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Sabbath Devotional :: A Gentle Heart
In thinking about the Church’s Light the World initiative, some recent personal experiences, this week’s GROW on compassion and empathy, and some stories and experiences of others I’ve seen recently, I’ve been struck by just how much good people do for each other. Are there struggles and hardship and moments of darkness? Yes. But there are also so many points of light shining through it. So many selfless acts and kind words and caring hearts that lift and bless and bring the light of Christ into the world. This past week, Elder Renlund shared a video talking about reopening temples. He said, in reference to proxy work in the temple,…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Hope
As we near the end of this election season, I know many of us are feeling stressed, anxious, and just plain tired. Right now, it feels as if we’ve been sprinting for quite some time and can see the finish line, but we don’t quite know what lies on the other side. For the most part, I’m able to keep the stress and anxiety at bay in a few ways — taking positive action and making time for the things that nourish my soul. A few nights ago, though, I found it catching up to me, and I prayed that the Lord would calm my anxious heart and soothe my…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Choose Love
MWEG’s fifth Principle of Peacemaking says, “Peacemaking chooses love instead of hate.” This seems like a fairly easy one in the abstract, the theoretical. I don’t think many people consider themselves hateful or relish or seek out feelings of hatred. Most people want to love and be loved. But it gets more complicated in the concrete, the specific, the up-close-and-personal and daily. So how do we choose love? Chapter 4 in 1 John is a master class on love, and I want to highlight a few verses here: 7. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.8. He that loveth…
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The Power (and Covenant) of Community
Do you ever get words stuck in your head? Or notice a specific word or concept popping up over and over? These last few weeks, “community” keeps working its way into my thoughts. Being physically separated or isolated from our communities right now, not able to “meet together oft” (3 Nephi 18:22), has made me think a lot about the importance and power of community. A few weeks ago, I watched Just Mercy and noticed how this theme weaves its way through the storylines. For the inmates who are physically cut off from the outside world and for their families and friends and neighbors trying to band together against the injustices…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Prayer of the Peacemaker
As a kid, I had kind of a love/hate relationship with the story of Abinadi. I loved the example he set of testifying of truth but, honestly, was a little terrified by how things ended for him. I was also fairly shy, and extremely conflict-averse, so the thought of standing up in front of a group of people and telling them a whole bunch of things that made them angry was nearly as terrifying as Abinadi’s untimely death. And yet, I knew it was important to follow the example of people like Abinadi, to use my voice to “stand for truth and righteousness.” At the Mormon Women for Ethical Government…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Lead, Kindly Light
My grandpa passed away a couple weeks ago. Of course, given the current circumstances, we couldn’t gather as a family to mourn his passing and celebrate his life (though we did “gather” via Zoom). But over these past few weeks I’ve felt comfort from the words of his favorite hymn, which have been playing on an almost perpetual loop in my mind: Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom;Lead thou me on!The night is dark, and I am far from home;Lead thou me on!Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to seeThe distant scene — one step enough for me. For reasons both global and personal, I have felt almost…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Parable of the Goatheads
A few weeks ago was bike week at my kids’ school. Since it’s about a half hour bike ride from our house, I didn’t quite trust my boys to make it there on their own. So I loaded my little girl into the bike trailer, and away we all went. About one block from the school, I was forced off the street onto the sidewalk. I heard a smattering of little crunching sounds, and saw the culprits scattered across the sidewalk: goatheads. (For the unfamiliar – count your blessings – they are nasty little things, the seeds of a pervasive weed with three sharp thorns that hurt like the dickens…
