Jacee

This is a talk that Jacee gave in sacrament meeting about her cedar chest she made with Stacy. She made some great analogies that are really true to our lives.

Here is my talk. Thanks again.

Jacee

Last year I got the opportunity to build a cedar chest with my Uncle Stacy. I worked really hard to save enough money to buy the essentials needed to build it. I finally saved enough and we went to buy the wood. There where so many choices: oak, hickory, pine, alder, cherry and on and on. Then there were different types of oak hickory, ect. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted, but I had no idea there were so many choices. After much contemplation I chose the wood, I wanted. I chose Cherry with walnut trim. My Uncle Stacy lives in Tetonia so in order to work on it I had to go up there. The first time I was up, we cut the boards. The second time we ordered them the way I wanted, centering the coolest looking pieces and trying to make the grains line up right so the board doesn’t’ curve.. Over the course of many visits, it started to take shape. We glued sanded, cut more and sanded more. We put on hinges and picked out the stain. (This took awhile because I could not decide.) Finally, it was finished and now I get to see its beauty every time I walk into my room. Building my Cedar Chest is a lot like living your life. When you are small, your family is there to support you. When you glue it, you put a whole bunch of clamps on it so it dries right. The clamps give it support and after some time when the glue is set up you take the clamps off and it will hold together on its own. Then it is sanded. Sanding is like baptism it takes out the bumps and dings. An important part of the cedar chest is the base; it is the foundation of the structure that keeps it standing upright and able to hold the weight of what is placed inside. The base is like the gospel or Heavenly Father and Jesus. They are a firm foundation that helps us to carry our burdens. They are the base of our lives; they hold us up and keep us strong. One of the chances you take using real wood is that there could be holes in it or knots that fall out when you are sanding them that leave holes. You have to putty the holes and start sanding over that spot again. Just like in life when you make a mistake you can use the Atonement as your patching putty and start over. I did not know exactly what I wanted the base to look like so we just started playing with some wood. My Uncle Stacy cut out one side and I really liked it so he free handed the other side. You could not even tell the difference, they were not more than a mm off. Sometimes in life we just have to free hand it, just try something and if it works great if not figure out something else to try. We have to do our best and God will do the rest. It’s not whine and complain and he will do it all.. The pieces are all together all you have to do now is stain it and put the finishing touch on. When we keep the commandments and do what the Lord asks us to, we are putting that beautiful finishing touch on our lives. When the day comes, we will be ready to present the beautiful project to the Lord. . I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to build a cedar Chest and learn how to work with wood. I am thankful for life and what a beautiful gift it is. Life is Gods gift to us, what we do with it is our gift to God. Make it something amazing and beautiful.