Our Relay Team

I'm not having much luck with the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life events. Last year, I didn't have the physical stamina to put together a team. This year I was prepared to participate with the Cancer Busters, a team comprised of members of my Stake. But the event got rained out. Perhaps next year. Regardless, I would like to borrow the catch phrase Relay For Life for this week's Grace Note. Today's editorial may sound familiar to some of you because it is similar to one I wrote over a year ago...one that didn't get widely circulated.

The previous Grace Note was entitled The Sign Up Sheet. After sitting in 1,680 Relief Society meetings (48 meetings annually for 35 years), I can now say I understand why we're here on earth. It all has to do with sign up sheets. Relief Societies are notorious for wanting your signature. We put our names to lists for cannery assignments, casseroles to the sick and the afflicted, window washing at the church building, ward socials and gatherings, feeding the missionaries, substitute teaching in Primary or performing in the ward karaoke night. Week after week we sign up for an assignment here or an activity there and often we feel guilty if we pass the obligatory clipboard on to our neighbor without our "Ann Singleton" attached.

Consider this statement from Pres. Henry B. Eyring. "Not everyone shouted for joy [in the premortal councils]. One third of the children of Heavenly Father saw danger in the plan He offered us. The risks seemed too great. It would be too hard, it seemed to them, to keep God's commandments perfectly with all the weaknesses of a mortal body." (Henry B. Eyring, Church News, April 18, 2009). Knowing how I shy away from hard things, I can't image that I had courage to "sign up" for the mortal experience activity. But apparently, I did. So did you. Our ancestors before us and our descendants belows us did. Therefore, this chain of spiritual brothers and sisters agreeing to take the risk of agency is a type of Relay For Life...each team member taking their respective turn and running the race of mortal life.

Someone has to begin the race when the official gun is sounded. If we had enough lines and spaces, and of course the written records, we could trace our ancestral roots back to Grandpa Adam and Grandma Eve. They volunteered for the first leg of the relay. After nine hundred or so laps, Grandpa Noah and Grandma Mrs. Noah picked up the relay. What I wouldn't give to be able to trace our genealogy from there, down through 3018 BC, to 1657 BC, to 398 AD? Who were those people? Where did they live? Were they good, honest people, or "dirty, rotten, scoundrels"? It isn't until the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries that names emerge to give identity to our specific team. Such relayers as James Bennett, Nelson Arave, Sarah Singleton, Phoebe Webster, Enoch King, Nancy Melvina Taylor, Nancy Ann Shaffer and thousands of others consented to run their own leg, often during some very difficult and challenging times.

We are now in the final stages of the relay. The baton has been passed to our generation and the few generations yet to come. I find it fascinating that Kathleen and Alan are at this very moment walking the footsteps of our ancestors in England. And at the same time, we are anticipating three new recruits to our team in the coming months. Do you think Daxson's little sister is chatting with great-great-grandma Susan Arrenia Perry right now and getting the lowdown on this Singleton bunch? Is Jessie being instructed by great-great-grandpa William Andrews on what is expected of her? Is Sam's sibling being coached on how to run the race by another Samuel, even Samuel Thurgood? I've got just enough hope to say "why not"?

Amy and Shannon can testify there is no such thing as a one-person relay. That would be called a marathon. A relay takes a team effort. No wonder we spend precious time in the temple and sing "...families can be together forever..." July is wonderful month to focus on our relay for life. We honor our pioneer and unknown ancient ancestors with gratitude and with an anxiousness to meet and greet them. We appreciate their legacy and good names. We endeavor to leave the world a better place when our lap is completed for those who will finish the race for us...the great-great grandchildren to come. I'm so glad you all grabbed the clipboard in the premortal councils and signed up for this assignment, as hard as some of our trials may be. We knew it would be hard, but we also knew it would be worth the effort to stay on "track"...in this our Relay For Life.