the importance of a key

It was Friday morning and each family had just finished taking down tents and loading up the cars after a fun-filled week. My dad had most of the hard work like cleaning the dutch ovens and taking down the outdoor kitchen.

The last thing left was to load up the tent trailer, load up the canoes and pick up the campsite. Around noon (the time we were supposed to check-out), my dad went to unlock the lock on the trailer so that he could hook it on to his car.

The only problem: his couldn't get his key into the lock. He tried and tried and to no avail.

He didn't have WD-40, so he sent a few of us off to go to the neighboring campers and see if they had any. We checked the campground host, but they were gone. I ran to the neighbors and although they didn't have any, she went next door to her neighbors to see if they had any. But they didn't.

My dad was still fiddling with the lock and key. The next thing we know, we see the neighbor lady walking around the campground, knocking on trailers in search of finding some WD-40. She finally found some and brought it over.

But that wasn't until we had gone to a few other campers and had borrowed a large axe to try to smash the lock. For you see, we wouldn't be able to go home until we could get the lock undone. By this time, an hour or so had passed. And a group of campers were gathered around the trailer trying to get the lock undone.

Just then, my dad had a thought. Maybe it was the wrong key. He pulled out another set of keys he had. He inserted a new one and ta-da, it worked! He had been using the wrong key the entire time! He felt a little dumb, but we all learned some wonderful lessons.

1. Brandon and my 2 brothers had both felt inspired to ask my dad if it was the wrong key from the beginning of this ordeal, but none of them followed that prompting. If they would have listened, it would have saved a lot of grief and time. It took over an hour to figure this out.

2. Many other campers were willing to help, even if that meant interrupting what they were doing. We should always be willing to jump in and serve others even when it isn't convenient. We were grateful for the neighbor lady who although she didn't have what we were looking for, was willing to continue looking until we found what we needed.

3. The right key is vital to our return home. There has been a lot of discussion and contention lately in the news about women and the Priesthood. I don't know everything and I feel bad that this has become such a trial of testimony for so many women and men alike. We all have questions about the gospel and the "why's" of doctrine that cannot be fully understood during this life or even at a certain moment. However, I do know that we have a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson and that he holds all the keys of the Priesthood. He can see more than we can. And because I sustain him, I can be confident in knowing that women do not need to hold the keys of the Priesthood to be "equal" or just as prominent in the church. The beauty of the gospel is that men and women hold different, but equally important roles. Men will never be able to bear children, but that doesn't mean that they can't have an eternal impact on their children, or be blessed by their children. So it is with the Priesthood. Women don't need to hold the Priesthood keys to be blessed by its Power.