Featured Memory
“Praise the Lord…”
Although Senior Brother Eyring was from a generation well in advance of my own, I studied Quantum Mechanics from a little green textbook written by the Senior Brother Eyring that had survived usage for almost 50 years, as I recall. A textbook that lasts for a decade is extraordinary, but one that lasts for 50 years is phenomenal. All this is intended to give you the background to say that President Eyring’s father had a reputation that was remarkable.
In 1984, while sitting in a lecture hall at one of the more renowned universities (UCLA), I had been listening to a guest speaker share a discourse on his research. These weekly lectures were often tinted with the strong egos of the presenters and/or the audience. However, the speaker this evening had been highly unusual. Throughout the hour and a half of presentation, he had repeatedly “praised the Lord” for His goodness in allowing this advance or that advance in his research progress. It has been too long for me to remember the emotions I had that night, but I can easily recall that it felt different and refreshing to have someone with this openness and humility. The professor under whom I was doing my research at the time was also the host for the presenter that evening and thanked the speaker. His remarks included the comment, “Tonight we have heard the name of Deity praised with more frequency that I have heard in these halls since Henry Eyring, a Mormon bishop, spoke here many years ago.
“When Senior Brother Eyring praised the Lord for his accomplishments, I do not believe it was an insincere or perfunctory thanks that he was giving. He was wholeheartedly admitting that the Lord was behind His success. That he had been given extraordinary blessings that allowed great things to materialize. And he blessed the hand that made that possible.