Apostle calls Legacy award a 'spiritual spur'
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Upon receiving the 2002 Legacy of Life Award from the Deseret Foundation's Heart and Lung Research Foundation Community Advisory Council, Elder Neal A. Maxwell called the attendant accolades a "spiritual spur."
"That is to spur me to try to deserve what you're kind enough to bestow, and I'm deeply grateful for that spur," Elder Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve said during the award banquet April 18 at a hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. In presenting the award to the apostle, David G. Thomas, chairman of the Community Advisory Council, said the Legacy of Life is to "honor someone each year whose lifelong mission and achievements have made the world and the lives of all us dwelling in it better. Guided by that high standard, the selection of Elder Neal A. Maxwell as this year's recipient was easy and natural."
Also honored during the evening was Dr. C. DuWayne Schmidt for his pioneering work with pulmonary and critical care medicine at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City.
Past recipients include President Gordon B. Hinckley, 1998; and Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve, 1993. Present for this year's award ceremony were President Hinckley and his counselors in the First Presidency, President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust. Attending with Elder Maxwell were his wife, Colleen, and members of their family.
Just before Elder Maxwell received the award, family, colleagues and friends paid him tribute in a video presentation that included President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve; Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve; and Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the Seventy. In his portion of the tribute, Elder Eyring said, "He takes a great deal of satisfaction in having touched the lives of some people. He sees himself not as a solo contributor but as a builder of people."
In his brief comments after receiving the award, Elder Maxwell paid tribute to his wife, calling her a "wife for all seasons, and I salute her for that wonderful contribution."
Continuing, he said: "We celebrate tonight, if not a person, but a process of which you are all a part. The way in which we give God our salute for life, the great gift of life, that He has given us, by having talents and skills and treasure and time, given to enrich life for others.
"Therefore, tonight's sponsoring foundation and your lives, not mine, combine to remind us, ladies and gentlemen, that as long as our hearts pump, some of the time, they should pulsate because we're reaching out to others. And as long as there is breath in our lungs, some of that breath should be used to bestow on others deserved commendation and needed encouragement."
Speaking of world events, Elder Maxwell said that because of spiritual genes in each person, "You and I . . . can still refuse to be swept along by these enveloping circumstances. We can still show kindness in the midst of any chaos and no matter how daunting the distance, we can still show a willingness to be led 'one step enough for me.' After all, ladies and gentlemen, perfect empathy, which characterizes Jesus, and which you possess in such a goodly measure, led Him, the great Sufferer in Gethsemane, to notice and to restore one severed ear, even while He was agonizingly bringing about the universal resurrection. The Lord is in the details of our lives. He noticed a single ear while He was rescuing mankind, and as you serve His children, you surely serve Him."
E-mail: julied@desnews.com
