My gift shall be the gift of...

I recently saw the movie maleficent, which was actually a pretty good movie, BUT make no mistake that it doesn't hold a candle to the original Disney version of 'Sleeping Beauty' (my fave Disney movie, which ya, makes me SUPER biased).  With the hype of the new movie over the last month or so, I couldn't help but remember the original. My mind soon turned to the fairies bestowing gifts to the baby princess. I started to ponder what gift I would give as a fairy to the baby princess if I could grant any gift I could. Instantly I of course thought of my own little princess in what gift I would give her; being able only to choose 1 precious gift.

My gift shall be the gift of Knowledge.

For me, no other gift could compare to this in importance. Grace, beauty, and song could never dive down near as deep as knowledge could touch. It's being able to decipher truth from falsehood. It's knowing right from wrong. Knowledge is what gives us the motive and ambition to deliver our best in life. It's the whole foundation on why moments touch us the way they do, how and why we make certain decisions, and the route in which gratitude and charity are brought about. If everyone in this world (myself included) only but knew the truth of things, happiness would always be present and love would forever abound. Money, physical health, vanity, popularity, fame, and even those around us will come and go, but knowledge forever stays. It is the loyal comfort that can abound within regardless of anything going on on the outside.

To gain the knowledge, and KEEP the knowledge we need in this life that is of upmost importance it all comes down to this:

"...ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." - Ether 12:6

Basically we need to believe and put that belief into trust acting in faith before the gift of knowing can reside within us. Believing turns into seeing and not the other way around.

For a Family Home Evening activity a while back, in the spirit of a story relayed in a talk, the hubs and I took the time to write down 25 words we each would give to our baby girl if they were our last. As we pondered in heavy consideration, the limited words gave light to what was of most importance. These words all came down to our testimonies - what we knew to be true. We do not know what she will be confronted with in this life, but we do know what things will forever stand true as the trials wave on. The words chosen had nothing to do with marrying a righteous man, getting a good education, or being smart with money. The words had everything to do with God, love, kindness and faith. It was the knowledge we had that we knew would prove to be the most vital that she would need to arm herself with in order to be happy. That is after all what we ultimately desire for our kids - that of true happiness. The knowledge of our Saviour is what I truly desire my daughter to have.

And of course this post must end with our own little  Sleeping Beauty :

Heaven's slice is knowledge.