Sacred Grove Fern

This is the story of the Sacred Grove Fern.

Every year in a small corner of my back yard this fern grows. This year it seems especially beautiful.

When Roger was seventeen years old his family traveled in their motor home to pick up his brother serving in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Mission. They visited all of the fun sites along the east coast. I believe they where gone for three weeks. When they visited the Sacred Grove they scooped up a little sample of the fern that grows so abundantly there. They nursed that little seedling all the way home and planted it in the corner of their yard which is now our yard.

That was 28 years ago! Look how beautiful it is. Ferns do not like the heat. So every spring it comes up and by the heat of the summer it dies down. We have transplanted some to Gary and Zona's new yard too. I love this plant! I love being able to look out my kitchen window and see it thriving. I am reminded of where it came from every time I see it. I love that is comes back every spring to remind me that what happened to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove is real. He actually saw our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ. That reality is a wonderful blessing in my life.

I often wonder how many others have taken a sample of something from the Sacred Grove. Then I remember we all have - even more beautiful then my fern. We have the Gospel on the earth today and the knowledge that started with an answer to a young boys prayer in a fern growing/grove of trees.