by David E. Bay, High Councilor

Last week my sweetheart, Coleen, and I joined some of our children and grandchildren for some relaxation at a family recreation spot in southern Utah in the mountains just above a town named Junction. We were the first to arrive. When we came to the point where we could see the property, I was very concerned, because there were five cows with their calves inside the fence. My Grandad, who was a cattle rancher and provided this property as a family legacy, seldom intentionally put cows on the property. Cows and cabins and other human comforts do not do well together.

About a half-hour later our son Joe arrived with some of his family. We decided that the very best thing that we could do would be to try to drive the cows out of the property through the gate. Unfortunately, this gate was on the side of the property and not in a corner and we would need to get the cows to turn through the gate. We sent several people down to get below the cows to begin to drive them up the hill towards the gate. A couple of us would then try to get the cows to turn and go south through the gate. It was a great plan, but somehow, we should have communicated that plan better to the cows. When it was time for the cows to turn, they turned north and started running instead of walking quietly out the gate.

Just as the cows turned the wrong way, a pickup truck and horse trailer stopped. A man wearing a broad cowboy hat with boots and spurs came and introduced himself as Levi, the manager of the Flying V Bar Ranch, the owner of the cows. We let him and two of his cowboys with their three horses and three dogs come onto the property. In short order with the horses galloping back and forth and dogs nipping at the heels, the cows and their calves were rounded up and, on their way, back to the upper mountain meadows where they were supposed to be. It’s amazing how quickly those cowboys who were properly equipped were able to get the cows to go where they wanted them to.

Now we had a remaining problem. How did the cows get in? We walked the fence line of the property to find out. Most of the fence was in good shape. There was one spot however where the fence crossed a mountain stream that the fence had been washed away by the spring floods. For confirmation there were muddy hoof prints showing that this was where the cows had entered.

We put in some new fence posts and stretched some new strands of barbed wire to fill the gap in the protective wall around our space. I was grateful that Grandad had taught me to build solid fences. I attempted to share some of those skills with my son and grandsons.

Lots of times we think that we are very prepared. We may have made preparations, but sometimes time or events, like the spring floods, cause the preparation to not be as solid as we thought. Do we imagine that we are prepared just because we made efforts years ago? Have we coordinated recently with not only our family but also with our neighbors about what to do when an emergency situation comes? And in making our preparations do we review to make sure that everything is still appropriate for our needs?

Elder David A. Bednar addressed this topic in his General Conference address in October 2020. He told in a humorous way how he and his wife had uncovered deficiencies in their food storage plans. He concluded that, “The process of proving ourselves is a fundamental part of Heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness. I promise that as we both prepare and press forward with faith in the Savior, we all can receive the same grade on the ultimate examination of mortality: ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’”

As we seek to prepare both physically and spiritually, God will guide us in our preparations when we humbly seek His guidance.