Stand a Little Taller

These days I attend church in a renovated villa with a pool in the backyard. Each meeting -whether Sacrament, "Friday" School or Relief Society- I find the room overflowing, and overflowing with faces from across the world. Many have stories of great sacrifice and even greater faith that, frankly, make me feel down right spoiled. I have been welcomed with wide arms, gracious smiles and big hugs and when I leave, I am always filled and grateful to have been, again, reminded that I belong to a faith that is strong, kind, merciful.

This Friday, in particular, I was touched. I sat in the overflow room so I could only hear the words shared in Sacrament. For an hour I listened as person after person added their testimony of President Hinckley to the last. Each voice had a different accent, but the message was the same. The cumulative effect of this diverse group's spoken faith was an intensely sweet spirit testifying of President Hinckley, as a prophet, seer and revelator. So, I add my Midwestern accent-less accented words to those of Friday…

How grateful I am for President Hinckley, "our Beloved Prophet," and for the opportunity I have to follow his counsel to "stand a little taller, be a little kinder, be a little better."