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Pure in Heart
Zion-Grace's Funeral Thursday April 17, 2008
One of the recurring themes of my conversations with Elizabeth the past two months has been the tender mercies
of the Lord. The Larson family has seen the hand of the Lord through the love and service of so many thoughtful
friends and neighbors. Whether it was a meal brought by, a book dropped off, beautiful flowers or a phone call
at just the right moment. Many thanks to each of you for your love, support, faith and prayers for Elizabeth,
Aaron, Spencer and Natalie. Thank you.
Choosing a name was one of the first things that the Larson Family did when they learned that an extra special
little girl was going to join their family. They wanted it to be the name that Heavenly Father wanted her to have.
So there was much prayer before the name Zion-Grace Elizabeth was chosen. As you know, the name Zion means “pure
in heart”. The name Grace reminds us of the divine means of help or strength given through the mercy and love
of our Savior, Jesus Christ - the means whereby
we can be together as families forever.
Elizabeth has written a talk that she would like me to share with you now. So these are Elizabeth's thoughts and
words:
As I was pondering what to say at Zion-Grace's funeral the thought came to mind, ”If Zion-Grace could give a talk
at her own funeral, what topic would she choose?” The answer came almost immediately. She would speak on being
pure in heart. So feeling very inadequate, I am humbly attempting to give her talk for her and share some thoughts
on becoming pure in heart.
Yesterday we went to the funeral home and dressed little Zion-Grace in a beautiful, pure white dress. White is
a symbol of purity – just the way we want our hearts to be. Jesus said during his Sermon on the Mount “Blessed
are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. If we want to see and live with Heavenly Father, Jesus and Zion-Grace
again we need to be pure in heart.
How do we become more pure in heart so that we can live with Heavenly Father, Jesus and Zion-Grace? The first step
that we need to do is open our hearts to God so that he can help to purify our hearts through the Atonement. During
the Saturday afternoon session of our recent General Conference Elder Gerald N. Lund talked about how we are the
gate keepers of our hearts. Heavenly Father has given us our agency. We get to choose who and what we will allow
into our hearts. Heavenly Father will never force His way into our hearts. We have to open the gate to our hearts
and invite Him in. In Helaman 3:35 we read that the Nephites' hearts were purified and sanctified “because of
their yielding their hearts unto God”.
The first step in yielding our hearts to God is opening the gate and inviting Him in to help purify our hearts.
The other steps to becoming more pure is heart so that we can live with God and Zion-Grace again are found in the
parable of the pickle by Elder David A. Bednar. As I refresh our memories about this parable remember that becoming
pure in heart is like changing a cucumber into a pickle. In Elder Bednar's parable, he tells us that a pickle
is a cucumber that has been transformed according to a specific recipe and series of steps.
The first step in making pickles is the preparing and cleaning of the cucumbers. Elder Bednar's mother had high
standards of cleanliness and Elder Bednar spent many hours removing stems and scrubbing the dirt off the cucumbers.
Heavenly Father also has high standards of cleanliness regarding our hearts. They must be pure like Zion-Grace's.
Heavenly Father's standards of cleanliness require us to repent and be baptized. Moses 6:57 says, “Wherefore teach
unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for
no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence.” So just like the cucumbers need to be cleaned or they
can't become pickles, we to need to be cleaned through repentance and baptism. And then we need to keep on repenting
to remain clean.
The second step in the process of changing cucumbers into pickles is immersing and saturating the cucumbers in
salt brine for an extended period of time. Cucumbers can only become pickles if they are totally and completely
immersed in the brine for the prescribed time period. The curing process gradually alters the composition of the
cucumber and produces the transparent appearance and distinctive taste of a pickle. If we want to become pure in
heart like Zion-Grace we need to become completely immersed in the gospel just like the cucumbers have to be completely
immersed in the brine for them to become pickles. We can become totally immersed in the gospel as we honor and
“observe the covenants” (D&C 42:13) into which we have entered. We also needed to feast upon the words of Christ
(2 Nephi 32:3), pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart (Moroni 7:48), serve God with all our heart,
might, mind and strength (D&C 4:2), and overcome the pull of the world. If we do these things, then slowly,
line upon line, precept upon precept with complete immersion in the gospel, our hearts become pure hearts, just
like a cucumber becomes a pickle.
The final step in the process of pickling requires the sealing of the cured pickles in jars that have been sterilized
and purified. The pickles are packed in canning jars, covered with boiling hot brine, and processed in a boiling-water-bath
canner. All impurities must be removed from both the pickles and the bottles so the finished product can be protected
and preserved. Just like pickles need to be purified and sealed so do our hearts for them to be pure. This can
only happen through the Atonement and the Holy Spirit. Elder Bednar said, “All of our worthy desires and good works,
as necessary as they are, can never produce clean hands and a pure heart. It is the Atonement of Jesus Christ that
provides both a cleansing and redeeming power that helps us to overcome sin and a sanctifying and strengthening
power that helps us to become better than we ever could by relying only upon our own strength.”
Isn't the parable of the the pickle fun? We can learn so much from it. I know that through heeding the teachings
of the parable of the pickle, we can unlock the gates to our hearts and invite Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ
in. We can become pure in heart just like Zion-Grace and her pretty white dress.
It has been said that sometimes the shortest lives have the biggest impact. That is so true of Zion-Grace. She
lived a miraculous 48 minutes and has changed our family forever. She has helped to strengthen our testimonies
of the plan of salvation, the atonement, and the resurrection. We love the temple and all that it stands for even
more. We love each other more deeply. We have a much stronger desire to be pure in heart so that we too may be
worthy to be in the presence of God and be reunited with her. Her name: Zion-Grace will act as a constant reminder
of her desire for each of us to become pure in heart so that through His grace we will be reunited. What a legacy
she has left us!
If Zion-Grace could be giving this talk today I sure she would tell you how much she respects and loves each of
you. She would want to give you each a hug and talk individually with each of you. She would then invite each of
us to commit today to become more pure in heart. Zion-Grace would tell us that there is no sacrifice too great
on the road to becoming pure in heart. We must overcome the pull of the world. She would conclude by lovingly and
boldly testifying that Jesus is the Christ; and that if we become pure in heart, through the atonement, we will
be forever reunited with our families.
That concludes Elizabeth's talk. Elizabeth's mom concluded by saying.
May I add my witness to hers that I know these things are true. I look forward to the day when Zion-Grace's spirit
will again be joined to her body and not even a hair of her pretty little head will be lost. We love Zion-Grace
and are so grateful for the miracle of her birth and her short life here on earth. And we are so looking forward
to being with her again.
I know that God lives and loves us very much. Jesus lived and died for us. He was resurrected and He lives again.
We will, too. To these things I testify. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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