Forget-Me-Nots

Forget –Me-Nots

Last September there was a special world-wide women’s conference for all Relief Society Sisters.  President Uchtdorf gave a particularly good talk about five things we should never forget.  One thing was to remember the difference between a good sacrifice and a poor one.  He cautioned us to spend our time on the things that really mattered and to keep our priorities straight.  I really appreciated that talk.

The next afternoon I called each of my married daughters and we talked about the conference, especially President Uchtdorf’s address.  Alyssa, my middle daughter, was especially touched by it because of something that happened to her. 

She told me that one of her friends had been asked by the Stake Relief Society to make 250 cupcakes to serve at the dinner they hosted after the conference.  This girl had a small catering business and she was excited to make the cupcakes.  As soon as they gave her the job an idea popped into her mind how to decorate them.  Her only problem was how to transport 250 cupcakes from her house to the church, so she asked Alyssa if she would help drive them over in her mini-van.  Alyssa was glad to help, so she went to her friend’s house at noon to move the cupcakes.  She found her friend almost in tears, desperately trying to figure out a way to fix the cupcakes.  They were all made, and Alyssa thought they were lovely, but her friend had sent a picture of them to her mother-in-law, (perhaps a silly thing to do) and her mother-in-law had told her they were not fancy enough.  She said that if the Stake Relief Society asked her to make them for their dinner they were expecting something really elaborate and beautiful, and these cupcakes were too simple.  Alyssa’s friend was desperately trying to figure out a way to dress them up since there was not time to bake more before the conference.  In the end there was nothing she could do, and they had to take the cupcakes to the church like they were, her friend feeling like a miserable failure.

Then they went to the conference.  The first three talks were good, but it was President Uchtdorf’s talk that made the difference.  He used the five petals of the little forget-me-not flower to illustrate the five things he wanted us to always remember.  As he explained each of the five points a picture of the little blue flower was shown.  It was such a simple flower, but so beautiful with it’s delicately veined petals, and it touched everyone’s heart as he plead with us to not become so distracted with the large exotic blooms all around us that we forgot the five simple but important truths he was teaching us.

After the closing prayer the sisters got up and walked back into the cultural hall to have their dinner.  When Alyssa and her friend got there they found everyone clustered around the desert table, staring in wonder at the cupcakes.  “How did they know?” was the question on everyone’s lips.  Because each cupcake was frosted in plain white frosting with one simple, beautiful, delicate, five petaled forget-me-not flower, exactly like the picture from President Uchdorf’s talk.