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Sabbath Devotional :: Lessons Learned
As this week marked the one-year anniversary of the explosion of the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself reflecting on the experiences of the past year. It has been a strange year, surreal at times. It has been a difficult year. For many of us it has been an intensely painful year. But I have been reminded that intense pain often brings intense growth. I have been learning many lessons. I attempt to share just a few of them below. Accepting Uncertainty One thing that came up often for me over the last year was uncertainty. Uncertainty about the future: for myself, for my family, for my country. Uncertainty about what…
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Sabbath Devotional :: God-Reliance
Many years ago I was at a conference where one of the presenters spoke about living by what she called “the manna plan.” She referenced the story of the Israelites and the miraculous food from heaven that the Lord provided for them as they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. This edible substance, known as manna, appeared on the ground every morning. The Israelites were instructed to gather only what they needed for that day. If they gathered more than that to save some for later, it would spoil. The exception to this was the day before the Sabbath, when they were commanded to gather enough for two days.…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Deep Waters
Water has always been powerful imagery for me. There have been times in my life when I have felt like these words from David could be my own: “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.” (Psalms 69:1-2) During the most difficult times of my life, one word that has often come to mind to describe my experience has been the word “drowning.” The feelings of helplessness, suffocating, crushing weight pressing down on my chest, sinking deeper and deeper as waves of heartache, grief, or despair…
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Sabbath Devotional :: How to Move a Mountain
This week we are blessed with a special musical devotional from Cherie Call (see video above). Cherie’s song, “How to Move a Mountain,” is a favorite of mine. I first heard it several years ago during an especially difficult time in my life. The message resonated deeply with me then and has stayed with me. I believe the message is especially relevant to each of us right now: in the work we are doing in MWEG, in the broad challenges we face as society, and in the very personal mountains that we each face in our individual lives. A note from Cherie: After the 2016 election I was worried for…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Gift of Discernment
There have been many times in my life when I have been wrong about things. But there was one time in particular when I was really wrong about something, and it resulted in a lot of pain and personal anguish. I was deceived. I put my trust in the wrong person and listened to the wrong voices. I did eventually arrive at a place of clarity and truth, but damage had already been done and it was not an easy thing for me to recover from. Although it was painful, this experience taught me many valuable lessons that have continued to help me as I have moved forward. Many of…
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Sabbath Devotional :: An Eye of Faith
Several years ago, during an especially difficult time of my life, I was reading in Alma 5 when a phrase from verse 15 jumped out at me: Do you look forward with an eye of faith? At that time in my life, “looking forward with an eye of faith” meant believing my current difficult situation was not permanent. It meant trusting that things could and would improve. It meant holding on to hope instead of yielding to despair. Asking myself that question reminded me to shift my focus from fear to faith. In the years since, this question has come to my mind at different times, prompting reflection and acting…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Reflections on Remembering
During more than one lesson I was taught at church during my youth, I learned that President Spencer W. Kimball once said the most important word in the dictionary is “remember” (Spencer W. Kimball, “Circles of Exaltation,” June 28, 1968). This really stuck with me, and I have thought of it often over the years. There have been times in my life when “remember” has been an especially painful word. There have been traumatic events that replay in my mind that I desperately want to forget. There have been losses that sting and ache, and remembering is accompanied by waves of sadness and grief. Still, I recognize that remembering some…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Fear, Faith, and Focus
I have been thinking a lot about fear. This is partly because I have been noticing a lot of fear around me. I see it in news headlines and election strategies. I see it in my Facebook feed and on campaign flyers in my mailbox. But the truth is that fear is not just something I have been observing in other people. I have been thinking a lot about fear because I have been feeling a lot of fear myself. I fear big things, like government corruption and global pandemics. I fear not-so-big things, like my children getting their drivers’ licenses. I feel fear when my children are sick or…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Lessons from the Wilderness
As I have been studying the account of Lehi’s family in the Book of Mormon this month, I have found myself considering the perspectives of different individuals in the story, imagining myself in their position. Instead of viewing the people as characters that were either heroes or villains, I have been thinking about them as real, complex human beings. This exercise has broadened my perspective and brought me new insights that have helped me apply what I am reading to my own life. I was moved as I read about Sariah’s struggles as she anxiously awaited the safe return of her sons from their journey to Jerusalem to obtain the…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Gift of an Imperfect Christmas
Since that Christmas I have been learning to stop chasing perfection and instead let all the imperfections and disappointments and messiness be a reminder to me of what Christmas is truly all about: Why that baby was born in a stable, why we are celebrating His birth. That is a lesson worth reminding myself of all year long.
