My talk on Sunday

There is a story in my family which we call the Miracle of the Quail.

My little sister, Hannah, has always been very in touch with nature. To say that she is a hippie is an understatement. A few years ago, my mom discovered that Hannah had been growing corn out of lego buckets in her room. and she’s been that way since the beginning. I’m not sure when our family first realized that Hannah’s feelings about plants and animals were more intense than other little girls who like making daisy chains, or who want a kitty. For instance, several years ago, there was a mouse loose in our house. Hannah, who was 7 at the time, went online and found googledoc blueprints for a humane mouse trap, and then spent 2 hours constructing it from raw materials.

While, I might add, my other siblings and I laughed like Laman and Lemuel while Nephi was building a ship.

She caught the mouse 5 minutes after the contraption was complete.

Later, when my dad accidentally killed the mouse, Hannah went on a hunger strike.

Hopefully this gives you a glimpse into the magnitude of Hannah’s feelings toward nature.

One evening, Hannah found a baby quail outside, cold and soaking wet. She put it in a shoebox and brought it inside, where she began stroking it with a towel in an attempt to dry the baby bird. Despite Hannah’s considerable efforts, the baby quail declined in health, and at around 10pm, my father, an accomplished doctor, pronounced the quail dead. Even noting that rigor mortis had completely set in.

He tried to console my little sister, but after several protests along the lines of “he doth not stink,” my dad left Hannah with her dead bird and went to bed.

When he awoke the next morning, much to his surprise, Hannah sat with the quail, which was now fluffy, cheeping, and very much alive.

When my dad asked what had happened to the quail, my sister answered, “I prayed to Heavenly Father.”

My dad was stunned, and said, “Did you ask Heavenly Father to bring the quail back to life?”

Hannah looked at him and said, “obviously.”

At first, the rest of us tried to explain away what had happened. Maybe the quail had just been sleeping with its eyes open. Or maybe quails are like possums, and have a “play dead” defense. It was my father, the one who had pronounced the quail dead, who then chastised us all for being slow to believe.

And it’s true: if the Lord answered the prayer of Joseph Smith, and if he touched the stones when the Brother of Jared asked for light, then who am I to say the He wouldn’t answer my sister’s sincere prayer of faith. We now call this incident the Miracle of the Quail.

I have learned a great lesson from this miracle. And yes, I say “miracle,” because I believe that something miraculous happened that night. I really do think that God brought that animal back to life because my little sister prayed. I believe he saved the quail to show Hannah that He heard her prayers, that he loved her.

It amazes me that with so many thousands of people in this world, God knows exactly what it is that we need personally. He knows the precise way to speak to us, individually, uniquely—He knows the perfect, specific way to communicate to each of us that He loves us.

God is infinitely invested in our relationship with him. God didn’t necessarily need to save the quail, but He did…and does endlessly and immensely, love and cherish Hannah.

In General Conference this past week, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught,

God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him. His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name. His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval, or admiration.

No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!

Our Father in Heaven has given us, His children, much more than any mortal mind can comprehend. Under His direction the Great Jehovah created this wondrous world we live in. God the Father watches over us, fills our hearts with breathtaking joy, brightens our darkest hours with blessed peace, distills upon our minds precious truths, shepherds us through times of distress, rejoices when we rejoice, and answers our righteous petitions.

He offers to His children the promise of a glorious and infinite existence and has provided a way for us to progress in knowledge and glory until we receive a fulness of joy. He has promised us all that He has.

I want to stop a moment and try to emphasize this point.

Why did the Savior do this? I think, we often take the Plan of Salvation for granted, but LOOK at it for a moment. There was no reason to save us. Heavenly Father didn’t NEED us.

Before this life, we didn’t have bodies. There was a point where we weren’t even spirits. God found us, whatever we were – intelligences, pieces of space – and created us spiritually. Once we were spirits, he created this earth for us, gave us bodies, agency, life. Then promised that His beloved, Only begotten Son, would die for us, so that we could become perfect. Often, rulers are threatened by anyone else gaining power. They oppress to receive glory, to retain their high status. But Heavenly Father was so anxious to take us – who were essentially nothing – and make us pure and powerful, like Him.

Again, there was no reason to do this. Nothing we had ever done made us worthy or deserving of this act.

One of my favorite scriptures comes from Third Nephi, Chapter 11. It uses an interesting word: Hosanna. Do you know what Hosanna means? It means save us.

Verses 15, 16 and 17 -- This is when Christ has come to the people of the Americas, after he has atoned for their sins and saved them – saved all of us.

Think of what this means! Think of what had led up to this point! The prophets throughout the ages had written about this day, and the people who were there when the Savior came knew those prophecies, and they knew it was He of whom the prophets had testified. And they knew what that meant:

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and ^adid feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

16 And when they had all gone forth and had witnessed for themselves, they did cry out with one accord, saying:

17 Hosanna! – [save us!] …Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did ^aworship him.

“He offers to His children the promise of a glorious and infinite existence and has provided a way for us to progress in knowledge and glory until we receive a fulness of joy. He has promised us all that He has.” – President Uchtdorf

How could we not follow a being who loves us so infinitely? How can we not endeavor to keep his commandments?

In Matthew, chapter 10, God says:

6 go

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven ^ais at hand.

28 And ^afear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather ^bfear him which is able to ^cdestroy both ^dsoul and body in ^ehell.

29 Are not two ^asparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30 But the very ^ahairs of your head are all numbered.

31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more ^avalue than many ^bsparrows.

If God notices the fall of the sparrow, and the life of a quail, and the prayer of my 7-year-old sister, He will notice all of our falls, our lives, and our prayers. This is my sincere testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.