white cork tree.

about two years ago i was really struggling trying to figure out some things, and trying to figure out how to change some of the things and patterns I had gotten in to. i decided to go and sit at the Mesa Arizona Temple grounds and just spend an hour or two praying about the answers to all the many questions and hopes i had piling up. as i sat there i just pondered everything i had been thinking of. about thirty minutes after showing up an older man came over and started talking to me, just normal things, like, "how is your sunday?" "isn’t the Temple lovely today?" "this is such a great place to be." and then, right when i thought he was going to leave, he turned around and said, "i feel like i should tell you a story." and so he told me this story about cork trees, and how cork trees are brown, but, ever so rarely, for some reason or another, a cork tree will grow, and instead of brown cork, it will have white cork. he told me how white cork trees are extremely rare, but that there was one on the Mesa Temple grounds. and then right before he left he looked me square in the eyes and said, “every time i feel like there is something in my life that i need to change, i come here and look at that cork tree, and think to myself, ‘if that cork tree can change its molecular structure to come out a different color, then i can change this small thing about me!!'" that was such a tender mercy for me at that time. it was exactly the answer i needed and was looking for. well, now every time i go to the Mesa Temple i can't help but walk over to that tree and remember this experience.

and every time before i leave that tree i say to myself, "if you can change your molecular structure to come out a different color, than surely i can change whatever it is that i need to change in my life." needless to say, i now have a deep love and appreciation for white cork trees and the messages and insights we receive by going to the house of the Lord.

scripture of the day:

1 Nephi 18:3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.

today i am thankful for:

* tender mercies of the Lord that stick with us for years to come.

* the opportunity that i have to be so close to a temple whether i am at school or at home.

* people who follow the promptings of the spirit.

<3.