Today in Sunday school our teacher shared this beautiful
verse of poetry. I loved it...not only
for its' content, but also because I remember the author. She is Helen Bauer's mom and lived in our
ward for several years. She was in her
90's and came every week, was very sharp of mind and spirit. She was an inspiring example to me of
enduring to the end. Her poem was published in the Relief Society Magazine in 1961. I wish I had the perfect picture to
illustrate it, but the words are so descriptive that they may be enough.
October Day
Ramona
Munford – 1961
Silence
–
So
profound, all nature seems inanimate.
No
floating cloud to dim the burnished blue,
No
breath of breeze to stir dead leaves still clinging,
No
step to crush the bleaching grass in golden warmth,
The
mountain sleeps.
Silence
–
So
intense, a sudden sound would shatter it,
Like
breaking glass!
A
day for dreaming,
For
knowing God,
For
peace.
Our teacher also shared this excerpt from an article - I got a copy because I found it so very true. Gladys Palmer has a wonderful way of teaching. I think she is my favorite church teacher of all time. She is also a compassionate and understanding friend. I would like to grow up to be like her!
Commentary
Three
Cheers for Quiet Work
By
Jeffrey S. McClellan (BA’94) Executive Editor BYU Magazine Fall 2013
You've got to have a passion for anonymity in this work. Quiet work infuses and sustains our
lives. Like the humble mortar that binds
together the polished stone of a temple, quiet work underpins society, enabling
our lives to function smoothly and to resonate with beauty. Most of us do quiet work; our efforts are not
applauded by large audiences or accompanied by grand awards or celebrated with
banquets or press releases. Accountants,
nurses, construction workers, parents; lived saved, problems solved,
improvements made, tears dried—all with no fanfare and no credit line.
Quiet
work. It can change our lives. Anonymous, subtle, discreet, it affects the
course of history—personal or international—with hardly a headline.
Like
the grandeur of creation, much of the quiet work around us transcends the
bustle and clamor of other activities in life, taking its glory not from the
attention granted it but from the effort itself. This anonymity is, in part, what endows quiet
work with its nobility.
The idea for the article came from this poem, also very good.
Quiet Work
Matthew Arnold
(1822-1888)
One lesson, Nature,
let me learn of thee,
One lesson which in
every wind is blown,
One lesson of two
duties kept at one
Though the loud world
proclaim their enmity--
Of toil unsever'd
from tranquility!
Of labor, that in
lasting fruit outgrows
Far noisier schemes,
accomplish'd in repose,
Too great for haste,
too high for rivalry.
Yes, while on earth a
thousand discords ring,
Man's fitful uproar
mingling with his toil,
Still do thy
sleepless ministers move on,
Their glorious tasks
in silence perfecting;
Still working,
blaming still our vain turmoil,
Laborers that shall
not fail, when man is gone.
