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Sabbath Devotional :: Lessons from the Wilderness
As I have been studying the account of Lehi’s family in the Book of Mormon this month, I have found myself considering the perspectives of different individuals in the story, imagining myself in their position. Instead of viewing the people as characters that were either heroes or villains, I have been thinking about them as real, complex human beings. This exercise has broadened my perspective and brought me new insights that have helped me apply what I am reading to my own life. I was moved as I read about Sariah’s struggles as she anxiously awaited the safe return of her sons from their journey to Jerusalem to obtain the…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Improving Faith in Christ
With all the unrest in the world today, we can easily get caught up in the sadness or frustrations we see. As we each deal with these, if we are not careful, we can find it easy to lose sight of the true purpose of our earthly existence. I find wisdom in a devotional talk given by BYU professor Robert Daines on June 20, 2000. These are my insights into his words. Brother Daines speaks of three areas of concern: – Our relationship with Deity, spouses and others – Maintaining balance – Making important decisions He says that “answers and direction to each of these general dilemmas can be found…
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Sabbath Devotional :: ‘Ye May Know the Truth of All Things’
Like many of you, this year I will once again be taking a slow and deep dive into the Book of Mormon. Last week, I was lucky enough to start my study by preparing to teach the first early morning seminary lesson of the year, leading me to think long and hard about the role the book has played in my spiritual and emotional growth. My class last week was made up of a group of clever and thoughtful seniors. They have grown up in a place where their core beliefs are challenged, and none of them has ever really had the luxury of taking the truthfulness of the gospel…
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Sabbath Devotional :: In This Uncertain World
We find ourselves right now in the middle of a mystery. The assassination of General Qassem Suleimani is still fresh news. We can only speculate about the repercussions of that stunning action. There is no doubt that there will be repercussions. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that the action was in response to an “imminent attack.” “This was an intelligence-based assessment that drove this,” Pompeo told CNN. “[Soleimani] was actively planning in the region,” he said, adding the U.S. action “saved American lives.” We aren’t privy to those intelligence sources. Congress wasn’t privy to those sources (although Senator Graham was). Has this action lit the tiger’s tail? Was…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Creative Process and the Making of Peace
“Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.” When I first heard those words in Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf’s General Conference talk over 10 years ago, I was both intrigued and inspired. At the time, I was trying to grapple with being a full-time caretaker to my young sons while nourishing my own creative spirit. I am an adequate housekeeper at best, an introvert who would rather spend time alone with a book or at my piano than cooking, cleaning, or frankly, playing on the floor with children. But I grew up…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Gift of an Imperfect Christmas
Since that Christmas I have been learning to stop chasing perfection and instead let all the imperfections and disappointments and messiness be a reminder to me of what Christmas is truly all about: Why that baby was born in a stable, why we are celebrating His birth. That is a lesson worth reminding myself of all year long.
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Light of the World
When I was a little girl in Chicago, we used to put our tree up about two weeks before Christmas. These days, my neighbors have their lights and wreaths up by mid-November. Do you ever wonder why the Christmas season, with all its trappings, has been starting earlier and earlier? I believe we all want to be surrounded by the Christmas feeling of love and warmth that the world needs so desperately. In this tech-savvy world, we are inundated with instant information about negative things — like the lives affected or lost by negligence or unkind actions. On social media, some take their anger out on people they don’t know,…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Things We Want But Already Have
Many years ago my family got on the want/need/wear/read Christmas bandwagon. In short, each child would get four gifts: something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. The four gifts simplified the season, reduced our kids’ expectations, and made me a happier mama. This system has worked extremely well for us, but as the kids got bigger, the asks have, too. And suddenly, we risk losing our reasonable Christmas. This year, to stave off the gimmies we asked everyone to start the season by producing a list of 25 things they want but already have. It took my boys a while to get their heads around that. Once…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Loaves and Fishes
Last Sunday my nine-year-old daughter gave a talk in sacrament meeting as part of our ward’s Primary program. She prepared her own talk and bravely stood at the pulpit in front of the congregation to share some of the things that she has learned from the scriptures this year. During her talk she shared that one of her favorite stories from the New Testament is when Jesus fed a multitude of five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fishes (Matthew 14:15-21; Mark 6:34-44; Luke 9:13-17; John 6:9-13). After commenting on what an amazing miracle this was, she said: “How this applies to my life is that whatever small…
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Sabbath Devotional :: His Grace Is Sufficient (Even When We Are Not)
This fall, our stake leaders made a great effort to prepare members to receive personal revelation at the upcoming stake conference. A member of the Seventy would be presiding at the conference, and he had recommended four general conference talks for us to study beforehand. Stake members received these talks in advance on a Sunday when high councilors spoke in sacrament meetings about the blessings of attending stake conference. Wards reached out to help organize babysitting so parents could attend the Saturday evening session. We were asked to prayerfully come with personal questions — with the promise that they would be answered. We were supported and encouraged in making ourselves…
