In the Back of My High School Locker

By the time I was a Senior in high school, I had great friends and found a good rhythm in my new school. It was much larger than the school we had left in Iowa, but I came to appreciate everything that made it different.

At the beginning of my Senior year, we were assigned our school lockers. We had a seven-minute break between classes. The administration felt like this was sufficient time to trade out books and spiral notebooks from one class in exchange for what we would need for the next class. As students, we recognized these same seven minutes to be extremely important social time. Materials were quickly exchanged and then my friends and I would hurry to ‘the spot’ to gather, chat, bemoan our homework load, etc.

All Senior lockers were in the social studies hall. It was a long T-shaped wing on the far side of the high school. There was a large wall heater known to be the gathering spot in this hallway. No doubt the perfect place for a locker would be right next to this heater. When I received my assignment I began to walk the ‘T’ searching for my number. In doing so, I drifted farther and farther away from the perfect ‘spot’. In near disbelief, I noted my locker was almost the furthest away it could be.
My initial thought was, “This is going to kill my social life!”
I would have to travel so far between classes to even get to my locker that I would miss all of the time for chatting.

However, what I did find at the end of the ‘T’ was solitude. I quickly realized that no one was ever down there. Most of my locker neighbors opted to share lockers with their friends in a prime location as a time-saving device. With this solitude, my open locker became a place of prayer. I said more prayers facing the back of my open locker than anywhere else as a Senior in high school. I spoke with my Father in Heaven between nearly every class. I truly developed a close relationship with Him. I uttered silent prayers of gratitude, pleas for help, and enjoyed moments of quiet reflection. This locker became the place where I poured my heart out to my Heavenly Father and counseled with Him about the things which I should do to improve my life. I had no doubt that my Heavenly Father cared about me: where I was, what I was doing, my joys and my struggles.

I began to understand why Jesus Christ was willing to do the will of His Father. He loved Him. He knew Him. And He wanted what Heavenly Father wanted. It was a concept I could testify of…completely.

-JC

As I reflect on this experience today, I ask myself:
As I come to a greater understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, do I feel my Heavenly Father’s love more fully?
Am I devoted to Christ in following His example?

Chocolate Crinkles

2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup oil
3 XL eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup cocoa (I use Hershey’s special dark)
2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt

Mix together sugar and oil.  

Stir in eggs and vanilla; don’t overmix.

 Add all dry ingredients at once, stirring until well incorporated.  Add 1-2 additional Tablespoons flour for high elevation.

Chill dough for three hours.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Scoop out 24+ 1 ½ “ balls of dough, and roll into a ball with hands. Prior to baking, roll the ball of dough into powdered sugar.

 It should completely cover the cookie ball.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes. Share!