Shoe Stories (5 minutes)

A Talk on Baptism given at the baptismal service for Ian Douglas Martin in Wilmington 2nd Ward, Wilmington Delaware Stake July 10, 2016

Ian, I always like to begin with a story.  Once upon a time when I was about your age I was walking home from school, and I was in a hurry because I was going to be late for cub scouts.  A little girl in our neighborhood ran up beside me and said something about her little brother.  I was lost in my thoughts and didn’t understand at first, but I finally figured out that she wanted me to help her little brother tie his shoes.  He was about 3 and both his shoes had come untied.  The family of the little girl and her brother were new in the ward and neighborhood and I barely knew them.  I was in a hurry and really did not want to be bothered.  I was about to just walk on when something stopped me and I turned around to where the little boy was and bent down and tied his shoes.  I rushed on my way and didn’t think any more of it.  But a few days later at dinnertime my mom said to our family at the table, “You know, I was very proud of Doug today.  I was talking to Elaine Fisher who lives down the street and around the corner.  She said she just happened to be looking out her window the other day and saw Doug stop when a little girl asked for his help with her little brother.  Doug turned around and took the time to help the little boy tie his shoes.  She was so impressed that Doug would take the time to do that.”  I was pretty proud of course, but also a little embarrassed because I wasn’t sure I deserved mom’s praise.  I almost had not stopped.  I was pretty grateful and relieved that something in me helped me decide to stop even if I didn’t really want to.

I think about that incident quite frequently.  I found myself thinking about it when I thought you, Ian,  getting baptized.  We learn in primary and at home that baptism is about a number of very important things.  Alma in the Book of Mormon tells us that when we are baptized we agree to be called by Jesus name and be an example to our friends of Jesus teachings.  Taking Jesus name means becoming a member of His Church or, which is really the same thing, becoming a member of His family.  Families typically share a name.  Ian and his sisters and his mom and dad are all Martins.  They share a name because they are family.  We all share Jesus name as official baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints because we are all part of Jesus family.  Alma also tells us that when we are baptized we agree to help one another whenever we can because that is what families do.  That is probably the best way we can keep our promise to be an example to our friends of Jesus teachings.

To me this means that when we are baptized we promise to be shoe tie-ers.  We try to help others whenever we can, even if we don’t really want to.  We do it because we are part of Jesus and Heavenly Father’s family and families help each other and love each other.  We also promise to do our best to follow all the teachings of Jesus and Heavenly Father just like we do our best to follow the things that mom and dad teach us.  We want to make Jesus and Heavenly Father proud of us just like we want to make our mom and dad proud of us.  Maybe Sister Fisher is looking out her window or maybe not, but when we help and try to do the right thing, then Heavenly Father knows and is proud of us, just like mom is proud of us when we do what we should. 

In a few minutes your mom is going to tell you about something that Heavenly Father gives to members of His family to help us do what we should.  It’s something that might remind us to stop and help someone tie a shoe even if we don’t want to. But more about that in a few minutes.

Now sometimes we might do something that might not exactly make Heavenly Father proud of us.  Just because we get baptized we don’t always just automatically do the right thing.  This reminds me of the incident of the irrigation ditch in back of our house that I was never supposed to try to cross.  I don’t want to say that I was disobedient exactl,y but somehow I came home one sunny day with my shoes and socks suspiciously wet and muddy.  My mom, clever detective that she was, figured out that I might have wandered into slightly forbidden territory.  I learned then about repentance and forgiveness.  I learned that mom was much more understanding than I thought she might be, just like Heavenly Father is very understanding when we ask him for forgiveness.  I also learned that mom wasn’t trying to make life a drag with silly rules, but that she loved me more than anything and just wanted to keep me safe and happy, just like Heavenly Father loves us more than anything and wants to keep us safe and happy.  After I confessed and we talked it turned out that, as always, mom had fresh dry shoes and socks to replace the ones I had gotten soaked.

Well those are the things I thought about that I wanted to share with you.  Remember to try to be a good shoe tie-er.  And remember that even after you are baptized, if you should happen to get your shoes and socks a little wet, your Heavenly Father loves you more than anything and if you talk to Him about it he has an infinite supply of nice dry shoes and socks.