Zurps and Circles

We had the most amazing talk in church today. I felt the spirit so definitely.

The speaker’s name was John Stewart and he had celebral palsy and other physical disabilities (from having been born breach and having had no oxygen for four and a half minutes). The doctor’s contracted vision was that he would die a few days after birth. However, his parents exercised great faith and had the priesthood give him blessings of healing. His parents’ vision for him was a long, productive life. He compared his parents’ expanded vision of his life to our Heavenly Father’s vision for us. He wants us to succeed and knows of our potential.

John told us about how when he was a child, his physical disabilities prevented him from being able to draw circles. He and his friends would show each other their drawings of cars, but John was often too frustrated with his non-circular wheels to share. He realizes now that his drawings would have been fine to share, and that he allowed his problems to limit himself. He expressed his love for our Savior, who is the only one with a perfect circle.

John then told us of how he was asked to speak in a classroom where a teacher, Ms. Kristina, used a “magic” wand to give her troubled seventh grade students “Zurps” before they started class. Zurps were an expression of love and faith in a student. They were also used to take away any of the bad in the students’ lives, if only for a moment, so that they could escape from that which kept them from realizing their potential. John stated his belief that Jesus Christ gave us each “The Zurp of All Zurps” with the infinite gift of His atonement. Because of it, we can overcome those trials in our lives and realize our potential as children of God.

John then talked about how it was a difficult journey for him to come back to church. He did not fit “the mold” of an LDS person. He had no children (with the accompanying box of Cheerios), no wife, and no vision of his place in the Church. Heavenly Father, however, had a different vision for him. Through a loving Bishop and an inspired patriarchal blessing, he learned about Heavenly Father’s expanded vision for his life and his mission. John taught that Heavenly Father has an expanded vision for each of us. We are His children, and He knows of our true potential. As we learn to model our “circles” after the Savior’s, we will better understand what He intends us to become.