The Handcart of My Heart

(image from lds.org)

I was inspired by the recent address of our Relief Society President.  She spoke about the handcart pioneers. After a bit of research I learned that "Fully loaded, a handcart could hold around 500 pounds of provisions and possessions, within which adults were allowed 17 pounds of clothing and bedding, children 10 pounds. Frequently even this amount became onerous, and belongings were abandoned all along the trail." (http://www.lds.org/gospellibrary/pioneer/03_Iowa_City.html)\

I have pondered this for days.  Seventeen pounds.  What would I have packed for my journey through the wilderness?  What will I carry through the desert of my difficulties?   

What will the handcart of my heart hold? What will yours?

May I share with you the things I feel to take. 
First: I would take the clothing of Christ. The cloth of Christ is woven as Peter said: "with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5) and "with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace." (D&C 88:125)  Moms, you know best that clothes don't stay clean as much as the person wearing them.  We can spiritually scrub our soul through repentance, and have our sins washed away through the Atonement of Christ. When the Lord states "Unto Adam, and also unto his wife, did I, the Lord God, make coats of skins, and clothed them." (Moses 4:27), he didn't spontaneously produce the material--it came from something.  Something's skin was sacrificed to cover their nakedness.  This is symbolic of the unblemished lamb who was sacrificed to cover our nakedness, our sins.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ covers everything and everyone. Forgive the triteness, but I believe we must literally wear our religion on our sleeve if we are to traverse the figurative Rocky Mountains that lie ahead.  The clothes of Christ are the clothes of a covenant keeper.
Next, I would take the food of faith. To the best of my knowledge there weren't any Piggly Wiggly's or Kroger's along the pioneer's path to which they could resort for a cup of sugar or a bag of flour.  They had to have those things secured before the journey started and so it is with our faith.  As has been said, adversity does not make the man--it reveals him, and though faith can be fortified in trials, it must spring forth from something, be it a tiny seed at best.  I think we are stronger than we think.  All of us have a list of unendurables--things that we don't think we can handle, i.e. death, disability, divorce, disease.  Like most of you, I have come face to face with a couple of the items on my 'list' and you know what: You get through it.  You dig in the soil of your soul, and you find the faith to keep pulling. And as you pull you start to realize that there are angels on your right and on your left, bearing you up when you don't think you can take one more step.  When you hit the line in the sand and cry, 'I can go there and no further' know that Jesus Christ is waiting there and he will carry you to the finish line if you will turn to Him in faith.  I know this to be true.
Finally, I would take the bedding of brotherhood. I have learned that it doesn't really matter where you are or what you have if you love the people you're with and you're with the people you love. Heaven would truly be hell if it is bereft of the ones we cherish.

"We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction, that we may all sit down in heaven together." (Lucy Mack Smith, in Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society (2011), 25.)

As we push and pull across the next few weeks, I hope I can find the discipline to throw out the things I am carrying around that are holding me back and weighing me down.  I hope I can see those who need an extra push, and pause to help. I hope I can remember the reasons I'm even making the trip. 

The Handcart Song
Ye saints who dwell on Europe's shore
Prepare yourselves for many more,
To leave behind your native land,
For sure God's judgments are at hand.
For you must cross the raging main
Before the promised land you gain,
And with the faithful make a start,
To cross the plains with your handcart
For some must push and some must pull,
As we go marching up the hill;
So merrily on the way we go
Until we reach the Valley-o.
As on the roads the carts are pulled
'Twould very much surprise the world
To see the old and feeble dame
Thus lend a hand to pull the same.
And maidens fair will dance and sing—
Young men more happy than a king,
And children too, will laugh and play
Their strength increasing day by day.
And long before the Valley's gained,
We will be met upon the plains
With music sweet and friends so dear,
And fresh supplies our hearts to cheer.
And then with music and with song
How cheerfully we'll march along,
And thank the day we made a start,
To cross the plains with our handcart.
For some must push and some must pull,
As we go marching up the hill;
So merrily on the way we go
Until we reach the Valley-o.
["The Handcart Song," Pioneer Songs (1940), 21]

Have a wonderful Wednesday and drop by tomorrow for a chat on censorship.