Timothy W. Richardson, Assistant Professor of International Cultural Studies, used examples from the lives of his eight children during his May 26 devotional address to encourage students “to exercise a little more trust in the Lord.”
Samuel: The Richardson’s youngest son, Samuel James Richardson, was born in January of this year with a strange and unknown skin disease in which layers of his skin started to come off his body, leaving bad sores. He said their doctor believed it to be a rare and serious skin condition, which led the family to prayer and a priesthood blessing. “That night,” he said, “and over several days of intensive care, a scripture from Proverbs with which you are all familiar persistently came into my thoughts: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Richardson taught the students that the scriptures encouraged his family to not be troubled with Samuel’s condition, but to trust in the Lord.
Sarah: The oldest of the Richardson children, Sarah, was also born under unusual circumstances while he was employed at the Foreign Languages University in Xi’an, China. When his wife went into labor, there was not enough time to get to the hospital, but with the timely arrival of two midwives, “Sarah was born healthily and well in our bedroom.” From this experience, Richardson said he “would like to emphasize...Sister Richardson’s trust in the Lord. It was a trust that allowed her to meet a new and challenging set of circumstances with both courage and grace.”
Abigail: After returning from church meetings one night, Abigail, who was five-years-old at the time, told her father that Peter Pan had called. Richardson, however, quickly came to the conclusion that his colleague and fellow member of the stake high council, Dr. Peter Chan, had called. “Abigail is now nine years old, and knows the difference between Peter Chan and Peter Pan, but the rest of us may sometimes misidentify the one who’s calling us with regard to deeper matters. The Lord does call on us to exert ourselves, to work, but it is not the Lord who calls us to fear and worry and fret. He who calls or entices us to do these things has a different name.”
Susanna: Earlier this year, Susanna Richardson came home from her first basketball game in the local children’s league. When asked about the outcome and events of the game, Susanna replied she didn’t know who won the game nor did she care. Richardson said this was an example of knowing the difference between the things that are important and unimportant in life.
“I love the fact that Susanna did not know or care about who won the game, probably because I think there are persuasive gospel reasons for us to be less competitive than we sometimes are.” He also taught the difference between our thoughts and the thoughts of God and, more importantly, “Truly trusting the Lord has the power to move many other matters that we do tend to worry about or fear into the essentially unimportant category by grounding us in… vaster and more permanent realities.”
Jacob: Richardson and Jacob, his eight-year-old son, were gardening some years ago when Jacob told his father he was worried about the difficulties of being a dad, and thinking up a bunch of rules. From this incident, Richardson taught we are given rules and commandments because they are for our good, and he quoted Elder Kim Clark from his devotional earlier this year at BYU-Hawaii: “Obedience [is] both the foundation of trust and its most important evidence.”
Isaac: After watching dad feed the fish in the family aquarium, the Richardson’s four-year-old, Isaac, decided to feed them as well — with a paperback book, some trophies and a T-shirt. “We all have access to things we shouldn’t eat and to things we shouldn’t drink in, and I’m not talking about food or drinks. The menu of choices around us includes many that are unworthy and damaging,” Richardson said. “Our trust in the Lord and determination to be obedient will help us avoid these harmful possibilities.”
Nathan: During preparations for a move from Texas to Utah, Sister Richardson was unable to help because she had recently given birth to Jacob. Nathan, a very concerned three-year-old, went to his mother, and after finding out that she felt a little left out, said, “I’ll be right here by you.” From this, Richardson drew three points: First, “We each make a commitment to stay right by or stay close to the Lord when we covenant each week to always remember Him in sacrament meeting.” Second, “Our trust and commitment to stay close to the Lord will undoubtedly be tested.” And third, “If we’re not staying close to the Lord, not really putting our trust in Him, in whom or in what are we trusting?”
Seth: Early one morning, Richardson and his son, Seth, talked for over an hour about what was on the young boy’s mind. Most of those comments and questions, concluded Richardson, were “some of life’s most central questions and most important truths.” From this incident, and the address by King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon, Richardson taught, “God created us… and is preserving us from day to day… We are dependent on Him for all that we have, and we are utterly dependent on Him for any long-term hope that we cherish.”
“Difficulties — large and small — are going to come to all of us in one way or another,” he added. “They are part of our loving Father’s plan to prove [us], to see if [we] will do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command [us]… I pray that as we trust the Lord in the truly great matters we will learn to trust Him more in the smaller but challenging concerns of our daily lives.”