I was talking with a friend who observed that it is coded into the generic structuring of LDS talks to speak after the resolution. It goes like this: there’s some sort of tension/conflict/struggle/adversity which leads our questing speaker to a journey for answers/insight/victory, then the epiphany and a resolution. It’s a nice arc, a complete emotional experience, so it makes sense as a structure for a talk or story. But it isn’t actually very reflective of reality. Because in reality, most of us are sitting in the middle of things most of the time. We don’t know how the game will end, which ball will drop, what shape this journey…

In early October, I found myself driving my family through the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Georgia. We live in Alabama, and our stake had been tasked with running a “command center” for hurricane relief in Valdosta. As we drove towards the church building, I wove through massive piles of downed trees that had been cut and moved off the roads. I drove over dozens of downed power lines. Seeing the devastation firsthand, knowing it was exponentially worse in other areas, and having just heard that another deadly hurricane was forming, I thought about the account in the Book of Mormon of the destruction at Christ’s death, and the prophecies…

I have been reading the book “My Bright Abyss” by Christian Wiman. Wiman is a contemporary poet and through this volume of essays he explores his faith and belief and how these have ebbed and flowed during his life. He writes and describes faith as a living and changing thing and this has really resonated with me. Wiman writes “[E]very single expression of faith is provisional — because life carries us always forward to a place where the faith we’d fought so hard to articulate to ourselves must now be reformulated, and because faith in God is, finally, faith in change.” As a reader, I have always taken to heart…

I am in the throes of school assignments all weekend and in spite of my best efforts as always down to the wire writing my Sabbath devotional! Forgive me for keeping it short and sweet and borrowing the words of another. I want to share two Lucille Clifton poems, of many that I love written by her. Poetry is one of my favorite genres to read and I find poetry is a wonderful complement to my spiritual study — the space between the words leaves room to think deeply. Both poems below by Lucille Clifton my dream about God He is wearing my grandfather’s hat.He is taller than my last…

It’s my mom’s birthday this week. Will you indulge me for a minute while I talk about her? I have a large extended family, and we love to spend time together. When our children were very young, after family dinners, my sisters and I retired to the adjacent family room to form what my uncle dubbed the lactation station. While we were feeding our youngest children, our husbands would chase the toddlers. We would have wonderful, lively conversations full of fun that sometimes shifted to deep, heartfelt discussions. While we were enjoying ourselves, my mom and dad were busy in the kitchen. Dad never leaves the kitchen until the dishes…