Lessons on the Plan of Salvation
Lesson No. Twenty-Six
Lessons from the Life of My Mother
My mother, Rachel Petty Lunt, was a remarkable woman and a modern-day pioneer – She was one of the first female graduates of the business school at the University of Southern California. As a founder of the Best Western Hotel chain she traveled the world promoting friendship and hospitality. She made valuable contributions and helped open many doors for women. However, as an adult she had little time for her LDS heritage or interest in the gospel. This changed at age 90 - she had a stroke and she was confined to a care center. It was then she remembered the teachings of her youth, and recommitted herself to the gospel of Jesus Christ. At age 92 she received her temple endowment and we were sealed as an eternal family. She died at age 93. Her life teaches us several important lessons:
- “This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God” (Alma 34:32). For those who have the gospel this life is “a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God” (Alma 42:4).
- Our days are “prolonged… that we might repent while in the flesh; wherefore, our state is a state of probation, and our time is lengthened” (2 Nephi 2:21). At age 90 mother could easily have died when she had her stroke, but the Lord gave her more time to remember and return.
- Adversity brings two choices: We can either harden or soften our hearts (Alma 62:41). After her stroke mother humbled herself, and she experienced the fruits of the Spirit which are “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…” (Galatians 5:23-24).
- Those who are on the path when they die will never leave it. Elder Bruce R McConkie, referring to Alma 34:34 taught: “If we are in the course of our duty when this life is over, we will continue in that course in eternity. That same spirit that possesses our bodies at the time we depart form this mortal life will have power to possess our bodies in the eternal world. If we go out of this life loving the Lord, desiring righteousness, and seeking to acquire the attributes of godliness, we will have that same spirit in the eternal world, and we will then continue to advance and progress until the time comes when we will possess, receive, and inherit all things.” On another occasion he explained further: “Everyone in the Church who is on the straight and narrow path, who is striving and struggling and desiring to do what is right, though is far from perfect in this life; if he passes out of this life while he’s on the straight and narrow, he’s going to go on to eternal reward in his Father’s kingdom….The way it operates is this: you get on the path that’s named the ‘straight and narrow.’ You do it by entering the gate of repentance and baptism. The straight and narrow path leads from the gate of repentance and baptism, a very great distance, to a reward that’s called eternal life. If you’re on that path and pressing forward, and you die, you’ll never get off the path. There is no such thing as falling off the straight and narrow path in the life to come, and the reason is that this life is the time that is given to men to prepare for eternity.”
- Mother’s reward is the same as those who get on the path earlier in life. In the parable of the laborers (see Matthew 20:1-16) the Lord taught the issue is not whether we have labored in the vineyard of the Lord for one hour at the end of the day or for twelve hours through the heat of the day. All who are laboring when evening comes will receive the same reward of eternal life. However, life is more joyful and productive the sooner we begin living the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people – In the Book of Mormon we learn of 1,005 righteous Lamanites who were killed because they would not break their covenants, furthermore, they praised God as they died. (See Alma 24:18-25) When those who did the killing saw this they “were stung for the murders which they had committed…And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved. And there was not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people” (Alma 24:26-27).
Our Father desires our eternal happiness – During the last two years of mother’s life the gospel and her family is all she had, and it was all that mattered. She recognized that she had missed many blessings that the gospel brings. For example, we never had family prayer, but when she was in the care center she wanted to have family prayer every night. At the end of her life what really mattered was that she was back. Her life is a wonderful example that our Father knows and loves each of His children, and that “the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people” (Alma 24:27).