My brother is my ......

I started to call him my hero, but that is not exactly it.  I admire what he is doing; I want to be able to do it. 

My mother died on Nov. 6th.  My siblings and I gathered with a number of other family and friends to honor her and take her home to Victor, Idaho to be buried next to my father and the other members of their family who have already died.  Jeff and I flew into SLC and picked up my brother as he arrived an hour later.   We spent four days together before we all went our separate ways.

This brother, Dave, has misused the lion's share of his life.  But, when I saw him that weekend, I thought he looked great.  He looked healthy, strong and good.  Good you say?  Yes, good.  It felt good being with him.  I wanted to spend time with him,  be close to him.  It became evident why this was happening as I watched him with the rest of the family.

He spent time with each member of the family.  Even those I knew he did not care for.  (at least I thought I knew)  I heard him say kind things, put his arm around themas he spoke with them.  I saw his head close to someone's ear as he spoke softly to them.  I watched their reactions to his comments.  Faces lit up, shoulders relaxed,  there was laughter.  I heard him say several times, "I want to make amends."  And he did.

He wasn't comfortable doing this.  But he went ahead and did it anyway.  As the weekend progressed, I felt something change.  There was a sweet peace in the air that has never been in one of our family gatherings.  Dave's children and my children and my sisters' children began to "bond".  (I hate that word, but it is the only one I can come up with right now.)  They melted into a family.  They cried, hugged each other, laughed, told Grandma Weekes stories.  They shared child rearing ideas and stories. They talked about fashion, Pinterest, jobs, family.  They sat close to each other and put their heads together, and just enjoyed the spirit that Dave had helped to create. 

I want to be like him.  I want to make amends.  I want to see the fruits of that effort flow out and over those around me.  I want to engage in that process.  Dave has been my teacher.  He has taught me how to repent, change my life, change lives around me and lift myself and others to a better place.  He is teaching me what the Atonement is and what it can do when we engage in the process of using it to change ourselves.  I saw it that weekend in November.