He Shall Feed His Flock

December, 1994
It was the week before Christmas, and the library was having a special puppet show for preschoolers. After settling my two young children on the floor, I took a seat on a row of chairs along the back wall. Although I wasn’t really in the mood for a puppet show, I was grateful to be sitting down for a few minutes. I was expecting my third child any day, and keeping up with the demands of my four-year-old son and nineteen-month-old daughter was beginning to wear me out. My husband, in school full-time and serving in our ward bishopric, was not often available to help. I wondered how I would manage when the baby came.

I had grabbed a book from a display as we came through the library. It was a book of Christmas stories and songs, and I leafed through it, hoping it would put me in the Christmas spirit. I saw that the book contained some of the songs from Handel’s Messiah, which I have always loved. I turned to that section and read these words:

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)

I had read this scripture before, but this time I was struck by the last phrase. I suppose I had always taken this to mean that the Savior will gently lead the young sheep. But that isn’t what it says – it says those that are with young: the mother sheep.

The Spirit testified to me that the Lord does indeed have a special role in leading those who are concerned with the care and nurture of his precious young ones. 

The peace and comfort of this message carried me through the next few days ─ my third child, Danny, was born on Christmas Eve ─ and I have called upon that divine promise many times during my years of parenting.

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I happen to be very fond of sheep. But I will note that they are not particularly smart animals. Besides their intellectual weakness, they have virtually no defenses against predators. They can't run fast, they don't have teeth or sharp claws to fight with ─ they can't even make a scary face!

 They need a shepherd.

Most of us are smarter than sheep, but we are not smart enough, or strong enough, to win the battle against sin, grief and doubt alone.

We, too, need a shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want . . . He restoreth my soul . . . I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; (Psalms 23)

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. (John 10:14) 

And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things. (Mark 6:34)

For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. (Ezekiel 34:11 – 12)

Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd. (Alma 5:38)

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At the time of Christ's birth, shepherds were not held in high esteem. Herding sheep was considered menial labor. Shepherds were thought to be dirty ─ and they often were, because they spent so much of their time with the sheep.

And yet, they were the first called to see the Savior's birth:

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 

 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. (Luke 2:7 - 15) 

Christian essayist Randy Alcorn wrote: Into this social context of religious snobbery and class prejudice, God’s Son stepped forth. How surprising and significant that Father God handpicked lowly, unpretentious shepherds to first hear the joyous news: “It’s a boy, and He’s the Messiah!”

It was not by chance that shepherds were chosen as witnesses. While Christ frequently affirmed His role as shepherd, He has also been manifestly recognized as "The Lamb." In these dual roles, Christ not only protects and guides us, but as the sacrificial lamb of God He gives his life to redeem us.

. . . Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:12-13)

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7).

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

The Lord Jesus Christ He was born in obscurity, lived in difficulty and suffered all things — for us. For you, and for me.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4)

And we cannot repay him. He does not ask us to. He cannot expect us to.

So what does he ask of us?

After the Savior completed His atoning sacrifice, blood sacrifices were no longer a gospel ordinance. We are now required to offer the Lord “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20). We are also asked to comply with the principles of sacrifice by obeying the commandments, offering precious gifts of love, time, and service, and remembering the sacrifice of our Savior. Our sacrifices deepen our worship, acknowledge our debt to God, and express gratitude for our blessings. (See Behold the Lamb of God, David Rolph Seely and Jo Ann H. Seely, April 2013)

Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered. ( 2 Nephi 2:6 - 7)

From Elder Neal A. Maxwell:

The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!

And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay.Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth;Yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.  (Mosiah 2:20 - 25)

This message resonates beautifully in the final stanza of Christina Rossetti's poem, In the Bleak Midwinter:

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

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So, what will you give your Lord and Savior this year, on the day we celebrate His birth? Will you, like King Lamoni, give away all your sins to know Him? Can you find the faith and the courage to say, as Christ did, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done"? 

To be honest, I'm really not sure I can. But I'm pretty sure I can try to be kinder, to be more diligent in studying the scriptures, to pray more fervently, and to better magnify my callings at church and at home.

Like a good sheep would.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Merry Christmas to all my fellow sheep. 

Three Lessons I Learned From My Appliances

When Wes and I got married, my maternal grandmother gave us her old microwave oven. It was a small black cube from the early eighties, not quite large enough to put a dinner plate in it. It had no buttons. To use it, you pulled the door handle to open it, put your food inside, pushed the door closed, and turned a plastic dial to start it.

Then you could leave the room to do something else, because it wasn't a powerful piece of equipment, and you had some time to kill.

We used that little microwave for thirteen years, until we moved into our current home and decided to get a new one.

Our new microwave was dazzling in comparison.

Disclaimer: These pictures are for illustration purposes only,
 and they may not actually reflect reality. (I have never in my life cooked that many carrots.)

Among its many stunning features, this microwave had a “30 seconds” button. We wondered what use that could possibly be. It didn't take us long to find out. This microwave could indeed make things warm in just half a minute. With a whole minute we could really heat things up. I thought about my paternal grandmother, who never owned a microwave. She was a widow for the last 25 years of her long life, and when she cooked, she froze her leftovers in little tin pie pans. Later, she would take a serving out and warm it in the oven for about an hour. I wondered what she would think of an appliance that could do the same job in two or three minutes.¹

I was used to doing other work while warming leftovers or cooking a frozen burrito, but since this one was so fast, it didn't seem worth it start something.

I was wrong. Thirty to sixty seconds is more time than it might seem to be. There are many things you can do in one minute or less. Here are a few ideas:

     Wipe crumbs off the countertop
     Put a few things back in the refrigerator (or wherever they should be)
     Do a little stretching
     Clean a light switch or two
     Read the scripture you have stuck on the refrigerator
     Make a phone call you've been putting off
     Pet the dog
     Declutter a drawer

I'm not saying that every second of your life should stuffed full with productive work. I am just reminding you that you might have more time than you think you have. Life is made of a lot of little minutes, and if you you use those well, you might not miss out on the big minutes. You wouldn't want to miss a magical moment, and those moments usually cannot be predicted.

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I have written before about my wonderful washer and dryer.² I really do love them. But the washing machine has a quirk I find bothersome.

It has a digital display that shows how much time is left before the load is done. A very nice feature, I thought.

But it's not very accurate. I have sometimes looked at the display to see that it has 12 minutes left until the load is done, then I come back seven minutes later to see that is says 10 minutes left.

Okay, I admit this isn't a huge problem. When I mentioned my annoyance to my husband, he said “Well, it doesn't know how much longer it will take.”

“Yes it does!” I said. “Or it should! But if it really doesn't know, it shouldn't say it does!”

I have learned to live with this issue. But the lesson is important: Don't lie to anyone ─ especially your kids ─ even about seemingly little things. Don't make up an answer or guess if you don't know. Your children (or friends or co-workers) won't lose their faith in you if admit to your non-omniscience, and they very well might enjoy finding the answer with you. But there are things we just don't know. That's what faith is about.

But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth. (D&C 93:40)

I have long admired the parenting wisdom of Dr. William Sears:

"One of the best ways for teaching honesty to kids is to create a truthful home. Just as you sense when your child is lying, children will often read their parents’ untruths. If your child sees your life littered with little white lies, he learns that this is an acceptable way to avoid consequences. Don’t tell your child something is “gone” when it really isn’t just to make it easier for you to say he can’t have anymore. Sharp little eyes often see all and you haven’t fooled your child at all. You’ve just lied to him, and he’ll know that, since he knows you so well. Just say “no more now” and expect your child to accept that."

I like to trust everyone, but it doesn't take more than a couple of lies for me to stop believing in a person. Untruths are so often revealed. It's just not worth it. As Walter Scott said, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”

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I am very grateful to have a working dishwasher. Our dishwasher, like many, I suppose, has a “Clean Light”─ a light that comes on when the dishes are clean. I have felt some small satisfaction seeing that message after a long day of cleaning. But as soon you open the dishwasher door, the light goes off.

This seemed to me very much like many of my weekdays. I could spend hours working toward a clean house, but as soon as the front door opened and the kids ran in from school, the “clean light” went out. Backpacks hit the table, mud streaked the floor and after-school snack crumbs flew.

I've realized now that many of the things we do every day are things we'll do again tomorrow. Some of those things are as simple and as universal as brushing your teeth or putting clothes on. But when you have young children (or teenagers), there will always be things you do over and over. And that's okay. We aren't meant to live in a perfectly sanitary environment. A little clutter and a little dirt probably won't hurt much.

I embrace the attitude Phyllis Diller showed when she said, “Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing.”

And I love this insightful thought: “A household has to be tended if it is to flourish and grow. Housework is never 'done' in the same sense that gardening is never done or that God's providential involvement in the world is never done. Housework and gardening and God's providence itself are exercises not in futility but in faithfulness – faithfulness to the work itself, to the people whose needs that work serves, and to the God whose own faithfulness invites our faithful response.” 
   (Margaret Kim Peterson, Keeping House: The Litany of Everyday Life)

Another favorite of mine:

On Judgment Day, if God should say, 
"Did you clean your house today?" 
I will say, "I did not.
I played with my kids and I forgot."
And God might say "Good for you ─
That's just what I hoped you'd do."

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These are small lessons. But I see something big in them. I see a life filled with appreciation for all things, big and small.

Be glad you have modern time-saving conveniences like these. Be grateful that you have people you love tracking dirt into the house. Be thankful to have spaces of time, short and long, that you can fill with work or service or looking out the window at the sky and the trees. Be grateful that you have truth to share, and truth still to learn.


Happy Thanksgiving!

1 To read more about my two grandmothers click here:
² To read about my washer and dryer, click here:

Give Me a Break!

During the last 21 months or so, I have broken four bones. Although all of these breaks were different, they were all caused by the same act – I fell. And while this falling and fracturing has been annoying and inconvenient, I am starting to see that there is something to learn from these mishaps.

S S S S S S S  S

January 2, 2015, was my son Ben's eighteenth birthday. I made a special breakfast, and after we ate and cleaned up, I left the kitchen, swatting the light switches off as I went. As I turned to make sure I'd hit them both, I lost my balance and fell to the floor. I landed — boom — on my hip, and it broke. This adventure earned me a trip to the emergency room, surgery to put three screws in my hip, weeks of physical therapy, and a walker.

I suppose anyone (well, anyone who is kind of careless) could have fallen like I did. But not everyone who falls breaks a bone. My hip broke because my bones were weak.

O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed. 
(Psalms 6:2 – 4)

Yep, that's right. I have vexed bones.

Our bones – our skeletal system – are the foundation of our mortal bodies. If they are weak, we're in danger.

Likewise, if our testimony – our faith and belief in God's Plan of Happiness – is not sufficiently strong, we are in spiritual danger. We need to be sure that our life is firmly planted on the solid rock the Savior provides.

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. (Helaman 5:12)

Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:46 - 49) 

On my last visit with my bone doctor, I asked him, “What is the very best way to strengthen your bones?”

He told me that getting calcium in your diet and taking calcium supplements can help strengthen bones, but the best way to make your bone bones strong is to use them to bear weight.

When our spirits bear weight ─ the weight of grief, pain, or heartache – we become spiritually stronger; more fit for His Kingdom.

In real life, we face actual, not imagined, hardships. There is pain—physical, emotional, and spiritual. There are heartbreaks when circumstances are very different from what we had anticipated. There is injustice when we do not seem to deserve our situation. There are disappointments when someone we trusted failed us. There are health and financial setbacks that can be disorienting. There may be times of question when a matter of doctrine or history is beyond our current understanding. (Elder Henry B. Eyring)

Each of us also carries a load. Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints . . . Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness. (Elder David A. Bednar)

Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, “Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!  (Elder Neal A. Maxwell)

If thou art called to pass through tribulation; . . . know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? (D&C 122:5 - 8)

S S S S S S S S

Just over a year ago, on a night when I was not feeling well, I fainted and fell on the tile floor, breaking my collar bone and a bone in my face.

It wasn't pretty.

Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade,

 and mine arm be broken from the bone.

(Job 31:22)

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

 (Proverbs 24:10)

While I am prone to sickness, I almost never faint. But I that night I was not well-hydrated or well-nourished. My blood pressure was low, and my blood sugar was low, and that is a recipe for fainting.

Of course, I had access to food and drink. But my sickly body would not accept nourishment.

I think about times in my life when my spirit was sick – was starving – but I was not willing to accept the spiritual nourishment that was available to me.

Jesus Christ is the Living Water. His word is food for our souls.

The Savior testified of this truth to the woman He met at a well in Samaria:

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water . . . Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:10 – 14) 

. . . every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and  without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?  and your labour for that which satisfieth not?  hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. (Isaiah 55:1-2)

O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever. (Jacob 3:2)

. . .  feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. (2 Nephi 32:3)

S S S S S S S  S

My most recent fracture happened the week school started for my youngest children. I got a terrible eye infection that left me nearly completely blind. We found a eye doctor that would take me as an emergency patient, and the next day, as I headed out to the appointment, I misjudged a step and fell on the garage stairs, breaking my leg.

 This scripture from Isaiah sums it up pretty well:

We grope for the wall like the blind,

And we grope as if we had no eyes:

We stumble at noonday as in the night;

 We are in desolate places as dead men.

 I've been rolling through life in a wheelchair since then.

          

Besides the obvious lesson that people who can't see shouldn't walk down concrete stairs, I have found some scriptural parallels in the story.

But if he repent not of his sins, which are unbelief and blindness of heart, let him take heed lest he fall. (D&C 58:15)

My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more. (Mosiah 27:29)

And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost. (1 Nephi 12:17)

We don't need to walk in darkness, which blinds our spiritual eyes and makes us stumble and fall. We don't have to be distracted by the mocking and temptations around us. We have access to a brilliant source of light that we can look to for guidance.

I am the light, and the life, and the truth of the world. (Ether 4:12)

For, behold, it is I that speak; behold, I am the light which shineth in darkness, and by my power I give these words unto thee. (D&C 11:11)

For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. (D&C 84:45–46)

S S S S S S S

Every day we make choices that will determine whether we hold tight to the iron rod, or get lost in the mists of darkness; whether our spirit is built on a firm foundation that can weather a storm, whether we are spiritually fed or malnourished.

Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man.  And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. (2 Nephi 2:27)

If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. (John 13:17)

Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy; (D&C 11:13)

Keeping ourselves strong, physically, emotionally, and spiritually will keep us from wandering off the path, and will bring peace and purpose into our lives.

Then, instead of falling into pain, we can jump for joy.

From Judgment to Joy

Last year, my husband Wes came home from work with a computer in his hands, and he set it up on the desk in our room. This was a much-needed and much-appreciated offering, since the computer I had been using had a lot of problems and seemed to be going swiftly downhill.

This “new” computer was not really new – it was a used one from his office. It still functioned very well, but there was one problem. Some of the keys on its keyboard (half of them actually – I just counted!) had been used so much that the letters were illegible. This might not be a issue for many people –  people who, for example, know how to type. But I don't. (And I think I'm too old to learn.)

But, determined to make it work, I found an orange bumper sticker we had picked up somewhere, cut the edges of it into little squares, and stuck them on the obliterated keys. Then I used a black marker to write the letters on the stickers.

The result of my task was a usable, but rather wacky-looking keyboard. I took a picture of it and put it on Facebook.

I received a number of fun responses to the picture, and one invitation: My friend Jenny challenged me to write a poem using only the stickered keys.

I dared not defy her ultimatum.

Some of you know that I have dabbled in poetry-writing in the past. And my poetry is generally mediocre in quality. But this time, I couldn't even summon a mediocre poetry muse. I wrote a ridiculously insipid little verse and posted it under the keyboard picture. But my sad literary attempt received many accolades from my audience. (Note: I will not vex you with the actual poem here. If you really want to read it, click here.)

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A few years ago, I met a delightful comrade at the cancer center where I receive my weekly treatment. This new friend was a lovely older woman who was almost completely blind. She had learned to recognize people by their voices and the sound of their footsteps. She spent her time there at the center looping and knotting yarn to cover wire hangers. I watched with admiration and wonder as her stiff, aged fingers worked steadily. She told me that her friends and neighbors were always generous in giving her hangers and yarn, so she could keep her hands busy and productive while she sat. Twice during our time together, she gave me the hanger she was working on.

I have shown these hangers to a few people, without revealing their history, and the reactions have not been positive.

I know that these are not beautiful to the uninformed eye. But I treasure those two hangers. I keep them and appreciate them, for perhaps the same reason people praised my poem: the recognition that this was the work of someone who was limited, and who was doing the best she could with what she had.

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We are all limited in some way. Some have limitations that are more obvious, easier to see on the outside, while some weaknesses are hidden and harder to see. But whatever they are, our loving God understands our weakness and is willing to work with us as we are.

And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth?  or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. (Exodus 4:10 – 12) 

God is not the God of superheroes, nor of people without weaknesses. Such beings do not exist! God helps people like you and me, those who recognize their limits and the weakness of their condition and seek His help and guidance. Failing to recognize our limitations will block our progression. On the other hand, accepting them humbly lays the foundation for eternal progression. (Gérald Caussé, Presiding Bishop, LDS church) ¹

 Is it not possible to look beyond the canes, the wheelchairs, the braces, and the crutches into the hearts of the people who have need of these aids? They are human beings and want only to be treated as ordinary people. They may appear different, move awkwardly, and speak haltingly, but they have the same feelings. They laugh, they cry, they know discouragement and hope. They do not want to be shunned. They want to be loved for what they are inside, without any prejudice for their impairment. Can there not be more tolerance for differences—differences in capacity, differences in body and in mind? (Elder James E. Faust) ² 

The limitations that are the natural consequence of advancing age can in fact become remarkable sources of spiritual learning and insight. (Elder David A. Bednar) ³ 

As in all things, the Savior shows us the way. He consistently served those inneed, without judging them for their handicaps.

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man  with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam . . . He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. (John 9:1 - 7)

The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. (Matthew 11:5)

It is the Lord's way to look at the weak with compassion, and to help them – not to ignore or avoid them.

Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.
For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you.
And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.
And they did all, both they who had been healed and they who were whole, bow down at his feet, and did worship him; and as many as could come for the multitude did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears.  (3 Nephi 17:1 – 10)

Of course, we don't have the power that Jesus had to cure. But we do have some power to help. Our ability to help in a real way starts with compassion, acceptance, and willingness.

Never look down on those who are less perfect than you. Don’t be upset because someone can’t sew as well as you, can’t throw as well as you, can’t row or hoe as well as you. We are all children of our Heavenly Father. And we are here with the same purpose: to learn to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, April 2005)

So, what do Gladys Knight and these hangers have in common? They both teach the same lesson:

 ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥ 

   

Sometimes life is like a neighborhood potluck dinner, where everyone brings something different to the table.

When we look without judgment at those who seem different from us, we can see the beauty in their offerings, and feel the compassion and the love that our Savior offers us all. And that's when the joy comes.

Notes: 
1. “For When I Am Weak, Then Am I Strong” BYU Devotional, Dec 3, 2013
2.  “The Works of God” November 1984

3.  “Chosen to Bear Testimony of My Name” October 2015