A Good Seed

There is a story of an old emperor who was trying to select a replacement by giving the youth in his village each a seed. They were to grow the seed as best they could and report back in a year. A young boy named Ling received a seed, which he took home and planted. Each day he would water the seed and watch for growth but nothing happened. The other youth in the village soon bragged about how well their seeds were growing but Ling still saw no growth.

After a year, the youth of the village brought their plants to the emperor. Ling had nothing, but the other youth had wonderful trees and bushes of various sizes and shapes. The emperor explained he gave each of them a boiled seed, which would not grow, but all of them except Ling had replaced it with a different seed. Apparently only one young person among the group had the integrity to abide by the rules even though it made them look like a failure. Ling was chosen as the new emperor.

I know a Ling and her name is Aurora Jayne Lawson. She won’t log on with your username, she won’t take more than one free sample, she waited to get a Gmail until she was 13, and she made Online P.E. (a cake class) an AP-caliber credit by repeatedly redoing 40-minute fitness assignments because her heart rate dipped to 168 instead of the required 170. She found a $5 bill on the floor of the bus and turned it in to the driver (who gave it to her two weeks later because no one claimed it) and then donated it to a kid doing a humanitarian project.

My favorite honesty story is when she stayed after school to talk to a 10th grade teacher she had “lied” to. She had asked to be excused to use the restroom but didn’t technically use the restroom, she only blew her nose. She blew her nose in the restroom because she was recovering from a turbinoplasty and had huge scabby chunks coming out of her sinuses and was embarrassed to blow them out in class. So she confessed to her teacher. The teacher hardly knew what to say.

I’m thankful for my Ling Lawson who only sees in black and white. She loves the Lord too much to cheat Him in any shape or form. I trust her implicitly. If she says she’s doing it, she will do it. She’s one in a million and I needed the reminder because I want to scream at her seven nights a week when she stalls at going to bed. I should be more thankful she wants to watch TV with us, play a board game with us, or brush her wet hair while she talks to us. Greg and I may never have couple time again because our trio was her norm for so long.

RE has always been my peer, not my daughter. My equal, not my assignment. My boys will probably require intentional parenting but RE came out like a wise old soul with a brass compass hard-wired to her OCD heart.  

It’s been a hard year, a year her seed was definitely boiled. I know she doesn’t think she has much to show in the ways of exotic trees and bushes but as her mother I’m so proud of her nothing. Her nothing is the result of many behind-the-scenes somethings. She is becoming an empress. She is one good seed.

Story recited by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in a message titled "Integrity" at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, on May 7, 2010.

Imagine my delight as a mother when RE's former teacher, Ashley Langston Oney, told this story in her Relief Society lesson on honesty: "I have a unique way of testing my students. If they receive a 100% on every weekly quiz they get an automatic 100% on the final and don't have to take it. I had a student who had received 100% on every quiz and this day was the last quiz. One perfect test meant no final for her. However, she came up to me after class and confessed that she had seen another student's answer before she answered her own question. She said she would have answered the question the same way but just felt like it was cheating, so to not give her the 100. Never in my years of teaching have I had a student tell the truth like this, especially when it meant she'd have to take the final. I'll never forget her."

I also found this little snippet in my journal: Today I dropped Ari and her friends off at the Sticky Shoe with two friends to see a movie. They bought a brownie at Dough Boys beforehand, and then the movies had a sign posted that said NO OUTSIDE FOOD OR DRINK. So she threw hers away (after trying to hide it in a bush). She told me she was sad she wasted a dollar but was glad she was honest. November 23, 2013