Remembering

I was sound asleep when my phone rang, so my brain didn't fully process my neighbor's frantic message:

"Turn on the TV. There has been a terrorist attack!"

I rolled my very pregnant body out of bed as quickly as I could, and wobbled downstairs to turn on the television.

It doesn't matter that words can't really describe it, because we all felt it. I sat, in shock. Watching replays of the planes hitting the towers. Seeing footage of the Pentagon.

And then watching those towers fall.

It was hard over the next few days to not stay glued to the television. To not watch and watch and watch again. But life had to go on. I couldn't imagine how hard that would be for those most personally affected by the tragedies of that day.

Still fresh in my own heart are the vulnerable feelings I had as a mother just a few weeks from giving birth. It was hard not to think, "What kind of world am I bringing my baby into?" My other children were still so very small. Young. Innocent. Pure.

I'm reminded of something President Boyd K. Packer said:

A few weeks ago our youngest son and his wife and family stopped to see us. The first one out of the car was our two-year-old grandson. He came running to me with his arms outstretched, shouting, “Gwampa! Gwampa! Gwampa!”

He hugged my legs, and I looked down at that smiling face and those big, innocent eyes and thought, “What kind of a world awaits him?”

For a moment I had that feeling of anxiety, that fear of the future that so many parents express to us. Everywhere we go fathers and mothers worry about the future of their children in this very troubled world.

But then a feeling of assurance came over me. My fear of the future faded.

That guiding, comforting Spirit...brought to my remembrance what I already knew. The fear of the future was gone. That bright-eyed, little two-year-old can have a good life—a very good life—and so can his children and his grandchildren, even though they will live in a world where there is much of wickedness.

They will see many events transpire in the course of their lifetime. Some of these shall tax their courage and extend their faith. But if they seek prayerfully for help and guidance, they shall be given power over adverse things. Such trials shall not be permitted to stand in the way of their progress, but instead shall act as stepping-stones to greater knowledge.

The short version of his message is this: "Do not be afraid to bring children into the world."

For all that mortality brings with it trials and tragedy, there is much to hope for, much to hold onto, much to do.

I will never forget. But what I try to remember most is that because of the Savior, there is always hope.