#bebrave4baylee

This week a brave girl went back home to Heavenly Father. I didn’t know her personally, but I know her Aunt Amy Hoaldridge Parker, and followed her battle on Facebook for the last four months. It’s a tragic story of a day of fun turning to terror and the unrelenting battle for life that followed. 

I’ve thought a lot about Baylee Brooke Hoaldridge this week. I’ve thought of the horrific struggle that she had to endure, but in every post about her condition Baylee was always positive and in good spirits. What an amazing example of faith, love, hope, kindness, benevolence, and compassion strangers around the world have for this wonderful girl.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave a talk in October of 2000 entitled, “The Challenge to Become”. In this talk Elder Oaks talks about the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. While reading through this tonight I found myself thinking of Baylee and her family. This put into perspective for me why some of us are only here for a short time. He says, “…an important meaning of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, which the Savior gave to explain what the kingdom of heaven, is like. As you remember, the owner of the vineyard hired laborers at different times of the day. Some he sent into the vineyard early in the morning, others about the third hour, and others in the sixth and ninth hours. Finally, in the eleventh hour he sent others into the vineyard, promising that he would also pay them “whatsoever is right”.

At the end of the day the owner of the vineyard gave the same wage to every worker, even to those who had come in the eleventh hour. When those who had worked the entire day saw this, “they murmured against the good man of the house”. The owner did not yield but merely pointed out that he had done no one any wrong, since he had paid each man the agreed amount.

Like other parables, this one can teach several different and valuable principles. For present purposes its lesson is that the Master’s reward in the Final Judgment will not be based on how long we have labored in the vineyard. We do not obtain our heavenly reward by punching a time clock. What is essential is that our labors in the workplace of the Lord have caused us to become something. For some of us, this requires a longer time than for others. What is important in the end is what we have become by our labors. Many who come in the eleventh hour have been refined and prepared by the Lord in ways other than formal employment in the vineyard. These workers are like the prepared dry mix to which it is only necessary to “add water”—the perfecting ordinance of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. With that addition—even in the eleventh hour—these workers are in the same state of development and qualified to receive the same reward as those who have labored long in the vineyard.”

Baylee was sent in the eleventh hour. She was a choice daughter of God, having been refined and prepared by the Lord prior to her earthly experience. She needed only to come to earth to take part in perfecting ordinances and to bring her light to her family, friends, and those who will never meet her here on earth. Baylee truly became something. She became what the Father wanted her to be: brave, valiant, strong, beautiful, and full of the light and love of God. My thoughts and prayers are with her family, and I appreciate them allowing us to follow her journey. While it’s not the ending we were all praying and hoping for, it is the most beautiful ending you could imagine. Baylee is once again healthy and encircled in the arms of her Savior.

 #bebrave4baylee