They want, in short, to be nourished by the good word of God, to be strengthened by the powers of heaven. They want their faith fortified and their hope renewed. They come seeking a spiritual experience. Holland has taught: “Most people don’t come to church looking merely for a few new gospel facts or to see old friends, though all of that is important. We learned that taking the time to consistently feed our horses grain made them much easier to work with and provided them with increased nourishment and greater strength.Įven though many years have passed since my days on the ranch, the experience I have just described has helped me as I have considered the following question: What can we as teachers and leaders in the Church do to provide increased doctrinal and spiritual nourishment for those we serve?Įlder Jeffrey R. It often took several days to regain their trust. When they discovered our deception, some of the horses stayed, but others would run away and be nearly impossible to catch. On some occasions, when we didn’t want to take the time to get the grain from the barn, we would put dirt in the bucket and shake it, attempting to trick the horses into thinking that we had grain for them to eat. I was always amazed that such a simple process worked so well. We could then gently slip a bridle over their heads while they were eating.

It didn’t matter if the horses were in a corral or a large field they would come on the run to eat the grain. My father taught us that when we wanted to catch one of our horses to ride, all we had to do was to put a handful of grain into a bucket and shake it for several seconds. As a young man I worked with my father and brothers raising cattle and horses on our ranch in southern Utah and northern Arizona.

David a bednar clean hands pure heart