Today at church, our Stake President (leader of several congregations) gave a talk and part of his message really stuck with me.

He spoke of a man in our neighborhood. Two months ago, a micro burst ripped through our neighborhood and caused so much damage. Within an hour, the neighbors were all out with chainsaws taking care of the damage and helping one another clean up their yards.

Everyone worked into the night and most of the damage had been cleared. There was one house that had significant damage that they couldn’t get to that night, so the next morning several neighbors, including Steve and Hunter, went to lend a hand.

Towards the end of the project, our friend/neighbor was on a ladder leaning against the the tree when the chainsaw he was using slipped and severely cut his hand.

He found himself in the emergency room with a mutilated hand, fearful that he would lose it’s function.

When the surgeon came in, he unbandaged the mangled hand, surveyed the damage and said, “I’ve seen worse, I can fix that.”

I heard that phrase today during the talk and instantly loved it. “I’ve seen worse, I can fix that.”

What a great parenting motto!

Don’t we all want our children to know that no matter what they’ve done, mistakes they’ve made, hardships they’ve endured, they are never broken beyond repair – there is always hope. Even more, I want to teach my children that when we leave this life with all our battle scars from a life of hard learning, we will be embraced by a loving Savior who will say those very words, “I’ve seen worse, I can fix that.”