A Smile that Means a Lot

Two of our sons-in-law grew up in the same ward with Greg Olsen. He was always good to them and to their children. A couple of our young grandchildren each got to paint a stone in one of his Jerusalem paintings (Do you think it's possible he may have "fixed" things after they left?) He autographed a copy of this painting and gave it to our kids for us. It hangs in our bedroom across the bed from where I kneel to pray.

In 1984, the Church held a Young Women's Encampment in Nauvoo. Our oldest daughter was able to attend, and I was privileged to be on the encampment staff. On the last day my friend and I were asked if we could drive Elder Rex Reeve (a member of the First Quorum of Seventy) to the airport in Moline on our way back to Chicago. We had him all to ourselves for two and a half hours. He shared so many interesting things. I recorded pages and pages of his stories in my journal when I arrived home. He talked about their meetings with President Kimball in the temple each week. I can hardly believe that I was so brave, but I asked him if he thought President Kimball had seen the Savior. He said that he didn't know if President Kimball had, but that once when he was in the presence of President Harold B. Lee they were looking at a picture of the Savior and President Lee said, "That's not the way the Savior looks."

Well, I don't suppose the Savior looks like my Greg Olsen painting either, but I like to look at it when I kneel to pray. He has a little bit of a smile, and I imagine that he is smiling at ME. It somehow makes me feel safer in his presence and able to feel his loving acceptance. I'm so grateful for his atonement and for the Easter season when we can focus on Him.