The song says, “Inch by inch, and row by row, I'm going to make this garden grow.”  That's the way we operate.  At the beginning of a big job you look ahead and think, “There's no way I'll ever be able to get this done.”  But you just begin.  You do a little each day, and suddenly, one day, the job is done.

Marjorie does that with her flower beds.  They are in great disarray every spring.  She has four or five of them.  Where to begin?  She works on them every day, sometimes just a little, and now she is standing back and admiring how pretty they all look.  She knows how much effort has gone into the job, and she can truly appreciate what has happened.  There has been a great transformation.

I did a census this morning, and find that I have lots of inch-by-inch jobs going at the same time.  I don't have the energy to concentrate on just one at a time, so I do a little every day; and suddenly I look back and they're done.

Every morning I index another talk from general conference.  This morning I indexed the first talk from last April's Sunday morning session.  I'm well over halfway done with the conference.  Soon I'll be finished, and then I'll be feeling disappointed that there are no more conference talks to be indexed and to inspire me.  This will complete the indexing of 108 general conferences.  I have all the wisdom of 54 years' worth of general conference encapsulated in an easy-to-find format.  I also have every story from general conference in another easy-to-find format in the seven volumes of Danny's Book.  Hopefully Kevin will have time someday to put these things all online where my grandchildren can use them.

We have 36 blueberry plants.  Weeds are threatening to take over.  Weeding them is hard work.  I set a goal to weed four or eight per day.  Today or tomorrow I'll be all finished, and the blueberries will look great.  I discovered yesterday that the pH level, which should be 4.5, is actually up around 6.  So next, I'll apply more sulfur, and get the pH level lowered.

We've had a lot of rain, and weeding the raspberries is easy.  I'm going through the patch and pulling up all the big noxious weeds that would otherwise make a tangle.  I have five of the nine rows done.  My physical stamina is such that I can't do the whole job in one fell swoop, so a little each day eventually gets the job done.

Then there's family history.  My long-range goal is to find and organize all of the descendants of all of my 3^rd great grandparents.  I find the individuals, correct and record their vital statistics, and either ensure that their temple work is already completed, or put them in line for either me or the temple system to do the work.  I completed that project for the eight sets of my 2^nd great grandparents, and now I'm working on the 8^th of my 16 sets of 3^rd great grandparents.  It's slow going, especially with the family of Thomas and Jane Pierce, on which I'm currently working.  Information just simply isn't available in some cases.  Family Search says that I've completed  635 ordinances, and shared 255 names with the temple system.  I'm astounded.  How did that happen?

I've been given the responsibility of assigning the name of a handcart pioneer to each of the 260 stake youth who will be going on the handcart trek this year.  That involves reading a book containing the biographies of the pioneers, and then prayerfully assigning each name to a youth.  I've done this two or three times before.  It's a huge job, and I'm not relishing it this time around.  However, by doing just a little each day, I'll soon have the job done.  Then I'll have to spend some hours in the meetinghouse library making a copy of each story so that it can be handed to a young person who will assume that pioneer's identity during the trek.

Inch by inch, and row by row I get things done.  I see that I'm in volume 7 of the World Book Encyclopedia.  I read each volume, make notes of the most interesting items, and type them up to share with the family what I've learned.  This has been going on for some years.

Today I'll finish hoeing the garden.  Everything is up and growing.  It's the 9^th of June, and we can see the corn rows from our kitchen window.

Today I'll also take the weed eater, and spruce the whole place up.  My lawnmower spent several weeks in the shop undergoing repairs while the grass got out of hand.  The lawns are now under control, but I need to do some detail work.

Inch by inch, and row by row, we eventually get to where we want to be.  The secret is in just beginning, doing a little each day, and in being consistent.  This year's Come Follow Me program is on the Old Testament.  Marjorie and I were diligently doing it, despite the fact that we each have other study programs going.  She is going through the Book of Mormon.  Every time she finds a place where we're told to do something, she underlines it in green.  Every time she finds a place where we're told to not do something, she underlines it in red.  Every time she finds a reference to the Savior, she underlines it in yellow.  Every time she finds a blessing from on high, she underlines it in blue.  She's doing it in a soft-cover Book of Mormon, and will end up with a colorful book.

At the same time, she's on volume 6 of Teachings of the Presidents of the Church.  She discovered that series last fall, and is thrilled with it.  She was in Primary the whole time that the Church was producing that series and using it as the course of study in Relief Society and Priesthood meetings.

We're far ahead of where we should be in the Come Follow Me program.  We're bogged down in Psalms, and maybe read together once a week.  She reads three verses aloud, and then I read three verses.  We read more than what the course requires.  In a few months we'll be able to say that we've gone through the entire Old Testament together.

I'm nearing the end of reading the Book of Mormon for the 91^st time.  I read six or seven pages per evening.  Each page takes only 2-1/2 minutes to read, so that's just 15 or 20 minutes of reading per day.  That enables me to read it four times in a year.  During the last days of the quarter there are extra days left over, so in those extra days I read the other books of scripture.  I see by the record that I keep on the title page of each book that I've read all the other books in the last twelve months, so I think that when I finish the Book of Mormon this time, I'll just start over.  I enjoy it immensely, and it keeps me in harmony with God, myself, and the world.

“Inch by inch, and row by row, I'm going to make this garden grow.  I'm going to mulch it deep below, and make it fertile ground.”

We'll get it done by doing just a little each day.  We'll feel a huge sense of satisfaction as we look back and admire what we've accomplished.