I say a little prayer for you...

"When I was first called as a General Authority nearly 50 years ago, we lived on a very small plot of ground in Utah Valley that we called our farm. We had a cow and a horse and chickens and lots of children.

One Saturday, I was to drive to the airport for a flight to a stake conference in California. But the cow was expecting a calf and in trouble. The calf was born, but the cow could not get up. We called the veterinarian, who soon came. He said the cow had swallowed a wire and would not live through the day.

I copied the telephone number of the animal by-products company so my wife could call them to come and get the cow as soon as she died.

Before I left, we had our family prayer. Our little boy said our prayer. After he had asked Heavenly Father to “bless Daddy in his travels and bless us all,” he then started an earnest plea. He said, “Heavenly Father, please bless Bossy cow so that she will get to be all right.”

In California, I told of the incident and said, “He must learn that we do not get everything we pray for just that easily.”

There was a lesson to be learned, but it was I who learned it, not my son. When I returned Sunday night, Bossy had “got to be all right.”

The story of President Packer and the family cow is so sweet to me. President Packer’s son prayed with pure and innocent faith for the Cow to be alright. The circumstances were such that President Packer thought it irrational to pray for the cow’s well being and knew that Bossy Cow’s time on earth was coming to an end. As people grow older it is extremely difficult to maintain that childlike faith. In Alma chapter 58 the Nephite armies are in dire circumstances. They are heavily outnumbered, they are not receiving support from the government, and have little to no provisions with which to wage war. To say that the situation was desperate would have been an understatement. One could well have thought that this situation was one in which it was irrational to pray to God. However, with sincere hearts the Nephites did pray. The Lord’s tenderness is evident as He speaks peace to their souls. When I was a child we lived in a cul de sac full of children. All of the children would gather in the street or front yards to play games together. There was one neighbor on the street that did not like this arrangement: Mr Black. Mr. Black was an older gentleman, crotchety and unhappy.  He would honk his horn and rev his engine at the playing children. He would take any toys left in his yard, and squirt kids with the hose that came too close to his house. Our family decided to pray for him, that he would have a change of heart and be more kind and gentle. As time went on nothing changed and he soon dropped out of our prayers. I was very young at the time and consistently prayed that Mr. Black, “could be a friend”. One day there was a knock at the door. There was Mr. Black, standing on our porch, having come to apologize. He did not apologize to any other neighbors on the block. The Lord answered my innocent prayer, and changed Mr. Black in to a friend. Whether it is a cow, an army, or a grumpy old man, the Lord will answer faithful prayers and fill our souls with peace.