You Come Too

On the Choose Something Like a Star Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD is a Robert Frost poem set to music (masterfully!) by Randall Thompson. The lyrical, longing melody and message has been replaying in my mind for a few weeks now.

The Pasture

I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;
I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.

I’m going out to fetch the little calf
That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.

I have a lot of thoughts relative to this small poem. I think of the Ardeth Kapp Young Women value talks on tape that I listened to as a young girl and her stories of clearing the irrigation ditch with her father on their farm in Canada. I think of what this poem can teach about new life, and the life-giving necessity of water. I think of Dad's early morning check-ups on the yard and garden in Iowa, of stewardship and responsibility. I think of (odd as it may sound) Anne and Matthew and Marilla and their Green Gables acreage on Prince Edward Island. I think of the pleasantness of being busy alongside Mother Nature. I think of those "simple gifts" that provide grounding in a hectic world. I think of the value and need for companionship; of the seemingly mundane tasks made better by accomplishing them with good company. But mostly, I have been thinking of invitations.

There is something really magical about extending an invitation. This form of communication says in effect, "you could, you might, you would be welcome, it would be an honor", but then the follow through is in the receiver's hand. The giver of the invitation requires no committment and expects no definite response. It is interesting that in his poem Frost states his invitation instead of asks it, "--You come too." It is similar to the Savior's simple invitation to, "Come and see." Is is because in both cases the giver knows what great blessings can come from choosing to come? Is it their definitive assurance in the quality experience that will result by accepting the invitation? Surely, it is an eternal principle that focuses on agency and personal desire. A favorite hymn teaches that Heavenly Father will "call, persuade, direct aright, and bless with wisdom, love and light, in nameless ways be good and kind, but never force the human mind." So, come if you would, come if you may, no compulsion, no forcing of the will, but worth it if you so choose.

On a smaller scale I think of invitations received and extended in my own personal life. On Easter Sunday of this year, for example, I initiated a little Sunday breakfast of waffles and eggs and invited all my roommates to watch the Jeffrey R. Holland youtube video, None were with Him. It could have been so easy to make my own breakfast and watch the video as my own personal Sunday worship. But, I would have missed the bonding experience and spiritual atmosphere of our entire day because of the conversations that followed.

In late April/May I received an invitation, which I graciously accepted, to be involved in the missionary discussions of a young man investigating the church. I had the great privilege of co-teaching, of sharing, and bearing testimony with this young man as he began that impressive journey of understanding the gospel. How easy it would have been to miss such sweet experiences if it had not been for a few simple words of invitation from a friend.