our lines are straight and true. A
momentary glance right in front of us to be aware of obstacles is okay, as long
as you quickly move your eyes back to your goal. The scriptures teach us of a
straight and narrow path, and whenever I hear that, I think of grandpa and I
appreciate the meaning a little more. I think that lesson he taught. "Keep your eyes on where you want to go,
and you get there." The way may indeed be narrow, but with your eyes on your goal, your row will be straight. Thanks, Grandpa!
