Choir Notes

Turn to Heaven

From Music and the Spoken Word

Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4389

If you’ve ever tried to help a toddler eat, you know how important independence is to human nature. The older a child gets, the more she insists on feeding herself—no matter how messy it gets. To the child (and, to a lesser degree, to her parents) the increased independence is well worth getting some food on her face, on her clothes, and even on Mom and Dad.

As we mature, we continue to value independence. We respect those who stand on their own two feet. We may even come to believe that asking for help is a sign of weakness, that to be strong means not to need anyone.

But soon our challenges become more complicated than handling a spoon properly, with consequences more serious than a stained shirt. Commentators Richard and Linda Eyre put it his way: “We realize how little we know, how little we can control, and how dependent we are on things beyond ourselves. Those humble thoughts lead us to prayer and cause us to appeal to a higher, brighter, more knowing power. Particularly in times of crisis, in times of loss or of danger, we come face to face with our own frailty, and it seems both natural and necessary to turn to prayer."1

When problems seem unsolvable and too complex to handle, we can go to the higher source of wisdom, light, and love. Perhaps we can relate in some way to Abraham Lincoln when he said, “Sometimes I am driven to my knees by the simple conviction that there is nowhere else to go!"2

Prayer is not weakness; it is our access to true strength. Prayer can fortify us for the battles ahead even while it humbles and softens us in times of trial. Ironically, it actually increases our independence, while at the same time opening our hearts to heavenly help. Instead of “When all else fails, turn to heaven,” perhaps a better motto is “Turn to heaven at all times and places.”
1 “The Unique Power of a Parent’s Prayer,” Deseret News, Apr. 15, 2012, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865554030/Eyres-The-unique-power-of-a-parents-prayer.html.
2 In “The Unique Power of a Parent’s Prayer.”