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Sabbath Devotional :: Praying the Beatitudes
I have been using a scripture study practice called lectio divina to ponder the Beatitudes. (I learned about this practice from the podcast, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.) Recently, I studied Jesus’s saying, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” First I read the verse. Then I read it again, slowly, listening for the meaning that the Spirit might wish to impart to me. Then I reflected on the meaning that came to mind. I felt prompted to work for a better understanding of the phrase “pure in heart.” After consulting the concordance, I found that another way to understand “pure in heart” is “clear in…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Higher Ways
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. These scriptures were my constant companion for about a decade. During those especially difficult years, I would read the verses over and over again, looking for meaning, support, and strength. I learned two broad lessons from…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Come, Come Ye Saints
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear; But with joy, wend your way. Though hard to you this journey may appear, Grace shall be as your day. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of participating as a Ma on a trek with our stake. I must admit that I hadn’t approached this assignment as a privilege, but rather an obligatory chore. I wasn’t looking forward to wearing voluminous clothing and slogging along old rail paths in the humid New England heat with a bunch of teenagers. The privilege part snuck up on me. My focus going in had been on the discomfort and work, which is…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Life Lessons for Trying Times
“Pleasant words areas an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and healthy to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24. It has been quite a week. I have felt mute but stirring internally with bitter retorts. I have felt sucked into chaos and frustration. During the breaking news of hurled insults, repudiations, excuses and gas lighting, I have had flashbacks to hard won lessons of parenting. (My three children are grown, flourishing and beloved. Parenting them was not always a walk in the park, however — as they are each discovering now that they have their own children.) Here are three examples of lessons that resurfaced this week. Whether or not you have children,…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Keep Trying
In my piano studio, the spring months are spent preparing for our annual recital. I work with each student to learn and polish pieces to perform in a formal setting. We carefully lay the foundation for success by first getting the correct fingers on the correct notes, then adding rhythm, dynamics, and articulations as they are ready. At every stage in the learning process, we pay close attention to melody and musicality. Of course it is crucial that the students are prepared to play the right notes; but it is just as important to perform those notes in an expressive way. As we approach recital time, we make plans for…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Go Forward
A wise friend has often reminded me: “You pedal, and the Lord steers.” This counsel is not meant to dismiss the power of my own choices or suggest that I play a passive role in the direction that my life takes. Rather, this insight has been offered to me when I am worrying about the unknowns of the future. What if, despite all my best efforts and intentions, I end up making the wrong choice, taking the wrong path, and inadvertently throw my life’s plan off course? What if I don’t accomplish the things I am meant to do? This wise friend reminds me that the Lord is much smarter…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Life is Life is Life
My daughter Eve and I found a tiny bird egg while digging underneath a Blue Spruce this week. She carefully rolled the white egg over in her small grubby hands, tenderly inspecting each minuscule speckle. Then looking to me for answers. She asked, “Where mommy-daddy bird go?” I could tell she was deeply troubled why the egg was all alone. I explained that the egg must have fallen from the nest and that the family must be somewhere high in the trees. She proceeded to line up the pine cones she had been playing with. Biggest cone became “daddy pine cone” with the slightly smaller pine cone as “mommy pine…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Following the Divine, Higher Law
In the time that I have spent advocating for more compassionate immigration reform, one counter- argument I have heard members of the Church use repeatedly is that our shared religious beliefs require a commitment to obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. As a student of both the law and the gospel, I see great wisdom in the 12th Article of Faith, but I have always been troubled by the implication that any ethical or moral failure — of an individual or society — is automatically excused or justified by strict adherence to the law. The argument is often used as a trump card of sorts to squelch thoughtful and nuanced…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Zion
I have a confession to make. I haven’t always been a fan of the notion of Zion. When I was younger, I thought Zion meant that we all had to be the same. You know, same heart, same mind. And I couldn’t bear the thought of all that sameness. I was, of course, mistaken. We don’t have to look beyond the natural world to recognize how much God values — delights in, even — diversity. As the Jesuit priest and poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote: Glory be to God for dappled things – For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Great, Spacious, Empty and Airborne
Recently, on an early spring evening, I found myself in the back of a van, craning my neck toward the dusty window to catch a final glimpse of a sprawling, hilly, mottled landscape. As the van spluttered and climbed the winding dirt road out of Cox’s Bazaar, the largest refugee camp in the world sheltering well over one million Rohingya, I glimpsed what our Bangladeshi humanitarian aid worker friends called the Tree of Hope. It stood alone on a knoll, a boney silhouette stretching its knobby arms over this hopeless panorama, this landscape of utter despair. REPURPOSING LEHI’S DREAM Lehi’s dream with its Tree of Life hovered close. (If you…
