To Be A Modern Day Pioneer

Today is Pioneer Day, a state holiday here in Utah. Over the last two years, I have taught the primary children in our church the little-known song "To Be A Pioneer" by Ruth Muir Gardner. I love the bouncy, energetic rhythm and the words ring true every time I sing them:

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Verse 1
You don't have to push a handcart,
Leave your fam'ly dear,
Or walk a thousand miles or more
To be a pioneer!

Verse 2
You do need to have great courage,
Faith to conquer fear,
And work with might for a cause that's right
To be a pioneer!

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This little song has given me a lot of hope and encouragement when I feel like I'm pulling a heavy handcart behind me on the way up a steep and rugged hill. So many times I've been given a "cause that's right" to work on, almost from the ground up.

I recall one scout friend commenting on how it seemed to take so much time and effort for many months and even years to get the stake commissioner program going in our stake. I almost envied the pioneers because their trek only took two to three months.

In retrospect, I see that their "mountains" didn't just end when they reached the Salt Lake Valley. It was a blessing and a rest, but there were still houses to build, desert to cultivate, crops to plant and tend and harvest, a whole community to organize. Even after that, many of these early pioneers were called to leave what they had built in the Salt Lake Valley to build new communities all across the Midwest.

How did they do it? Great courage, Faith to conquer fear, and a lot of hard work!

My personal mountains of course include times like my college education, Cub Scouts Pack Committee, Stake Scout Commissioner, campaign manager, full-time mayor issue, precinct chair, bylaws committee and GOP education committee, primary teacher of an unruly class, primary music chorister, etc.

Sometimes the fight has been intensely more personal - losing Ethan (our Trisomy 13 boy) after six months of pregnancy, overcoming the crushing grief that followed, battling post-partum depression after another difficult miscarriage last summer, forgiving and healing after major rifts with good friends or family members, accepting heavy church callings when I didn't feel ready.

But of all the mountains of "righteous causes" I'm given to climb, the most difficult and long-term (and I hope most rewarding ) will be keeping my marriage and family strong. If I focus so much time and energy on all these other "righteous causes" that I neglect my marriage and family, then it doesn't really matter how many Mt. Everests I can claim that I've climbed. I believe that I can do both, but in balance and with my family as the first priority. This has certainly NOT been easy, and sometimes it's an hour-by-hour struggle.

But I believe it is possible and worth it, and my family and children will be blessed as I become a modern day pioneer!