The single man office

I feel sorry for any man who hasn’t yet made the choice to seek an eternal companion, and my heart weeps for the sisters who haven’t had the opportunity to marry. Some of you may feel lonely and unappreciated and cannot see how it will be possible for you to have the blessings of marriage and children or your own family. All things are possible to the Lord, and He keeps the promises He inspires His prophets to declare. Eternity is a long time. Have faith in those promises and live to be worthy of them so that in His time the Lord can make them come true in your life. With certainty, you will receive every promised blessing for which you are worthy.

Richard G Scott

John walked into the halls of heaven. It was his first day there and he had just passed the front gate. Peter had admitted him through the gate but informed him that his final address depended on the results of his stewardship interviews.

“We want to know what you did down on earth. You will get all that you deserve.”

Walking through heaven was a marvelous experience.  The streets were indeed paved with gold and the hosts of heaven roamed about from cloud to cloud, busy, but relaxed. They had great work to do but had plenty of time to do it in.

There was a cloud labeled “Housing” Many happy people were coming out of it with keys and maps in hand. A communications cloud shimmered with tiny blots of conversations shooting out in all directions.  Every now and then a break in the clouds would reveal a viewing station where the perfected masses could gaze on the troubled past below.

The golden road split and there in front of John was a massive cloud billowing in all directions, constantly shifting yet well defined. John noticed other spirits converging on the cloud each with their orange “celestial dot” indicating their recent arrival. All were walking toward the large entrance labeled “Stewardship Reporting”. At the front desk a man gave John a schedule. He had several appointments to attend, each one representing an area of stewardship. Family, talents, callings, earth, neighbors, treatment of animals, missionary efforts; every aspect of his life where he had held some form of responsibility was represented on his time card with a room number and the name of an interviewer. His first appointment indicated that it was at lunch. Not knowing what time it was John proceeded to the room immediately.

The Stewardship cloud was a very busy place. It was the only place so far that John had noticed anyone less than happy. Certainly most were still quite happy but there were others that walked about crestfallen, a few weeping, and others looking regretful.

“This is the place of ‘what if’.” Said a voice behind him. There stood a large man with longish hair pulled back in a very short knot.

“Reporting your work on earth requires you to ask some hard questions. There are few that did all they could have done, the rest of us have fallen short at some point or other.”

“I can readily confess to that.” replied John. “But I’m already in heaven,  what negative consequences can happen to me here?”

“As I said, this is the place of ‘what if’, most of the pain comes from knowing what could have been. If only you had pushed a little harder, or been a little more true, or been a little bit stronger…what would have been different?”

“But that’s it? You can’t get kicked out of heaven if you don’t pass?”

“Ha, didn’t you see your entry ticket? Your entry fee is already paid. You’re here to stay, no worries there. But its important for us all to know and understand what we missed out on. What’s your next interview?”

“Oh I haven’t had any yet. It says I’m to start at lunch. When is lunch in heaven?”

The man lifted an eyebrow, “this is heaven, you eat whenever you want.”

“Oh.” John looked down at his card. “So should I begin now?”

“If you are ready” said the large man, “My name is Sampson, I’m here to hear about your family. What does your card say?”

John looked down and saw that Sampson was indeed the name of his first interview. Next to the name was a list under a section heading of “family”. The list was simple. Son, brother, uncle, cousin, nephew, grandson… and so on. Each familiar relationship John had in his life was to be discussed in turn. He looked up at Sampson and saw that his white wispy robes had been exchanged for a smart white suit. Sampson pulled a piece of chocolate out of his pocket and handed it over.

“As I said, you get to ask the hard questions now, my job is just to listen. Lets walk through the garden as you tell me about your parents.”

John ate the chocolate gratefully and followed the muscular man through a cloud wall into a peaceful Japaneses Garden which seemed to absorb energy from the damp cloud around it. John began to talk about his family; beginning with his parents and working through each aunt and uncle, cousin: first, second and third. Sampson asked no questions, just prodded him now and then and listened intently. Walking through the garden, John felt great peace as he reflected on his fulfillment of his family duties. Yes, he had forgotten a birthday now and then but he had never fallen to feuds or lengthy disagreements with anyone in his family. He cried a little now and then as he remembered the happy times and the sad times. As they walked through the garden the flowers changed and the trees shifted. At times it was a meadow of wildflowers before shifting into a prim English garden. Stately roses would come and go although John wasn’t sure if they were walking through the garden or if the garden were walking through them.

It seemed that hours had passed when Sampson pulled some mysterious perfect looking fruit from a tree that hadn’t been there and handed it to him.

“Its time for that lunch you were interested in.” he said.

John realized that he was hungry. The more he realized it the hungrier he became. Suddenly he felt faint and his legs went cold.

“Careful there, thinking about it too much can be very unpleasant. We are outside of time here, you only feel hunger when you choose to. This is a filling fruit, take a bite.”

John bit into the fruit and the hunger immediately left as the flood of heavenly nectar flowed down his throat.

“Wow, so eating really is nothing but a pleasure here.”

“If you wish,” said Sampson as he turned to walk toward a garden wall made of stone. “I want to show you something.”

John approached the wall of peered over it. He saw a most spectacular rose garden full of roses, and mums, and daffodils with every color of iris imaginable surrounded by beautiful purple thistles.

Thistles…John noticed there was grass growing up through each of the rose bushes. A blanket of dandelions, all seeding, was choking out the tulips. The rose bushes had no roses nor buds, it was as if this part of the garden had been planted and forgotten.

Sampson let the silence penetrate a moment before he climbed onto the wall and perched on it. He extended a hand down to  John and gave him a soul-searching gaze. “Remember, you ask the questions here.”

“Why is this garden dying?” asked John as he too, clambered up the wall.

“Well, it was planted, but never visited. This spot had more potential than any other in this garden to bring joy and peace to all who walk here. This garden belonged to your wife.”

John glanced down a moment at the millipede cheerily chomping on Penstemon which was only half alive. “I was never married”, he said slowly.

“No wonder the garden is empty then.” Sampson replied. “I want you to look through this stone.” He handed a fist-sized shimmering white stone over. “It will help you focus.”

John lifted the stone slowly to his eyes and saw the yellow and red roses scatted in the garden. The daffodils seemed more vibrant and taller and far more abundant. There was not a single weed to be seen and over against the far wall the broken swing began swing perfectly. There upon it sat a women, head turned down to a book just as colorful as the mums surrounding the bench swing.

John glanced at Sampson and received the wordless confirmation. This stone let him see that ‘what if’. The women stood and laid her book on the bench as she slowly walked through the garden up to a small gate, small enough that she would have to stoop to enter there. She softly laid her hand upon the door frame and shivered with contentment.

John pulled the stone from his face and found himself sweating as he stared at a blank stone wall with neither women nor gate nor beaten path to the door.

“Did you see the door? So you thin-k, that means… there were c-chil-”

“I’m not here to answer those questions” Sampson looked at him gravely. “You know what might have been far better than I. But this much I do know, I don’t have a key to get into this garden. Usually you have the key and it is your own private garden but I understand that this time it has been given to another.”

“Wait, isn’t there some way to make it up? Don’t we believe in second chances?” Can I get proxies?”

“No” Sampson stated. “We receive a full chance, not a second one. At least the wall isn’t too big. When she get’s  here you’ll be able to see her bring this garden back to paradise. You are to serve her in all that she requests and have a first-hand view as she and her actual spouse  progress from eternity to eternity. Aren’t weddings wonderful?”

“Who is she? asked John, ” Is it someone that I knew in college? Did I meet her once during my life?”

“You just have to keep looking John, don’t ever give up. No matter how dark the night or deep the well if you give it all you got you will find her.”

“I could have found her, you mean. That opportunity is over now, right?”

The silence led John to look up to see Sampson gazing across the abandoned garden to where the little gate had been.

“We all have our ‘what ifs’ to deal with. You are lucky though, John, you were given a warning. You aren’t actually dead yet. I just wanted you to know what you were missing, while you still have time to do something about it.”

Sampson stood up off the wall and began to get misty like all the gardens.

“Good luck John! Make every moment count!”

The mists blurred together and got brighter and brighter until John could see nothing but pure, white clouds.