Day 108, April 16

I am currently in Utah with my sister who lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.  One day, as we drove east, the mountains appeared to open up, a passageway to Heaven, it seemed, to my awed gaze.

And I thought of the Mormon pioneers who came here to make their homes more than a century and a half ago.  What must they have thought of this wildernness ringed by mountains?  Their unflinching courage and determination made the desert blossom as a rose, just as the Prophet Brigham Young had promised. 

I am always awed by those who fulfill promises.  The pioneers brought with them very little; indeed, they scarcely had food enough to sustain them.  But they made a home there, in the desert, a home for themselves and for generations to come.  And isn't that what all pioneers do?  Make something that lasts, not just for themselves but for their children and grandchildren and those beyond?

So, for today, I am grateful for pioneers.