Article May 22, 2000 Issue

A game that made a difference

Some ABC's of inspiration

By Jayne W. Rattman

We often enjoyed playing games with our children on long car rides. One game was called "Going to grandmother's house." The idea was to think of things we were bringing in our basket, working our way through the alphabet from A to Z—the first player choosing an item starting with the letter "A," the next with the letter "B," and so on, repeating all the items we had already listed as we went along and adding a new one with the next letter. The items were always fun things and sometimes even silly.

One morning I was praying for enlightenment about several concerns that had come to my attention. As I prayed, this game came to mind.

I asked myself what I was carrying in my basket to my heavenly Father's house. Despair, hopelessness, depression, and other negative thoughts? Or was I carrying a measure of joy, expectancy, hope?

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