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The Prophet of the Lord

-"lengthen your stride"

With the new year Camilla Kimball tried to ease the crushing burden of responsibility on her husband. "He's the last resort of authority on earth now," she softly told an interviewer, "and it sets him apart so. He has the final responsibility for so many decisions; there's no place for him to go except to the Lord."

At least when he came borne, Camilla promised herself, he would find a haven of peace. She had long handled the business of house and yard, seeing to repairs, arranging for the lawn to be mowed, cultivating the flowers and vegetables growing in their yard. Mealtimes already were juggled to fit his hard-pressed schedule. Some things, like keeping their financial records, he continued to insist were his responsibility. "I try to shelter him," she said, but there was not much more she could do. "It's hard for me to see him under such pressure. This responsibility to be Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and President of the Church is almost overwhelming."

President Kimball, too, was surprised at the extra stress. It was not that his new work occupied any more of his time than before; that would have been impossible. But the weight of added decision-making was worse than he had ever imagined it would be. He had thought he understood what being President would entail, but he now realized that he had underestimated the strain. One day, dragging with fatigue from this calling which had come unbidden, he joked wryly with his family, "If I had known it was going to be like this, I would never have run for the office." And asked by a reporter what kind of entertainment he most enjoyed, he now replied, "Sleep."

Much of the strain was a result of President Kimball's sense of aloneness among men. Each word he spoke and each act he did took on unique meaning to many Church members who seemed to expect his every movement to be inspired. Camilla once said, "It puts us on a pedestal where everything we say or do is watched and reported." For thirty years he had taken his major problems to the Brethren who presided over him for their counsel or decision. He had asked their advice in life-and-death matters, such as whether to undertake open-heart surgery or treatment for cancer. But now there was no one on earth to whom he could turn over his problems. At President Lee's funeral he had said, "A giant redwood has fallen and left a great space in the forest." It had been left for Spencer Kimball to fill that space-alone.

Yet he was not wholly alone. One night in his bed at home he woke with a sudden strong impression that President Lee, though unseen, was present there right in front of him. It was not a frightening but a reassuring experience. There was no express message, just a sense that President Lee was there to evidence a warm, continuing interest in the work of the Church.

On another occasion, again in his bedroom at home, President Kimball had a similar experience. "During the night... while half asleep trying to work out my problems, ... I looked up and my father, Andrew Kimball, came toward me. He was tall and well built, and I recognized him and rushed to him and embraced him. That was all, but it left a warm, good feeling with me."