Yevet Tenney

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A few weeks ago, I was privileged to act as a merit badge councilor for a group of Boy Scouts. I have been a merit badge councilor for Citizenship in the Nation (a merit badge) for over twenty years. I went to the dentist the other day to get a root canal, and the young dentist said, “Do you remember when you taught us about the Constitution in Boy Scouts?”

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Last November, my niece, Annette, lost her son in an unforeseen accident. He went to bed one night and choked on a piece of candy. A shock like that is hard to get over. One day, he is alive full of mischief and teenage emotion, and the next day he is gone.

The other day Reg, my husband, and I were traveling across the Navajo Reservation near Many Farms, Arizona. We saw hundreds of motorcyclists in black suits and masks driving towards us. My heart leaped to my throat as we pulled to a stop at the man-made road block.

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Two of my children, Paul and Ashley, have finished high school and are going out into the world “to seek their fortune,” as it is often written in fairy tale language. Of course, we do not live in a fairy tale world, and without proper planning things do not turn our happily ever after.

Causative faith has been on my mind lately. Causative faith is the power that makes miracles happen. That kind of faith is needed to heal the sick, ward off destructive powers and change the outcome of a tragedy.

With the coming of spring and gardening time, I am always awestruck at the beauty of nature and the power of growing things. You put a seed in the ground, give it some water and sunlight, protect it from the elements and watch it grow. Suddenly you have many seeds and food to eat. You can’t explain how it happened, you just know that from a tiny seed grew a fruitful plant.