"I'm Doing Just Fine."

Boyd K. Packer, a beloved Apostle, recently passed away. I got to hear parts of his funeral on TV. One story from his funeral has stuck with me especially.

 

Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke as a fellow Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also as President Packer's long-time friend. Elder Oaks said that no matter the condition President Packer was in, he answered the question, "How are you?" the very same way:

 

"I'm doing just fine."

 

(I hope I got his verbiage exactly correct.)

 

If you're a long-time reader of my blog, you know I have typically addressed that very question with some combination of four levels of candor when it is asked of me. When I heard this story about President Packer, with a standard answer despite the standard and superstandard ups and downs of his life, I had to stop and think for awhile. How could one simple phrase sum it all up, every time? My first thought was, "That doesn't seem very honest. Everyone has good and rough days, including Apostles."

 

But I've talked it over with several people, and a stunning thought keeps hitting me in the face. It seems to me that President Packer wasn't necessarily avoiding the truth or putting up a wall to hide his best or worst of days.

 

President Packer was saying this sentence to himself, and he believed it. It was an affirmation.

 

 

"The storms are swirling, but I'm doing just fine."

 

"My body ages, but I'm doing just fine."

 

"I don't know how things will turn out, but I believe all will be well. I'm doing just fine."

 

"I see immense successes from my efforts, but they do not come by my power. All glory goes to The Father. I am lowly and have much to learn. I don't need credit. I'm doing just fine."

 

"I feel sorrow and loss, but I know the truth and am comforted by it. I'm doing just fine."

 

 

That sentence is faithful. It is believing. Managing, making it, and still here, we thrive. Indeed, we are doing just fine!

 

Zoom out past this mortal life, and I realize that God carries us through it. Um, WOW?! Our Maker has a plan that fulfills our every need and develops us into our finest. Trials are opportunities to be refined. We work toward being finished and complete.

 

I submit that it is completely possible to reprogram a calamity complex into a calming complex, and it is as easy to wear grumpy pants as it is to wear giggle pants. Why not be fine? Be in a state of wonder instead of worry.

 

I have been trying it out, and I think it's nice to feel "just fine" and really mean it. I believe in good things to come. And whether I am asking a probing question or thinking it to myself, I try to live by President Packer's paradigm because I like it. I smile more on the inside because I realize in wonder that—wow—I'm doing just fine.