Remembering President Hinckley

With the passing of President Hinckley, it's made me think about his life and ministry, and especially of the effect he's had on me. President Hinckley was the prophet during my formative years. When I first began to discover the stirrings of the Spirit in my heart he was the prophet who figuratively and literally led me along my way. In so many ways, I have listened to his words and not felt that he was a random, unknowable man speaking tiredly about the age-old subjects of scripture study, prayer, faith, etc., but a man who genuinely cared about me even though he never knew me. I have felt his love radiate through the airways, especially for his wife Marjorie. Except for the love that I have seen my father show my mother, and my grandfather show my grandmother, his love and devotion for Sister Hinckley reigns as one of the most supreme examples of how a man should love a woman. Even after her death, his affection for her never ceased. I am awed by that fact. It's love in its purest sense.

My favorite memory of President Hinckley is my freshman year at BYU when he visited for a devotional. Being on the other side of campus, I dashed to the Marriott Center only to be ushered to the top of the stands--the nosebleeds as they are affectionately known. At first I was bugged and thought I should have just skipped class so I could have been closer when he arrived, but when President Hinckley walked into the Marriott Center--he at the bottom, me at the very, very top--the Spirit flooded the Marriott Center and it welled up inside of me until I thought I would burst. I was amazed that the presence of one man who was so far away and yet so close could impart such a strong sense of the Holy Ghost. To this day, I can still feel it. I don't know if it's possible that anyone could have ignored the buoyant, weightless feeling of the Spirit as one man--the prophet--entered the room. I have loved President Hinckley from afar, and I am grateful for the words he's spoken, the books he's written, and especially for that sly sense of wit. He will be missed. But I look forward to the future, for the next prophet to build on the foundation that President Hinckley along with every other prophet has laid.