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Sabbath Devotional :: Being One
Lately I have felt overwhelmed by insignificance. When I witness the unrelenting onslaught of misrepresentations of the truth; egos out of proportion; locked political horns despite 800,000 people struggling without paychecks; families separated at borders or savaged by crime and greed and disloyalty, I feel powerless. What can my one voice do to bring peace to this broken world of ours? I am reminded of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price where, after seeing a vision of the eternities and the vastness of the world and its people, he — “left unto himself” — admits, “I know that [humankind] is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.” Left “unto…
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Sabbath Devotional :: He Came, Not to Judge, but to Save
Last week, at a Relief Society activity on mental health, I found myself asking an expert what we are supposed to do with warranted but overwhelming sadness. As I mentioned how difficult it is lately to be even remotely aware of the news without feeling a deep sense of mourning, I noticed other women around the room nodding their heads in agreement. Our expert provided some good tips about the importance of self-care and then moved on to the next question. Throughout the rest of the week, I have been thinking about how I could apply her tips while also trying to manage a very hectic week, attend to my…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Already Light: We are Loved and Chosen
In 2013, London-based Japanese photographer Chino Otsuka undertook a unique project: an essay series where she inserted her adult self into photographs of her childhood to envision what meeting herself as a child might be like. Outside a French bakery, adult Chino nibbles on a pastry alongside childhood Chino. Together they take a stroll on a beach, board a train, build a snowman, nap in a hotel. They share a face, a posture, a spirit, a body — just at different knots in the fabric of time. When I first discovered these photos, I imagined entering my own childhood photos, where adult me, the present me, interacted with childhood me.…
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Sabbath Devotional :: An Unbreakable and Everlasting Plexus of Love and Kinship
This past Thursday night, I sat in the Provo City Center Temple surrounded by loved ones as one of our son’s converts from his mission received his endowment. Devin, our son, served in the Leeds England Mission. As a Mandarin-speaking missionary he taught Chinese students almost exclusively. He had been in Newcastle-upon-Tyne for only one day when he and his companion approached a group of friends on the street. None of them seemed very interested in talking with the two Mormon missionaries, but my son managed to strike up a conversation with one young man named Lui Fangbo. Lui was a doctoral student in electrical engineering who happened to have…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Advent: Of Grace Notes and Glory
I’ve had a busy week. Household chores were taxing and unrelenting. Juggling our families’ schedules for upcoming Christmas visits seemed as complex as prepping for the Olympics. Mountains of recycling needed to be schlepped over to the center — cardboard, paper, glass, plastic, metal — heavy, unwieldy and smelly. The mail offered bills and stacks of catalogs we didn’t need from mostly unlikely sources (Cigar connoisseur? Horse & Saddle?) What probably bugged me the most was the sudden dysfunction of my car’s Sirius XM radio. How could I keep up with our chaotic government without the news informing me mile after out-of-signal mile? Despite my frequent efforts to tune the…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Love That Knows No Bounds
A few weeks ago, I had an interesting experience at the temple. As I entered the front door and handed my recommend to the man at the front desk, another woman walked up next to me and said that she was there seeking a priesthood blessing. She is no longer an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nor did she have any interest in becoming one, but she said she had come to the only place she could think of because she was in desperate need of peace. I offered to wait with her in the lobby, and we had a few minutes to talk.…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Gratitude
“The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live. He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: giving thanks for everything.” — Albert Schweitzer I’ve been thinking about my mother a lot this week. She died around this time of year, a few days after Thanksgiving, twenty years ago. She was only 69. Way too young to die. I still think of her almost every day, but especially during this season of Thanksgiving. My mother was the finest woman I have ever known. She was born in Manti, Utah on July 13, 1928, and grew up on a homestead…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Hair Bows and Cookie Cutters
Several years ago I attended a Relief Society activity where we were learning how to make hair bows. The women who were teaching the class displayed dozens of beautiful bows they had created and gave us a quick demonstration. They made bow-making look like the easiest thing ever. I am here to tell you that bow-making is not the easiest thing ever. As time went on, I started to feel increasingly frustrated at my lack of bow-making skills. All the women around me were creating one adorable hair bow after another. I had not been able to finish a single bow and was obviously struggling, even while others were trying…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Pacifist Perspective on War in the Book of Mormon
I would not feel uncomfortable if someone accused me of being a pacifist. My brain tells me that there are times that war is justified, but my heart can hardly handle the thought of it. My distaste for violence grows out of an innate recoiling at the suffering of any living creature. I was just born this way. By way of example, earlier this year my son’s seven baby rabbits all became ill, one after another and on separate days. Each died quite terribly after an hour of seizures and suffering. I cried and held each one as they passed, reasoning that my presence and soothing touch could help ease…
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Sabbath Devotional :: She Will Find That Which is Lost
“I have a choice: / To put aside this seed, Leaving the planting / To the proven growers, Pretending not to care / For gardening, And knowing, / If I do not try, I cannot fail. Or plant, And risk again / The well-known pain Of watching / For the first brave green And seeing only / Barren ground. The seed is in my hand, / The trowel is in the other. I am going to the garden, / And to the Gardener, Once more.” (“Mother’s Day,” So Far: Poems by Margaret Rampton Munk) The poems of Margaret Rampton Munk (a distant cousin of mine) are full of loss. Meg…
