A true story

 

Jamie was a boy with a talent.  It was a talent that no one else in the history of the world had ever had.  Jamie was able to find four-leaf clovers.  He could walk through a patch of clover and just see them.  If there was a four-leaf clover in the patch, he'd see it.  His eyes would scan the patch and pick out patterns that were out of the ordinary.

Clovers have three leaves.  Long ago Saint Patrick used clover leaves to explain the Godhead as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost—three in one.

Once in a while something happens to cause one clover to have four leaves.  Jamie's dad thought that maybe an injury to the plant caused four-leaf clovers to happen.  Maybe it was something in the plant itself that caused four-leaf clovers.

But no matter what caused them, four-leaf clovers were lucky.  If you found a four-leaf clover, good things happened to you.

And there was no doubt about it—Jamie was lucky.  Maybe that was why Jamie got to live on a farm.  He felt sorry for town kids who lived where there was nothing to do.

Maybe it was Jamie's four-leaf clovers that gave him such a special family—a mother, a father, an older brother to build tree houses with, and a little sister that he could pull around in his red wagon.

And Jamie was an uncle, too.  That was special.  None of his friends were uncles.  His oldest brother and sister had married and left home before he could hardly even remember.  Now they each had a little boy.

Jamie was lucky.  He really liked it when he could get his little sister and both nephews all together at the same time.  They were all the same size.  He'd load them in his red wagon and pull them around the farm.  The babies loved it.  Their mothers did, too.  They trusted Jamie to be a good babysitter.

Yes, Jamie was lucky.  He loved his farm, he loved his family, and they loved him.  What could be better?

Jamie's mother showed him how to press his four-leaf clovers between the pages of a book.  He pressed every one he found.  He had lots and lots of four-leaf clovers.  Why he was keeping them he didn't know.  All he knew was that he couldn't just throw them away.  What could be more special than four-leaf clovers?

Five-leaf clovers!  Jamie found a lot of them, too—not nearly as many five-leaf clovers as four-leaf clovers, but quite a few.

Every now and then he even found a six-leaf clover.  Once when he was little he found a seven-leaf clover!  He pressed them all.

Jamie grew up.  He went to college, and he joined the Navy.  He was gone for eight years.  It was during this time that he learned about God.  He developed a relationship with Jesus Christ, and relied on the Holy Ghost for daily guidance.

Luckily, when he was through with college and the Navy, his father was ready to sell the farm.  His older brothers already had places of their own, so Jamie got to buy the one place on earth that he loved the best.  Jamie felt more than lucky.  Jamie felt blessed.

Jamie married the prettiest girl in the world.  She was as good as she was beautiful.  She loved children as much as Jamie did.  She gave him two five-leaf clovers worth.

That was 'way beyond lucky.  They were the best kids in the world.  They were the happiest, prettiest, most active, most talented, and smartest kids ever.—At least Jamie thought so.

It was sad when they started growing up and leaving home.  But it was only sad for a little while, because they each got married and came back.—And they came back with more children for Jamie to love.

Jamie was a grandfather now.  Each Sunday after church all the family gathered at Jamie's house for dinner.  The house was full of people.  They were all good.  They were all happy.  They were all best friends.

Jamie was the luckiest boy in the world.

Where would it all end?  It never would.  Jamie's grandchildren would have grandchildren, and Jamie would love them, too.  Forever and ever they'd be an eternal family.  One family member after another would go away for a little while—to college or to join the Navy, or to get married, or to die—but they'd always come back.  Sunday dinners in the eternities would always find Jamie surrounded by a house full of best friends.

As Jamie looked around him, one day he suddenly realized why once in a while a four-leaf clover sometimes appears among all the thousands of three-leaf clovers.  The four-leaf clovers happen when someone decides to link himself with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  That person becomes the fourth leaf.

Five-leaf clovers happen when that person chooses a husband or wife and goes to the temple to link themselves eternally to God.  Six- and seven-leaf clovers happen as children are born in that covenant.

There was no doubt about it.  Jamie was the luckiest boy in the world.  He had a

35-leaf clover that was still growing.—2004           50-leaf—2008           64-leaf—2012