His Life Was a Tapestry...

Each of us came into this world in total forgetfulness.  And I believe before we ever began our mortal journey, there was a plan.  And part of that great plan is the assurance that we will not be totally on our own; we were allowed to bring with us two very important basics: (1) our inheritance, and (2) our individuality.  And we were given a Savior, who would be our guide and help in every way to bring us safely back to our Father.

I like to think of our inheritance in this way.  We are all children of an honorable, loving, all-knowing, Supreme Father in Heaven.  In our Tapestry of life, this is our WARP, the very strong, base threads that sustain us throughout our life's experience.  This is our strength, for these threads must be the strong ones to support the the cross threads, the WOOF, to be woven into the Tapestry to create a picture of our life.  Our individuality can be compared to the WOOF.

Even the smallest infants begin life manifesting a great deal of faith--faith that someone will care for them--love them--feed them--keep them warm and give them shelter, else they would surely die.  Faith gives added strength to our WARP.

As we progress through life, experiencing it every inch of the way, the weaver throws the shuttle back and forth across the separated WARP threads, and our individual selves start to take on a glorious shape and design.  As we continue on our journey, we build testimonies of many things.  Our experiences add color and depth to our Tapestry.

This writing is to show the life of an honorable man--Gerald Vernon Henderson--who finished his journey on this date, February 7th in 1981.  The following is his story, woven on the foundation described here and the end result is his Tapestry.  I have taken most of this writing from "Tapestry," which I included in Gerry's history, "Gerald...A Life Story."

FIBERS

Before we begin this process of creating our tapestry, we must choose our fibers very carefully.  This will take a great deal of planning and vision in order for the finished Tapestry to reflect those most important choices.  In our early lives, many of the choices are made for us.  We come here to be nurtured by a loving family who will teach us and help us grow and eventually be able to make our own choices.  Our Tapestry is shaped by our early experiences with family, friends, and community.

Gerry was from a close and hard working family.  He was raised by his widowed mother, Maggie, who did all that she could to provide for her 7 children.  Gerry was next to the youngest.  Life was hard, and so strength was built into his Tapestry.

When we are ready to choose our own fibers, we ask ourselves, are we going to create our Tapestry using the fibers of truth and honesty?  Or will we choose deceit and dishonesty which are much weaker fibers and cheaper and easier to come by?  In the end, these fibers will come apart and our Tapestry will unravel unless we choose wisely.

Will we choose the strong fibers of courage and ambition as opposed to fear and laziness?  Or perhaps we will want to use soft fibers made of love and caring versus the coarse fibers of hate and envy.  Of course, a most interesting result might be a combination of many different fibers and textures.  As a result, the creation will have many interesting qualities.  Whatever the weaver chooses, he will be the one to live with the end result.

COLOR AND PATTERN

Besides choosing the fibers carefully, there are two other choices the weaver must consider.  These are color and pattern.  Our choices of colors really do determine the character and beauty and visual effect of the finished product.  And the pattern we weave tells the observer a great deal about the creator.

          "Believe in yourself and everything is possible."  These are the words that resonated throughout Gerry's life, as many in his youth would taunt him and tell him he would never amount to anything!  He pushed forward and persevered and proved them wrong.  He dedicated himself first to his God and his mother, then to his education, then to his family and finally, to himself.  He was totally unselfish.  And that prophesy spoken by others in his youth never was fulfilled.  He had many accomplishments in his life and never once asked for recognition.  Why, after he obtained his PhD in Clay Mineralogy in 1969 and was given the title of "Doctor," he was embarrassed to have his friends or family address him thus.  That title was reserved for his Colleagues and Students at the University.

As I view the tapestry of Gerry's life, I see a strong, warm, earthy pattern--with much of God's great creations depicted in the earth-tones on a soft brown background.  You may have seen him differently and you can add your own imagination and color combination and interpretation.  I believe Gerry's WARP was his strong foundation built upon his faith in his Father in Heaven and his testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  His WOOF added to that strength by his life's experiences which developed an extremely strong individual character for he made choices that were sound and precise and created an amazing Tapestry.  There is a smattering of blue in the final product.  The blue of his eyes that reflected a vision of eternity in them; and the blue of the skies on a cloudless day.

He chose fibers of courage, ambition, determination and love.  Oh, his choices were not always strong ones.  At one point in his life he carelessly chose some less desirable fibers, but they were soon found to be too weak for his great work and they were quickly discarded or buried in the pattern and replaced with stronger ones.

No one, not one single person, can gaze upon Gerry's Tapestry and not find the man there.  He left his children a legacy to be proud of.  His comings and his going were always with his family foremost on his mind, and he had a testimony that if he did his part, the Lord would do the rest.

Gerry's Tapestry shows strength, yet it is also soft.  He chose his fibers, his colors, and his pattern carefully.  Even though the life of its creator was cut short and much of what was planned in the beginning was never completed, the Tapestry is still a beautiful representation of what and who Gerry was.

I see him every time I go camping and walk in the woods, smelling deep pine needles, and looking up to majestic mountain peaks, marveling at the colors there and the formations.  I see him at the western seashore as I watch that big orange ball that is the sun disappear into the endless ocean.  I see him in his sons pale blue eyes and I see his father's smile there on his face.  I see him in his oldest daughter's strength and determination to be all that she can be and do as her father did--love her family with all of her might and strength.  I see him in his middle child with her love of sports and fair play, and I see the same hurt in her eyes when she has been dealt with unfairly.  I saw that same hurt in Gerry's eyes.  I see him in JerriAnne, who not only shares his name, but also his sensitivity, though he hid that part of himself well.  And last, though she can barely remember her DAD, I see him in his lastborn, who has the ambition, courage, and determination to pass through the trials of her life knowing that she will succeed, even as he did.

TAPESTRY

If you look very closely--there on the top of that highest peak in Gerry's work, you will see his family.  He elevated them to that height and he knew that if he kept them there, they would be protected.  He never did anything without first considering his family.  These are the strengths of the man that I remember and cherish.  This love of family is what keeps me going...with the promise of eternity.  The family at the top of that mountain is looking out over the valley below, and up into the eternal skies of forever, just as I do each and every day that I continue to live.

Gerry lives on through his children, and as they create their own tapestries, I find it interesting to note, that some of the threads that made up their father's Tapestry are repeated in their own.

The Tapestry of Gerry's Life

I don't celebrate today, and I don't mourn, either.  But I do celebrate the life of the man who gave me many of life's lessons that I was sometimes too stubborn to learn while he was still with us.  He gave me those five amazing children who never cease to astound me.  And he gave me twenty-two years of his life on earth filled with love and devotion, even in the face of adversity.

Do I miss him?  Absolutely!  Each and every day, some lesson he taught me resonates in my actions and he gives me strength.  I have felt his hand on my cheek when I was troubled, I have felt his presence in holy places, and I have witnessed his influence on his children's lives...even the youngest, who has a reverence for her dad sealed in the early memories of him in her life.

Today...I remember...and I look upon his Tapestry and marvel at the man God sent me even though it was only for a short moment.