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Sabbath Devotional :: A Loving Vigil
My ancestors immigrated to Salt Lake City from Wales in the 1850s. One of my first forays into family history was learning about the nation of my ancestors. As a freshman at BYU, I took a Welsh language class on a whim. My professor was an expert in the history of early Latter-day Saints in Wales and knew much more about my family than I did. His stories about MY ancestors still inspire me. I learned that Welsh people love to sing together — at church and pubs and rugby games and everywhere else. So as part of our class, we sang Welsh folk songs. I regret to tell you…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Agency
“Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, fear not.” (D&C 6:34, 36) “Be not faithless, but believing.” (John 20:25) Recently, a friend joked with me about how she’s a mother in favor of Satan’s plan: “Follow my orders and stop causing me grief with your mistakes and failings!” “Ah, theoretical fancies!” I thought as I imagined a group of faithful LDS women sporting black t-shirts with “Moms for Satan’s plan” blazoned across their chests. I had to laugh and admit that my children’s complete submission to my will and wisdom sounded pretty amazing. I know the way they should go and the steps to avoid, right? It’s funny how…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Opening Doors and Hearts Through Curiosity and Compassion
I value maintaining curiosity and compassion for people with a wide spectrum of viewpoints. The gift of curiosity to understand more deeply starts with a desire to understand. The Book of Mormon prophet Alma taught, “if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, . . . even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you” (Alma 32:27). Proverbs encourages curiosity: “incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;” (Proverbs 2:2). I desire to incline my ear and apply my heart to understanding by listening to diverse perspectives, especially among those within the Christian world and the Church of Jesus Christ…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Repairing the Breach
“. . . and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” (Isaiah 58:12) The word “breach” means a hole or gap in a fortress, usually caused by an attacking army. The stakes of Zion are “for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm” (D&C 115:6). In other words, Zion is a fortress. Our wards and stakes should be refuges and defenses against that which would destroy. Unfortunately, as we know too well, breaches have damaged our fortresses. We have breaches in our personal and community relationships — some are newly created, and some existing holes have been recently enlarged. My…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Hope Against Hope
“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.” ~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If anybody had reason to lose hope, it would have been Rev. King. In many ways, his life was full of disappointment, and he never got to see the fruits of his lifelong labors. Rev. King also experienced several bouts of severe depression — experiences that he kept closely guarded due to stigmas and fears his mental health struggles would be used against him. Hiding his struggles must have been lonely and heavy to carry. He often reflected that his work left him feeling like he was “giving, giving, giving” and…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Gratitude
I live in a rural area in the American West. Last spring, our stake president talked about the severe drought conditions. He said the stake presidency and high council had discussed whether to call for a stake-wide fast to pray for rain. He wondered if it was selfish to ask others to pray for rain. He is a farmer, so would it be like asking everyone to pray that his business was successful? But then he remembered that people like to eat. He made me laugh. We all depend on farmers to eat. I am happy to want anyone working in agriculture to be tremendously successful. As they prayed and…
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The Power of Real Humility
Humility is not the absence of confidence or the act of putting yourself or others down. Humility is recognizing from where you get your strength. Whether you think that you can do everything on your own or that you can do nothing at all — that is pride. Humility is being confident because of the Lord. I wrote that summation on my mission. Humility, when properly understood, is such a beautiful, inspiring, and power-giving principle. And yet, sadly, it’s a topic that has been so distorted within both our Christian and American cultures. Two stories illustrate this misconstruction for me. Story one: I was in Primary when a boy said…
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Are You Aware? Water Is Critical
This is part II in our “Concerning Climate” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Water is critical to the sustenance of life. Creating and maintaining life is impossible without this vital resource. Throughout the history of the world, people and civilizations have followed the water. Any threat to our water sources is a threat to life itself. While the western U.S. has always had periods of drought, many are now experiencing historic drought levels. Drought typically starts with less than normal rainfall. But temperatures also impact this. Since the industrial era began, our earth has warmed by about 1.2 degrees Celsius (about 2 degrees Fahrenheit). While…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Advocate
As I stood to exit a meeting at the school, the teacher said, “Your daughter is lucky to have you as her advocate.” Advocate. The word caught my attention. In that situation, I was teaming up with teachers and administrators whose purpose was to help my daughter be successful. Her success was a shared goal. But without my advocacy, they wouldn’t have known how to help. As I drove home, I dwelt on the word advocate. One of Christ’s titles is Advocate. This title makes me feel especially loved by him. In the Doctrine and Covenants, Christ says, “Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst,…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Belonging and Believing
Something I catch myself thinking a lot is, “How can anyone believe _____??!!” And especially, “How can any of my family, my friends believe ______??!!” I see the inverse on social media sometimes: “If you believe ___, unfriend/unfollow me because I don’t want to know you.” It is so satisfying and so tempting to think there is a set of righteous beliefs and we should only associate with others who have them. Unfortunately, I do not believe Christians or Latter-day Saints can afford to indulge in this kind of ideological purity testing for the people to whom we are willing to extend love. It’s true that there are abhorrent beliefs,…
