As a young girl, probably 8 or 9 years old, I had an experience which taught me several great lessons that have stayed with me throughout my life.
I loved to watch birds. I always wished I could lay in my bed and watch birds out my bedroom window. So I came up with a plan. I went to my dad one day, and asked him to help me build a bird house. I remember going to the hardware store and picking out the materials we would need. We worked on the project together in the garage, and then my dad hung that bird house from the eaves right outside my bedroom window. I went to bed that night happy and expecting to wake and see a cute little bird family moving in to the beautiful new home we had provided.
But the next morning… there were no birds. In fact there were no birds for several weeks. I would check every morning and every day after school. I added twigs and bird seed to the birdhouse. And still no birds.
I went to my dad and told him of my disappointment. His wise suggestion was to pray about it and to ask Heavenly Father to send birds to my birdhouse. So I did. I began to pray every day that birds would be sent to live in my birdhouse.
Within just a few days, birds arrived! I woke up one morning to see birds fluttering up near the eaves. But they weren’t going in to the birdhouse. I ran and got my dad and we went outside to see what was happening. My dad then informed me that these birds were California Swallows. These birds do not live in bird houses. They build large (not very attractive) mud nests on the sides of buildings.
This little family of swallows had chosen to build their mud nest right above my bedroom window. I enjoyed watching them come and go from my bedroom window… and my parents tolerated the mess. Swallows made our house their home each year from that time forward, until the year I graduated from high school.
There are 4 important lessons I learned from this experience.
Lesson #1. My Heavenly Father knows and loves me.
I KNOW that Heavenly Father heard my prayers. And that he loves me enough to sweetly answer me.
Although this desire of mine may have seemed trivial to many, it was important to me. I wanted it. And because it was important to me, it was important to my Heavenly Father. Even the smallest things are of great significance to our Heavenly Father.
One might well ask why He would concern Himself with something so small. I am led to believe that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that the things that are important to us become important to Him, just because He loves us. How much more would He want to help us with the big things that we ask, which are right (see 3 Nephi 18:20)?
If Heavenly Father is willing to listen to our smallest concerns in life, I know that he will also be there during the times when we REALLY need him. When we feel hurt, or sick, or scared, or lost, or lonely.
I have experienced this in my own life.
Lesson #2. If something is important to us, we have to be willing to do the work, and to act upon promptings we receive.
I had done the work. We had built the birdhouse, and provided food and twigs. And I had waited patiently with faith.
The bible dictionary tells us: Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.
Elder Bednar taught: The classic example of asking in faith is Joseph Smith and the First Vision. As young Joseph was seeking to know the truth about religion, he read the following verses in the first chapter of James:
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering” (James 1:5–6).
Please notice the requirement to ask in faith, which I understand to mean the necessity to not only express but to do, the dual obligation to both plead and to perform, the requirement to communicate and to act.
Pondering this biblical text led Joseph to retire to a grove of trees near his home to pray and to seek spiritual knowledge. Note the questions that guided Joseph’s thinking and supplicating.
“In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it? …
“My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join” (Joseph Smith—History 1:10, 18).
Joseph’s questions focused not just on what he needed to know but also on what was to be done! His prayer was not simply, “Which church is right?” His question was, “Which church should I join?” Joseph went to the grove to ask in faith, and he was determined to act.
Lesson #3. Our Heavenly Father wants to send his greatest blessings. Sometimes we just need to ask.
Heavenly Father could easily have just sent birds to live in my birdhouse. But He wanted me to learn to ASK.
J. Devn Cornish shares a personal example.
When I was a young resident physician at Boston Children’s Hospital, I worked long hours and traveled between the hospital and our home in Watertown, Massachusetts, mostly by bicycle since my wife and young family needed our car. One evening I was riding home after a long period in the hospital, feeling tired and hungry and at least a bit discouraged. I knew I needed to give my wife and four small children not only my time and energy when I got home but also a cheery attitude. I was, frankly, finding it hard to just keep pedaling.
My route would take me past a fried chicken shop, and I felt like I would be a lot less hungry and tired if I could pause for a piece of chicken on my way home. I knew they were running a sale on thighs or drumsticks for 29 cents each, but when I checked my wallet, all I had was one nickel. As I rode along, I told the Lord my situation and asked if, in His mercy, He could let me find a quarter on the side of the road. I told Him that I didn’t need this as a sign but that I would be really grateful if He felt to grant me this kind blessing.
I began watching the ground more intently but saw nothing. Trying to maintain a faith-filled but submissive attitude as I rode, I approached the store. Then, almost exactly across the street from the chicken place, I saw a quarter on the ground. With gratitude and relief, I picked it up, bought the chicken, savored every morsel, and rode happily home.
Little children, young people, and adults alike, please believe how very much your loving Heavenly Father wants to bless you. But because He will not infringe upon our agency, we must ask for His help. This is generally done through prayer. Prayer is one of the most precious gifts of God to man.
Lesson #4. Sometimes Heavenly Father answers our prayers in ways we don’t expect.
I expected a bird house full of birds. I got a mud nest attached to the house. But I still got birds. And I enjoyed the blessing I had received.
President Monson said. We are familiar with the truth found in 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon: “Men are, that they might have joy.”1 I testify that much of that joy comes as we recognize that we can communicate with our Heavenly Father through prayer and that those prayers will be heard and answered—perhaps not how and when we expected they would be answered, but they will be answered and by a Heavenly Father who knows and loves us perfectly and who desires our happiness. Hasn’t He promised us, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers”?2
I will close with these lyrics:
Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer every child’s prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away..
But I feel it close around me as I pray.
Heavenly Father, I remember now
Something that Jesus taught disciples long ago
Suffer the children to come to me
Father in prayer I’m coming now to thee.
