My Testimony is simple: My Heavenly Father thinks the world of me, and My Savior has given me access to the greatest power this world has ever known: His atonement. Because of this, My family will be ok, My scholars will be ok, My community will be ok, All of my people will be ok in the eternal run, because he thinks just as highly of each of them, as he does me . . . And the same mercy he extends to me, on my worst behavior . . . The same strength he gives me, when I’m at my most disempowered . . . The same comfort he…

“Life, & the world, or whatever we call that which we are & feel, is an astonishing thing. The mist of familiarity obscures from us the wonder of our being . . . . Life, the great miracle, we admire not, because it is so miraculous. It is well that we are thus shielded by the familiarity of what is at once so certain and so unfathomable, from an astonishment which would otherwise absorb and overawe the function of that which is its object.” This passage, which opens an essay by the English Romantic poet Percy Shelley, has been a touchstone for me since I first heard it in college.…

This week’s devotional is musical. In a version of my life where I was a little more talented and a lot braver, I would have studied choral conducting in college (formally, instead of just by spending more time in choir rehearsals than in class!). I might have made it my life’s work to champion the underrated choral works of Felix Mendelssohn—more interesting than Handel, more accessible for most choirs than Brahms. This week I’ve had his motet ‘Verleih Uns Frieden’ running through my head. It’s a fairly simple piece—your ward choir could learn it in 5 or 6 solid rehearsals—and the text is an interesting German variant of Dona Nobis…

The past year and counting have provided us with ample opportunities to reflect upon and to fulfill our covenant to “bear one another’s burdens,” “mourn with those that mourn,” and “comfort those that stand in need of comfort.” (See Mosiah 18:8-10). Far too many moments. Far, far, too many. The deaths, loss, and grief brought about by Covid-19. The deep pain of our fellow Black siblings in light of the wrongful deaths/murders and also of our Asian and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) siblings following the murders in Atlanta and the other instances of AAPI hate and violence. The continued rise in murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls, and two spirits. And…

Late one recent February night, despite my hours of reading and writing about peace and conflict resolution, I could only feel the dull flatness of a sense of stupor like the Lord describes in Section 9: 9 of the Doctrine of Covenants: “But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me. “ Despite all my studying and seeking for inspiration about this assignment, I kept turning my ideas over and over in my…

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…

I was called to a primary presidency while in the throes of morning sickness with a rainbow baby following my second miscarriage. I was downright crabby and to make matters worse I was assigned to be the counselor over Cub Scouts. Hats off to the super scouters out there! I grew up in a part member family and my knowledge of and passion for scouting was non-existent. I did feel reassured that the calling was where the Lord wanted me, so I proceeded, but again, with crabbiness. The new primary president had been the counselor over scouting before her call as president but she was no help whatsoever. I couldn’t…