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Sabbath Devotional :: Let Him In
When I was baptized I was given a generic copy of the Bible in Primary. It had a frontispiece featuring a glorious color image of Christ standing before a door and raising His hand to knock. I loved the image and looked at it often. It references a scripture in Revelations which says: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelations 3:20) This comforting promise communicates the essence of the Savior’s relationship with us. It is a scripture filled with active love — Christ is…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Who Is Jesus to You?
I love the gospels of the New Testament. What it would be like to be alive while Jesus was doing his ministry captivates my intense imagination. I especially find it fascinating the discrepancy between what the people wanted Jesus to be and what Jesus’ actual mission was. And even more fascinating to me is that the disciples who were with Jesus every day were not immune to completely missing the point of Jesus’ ministry. We know from historical political context that the Jews were under Roman rule at the time of Christ. We can assume they weren’t happy about it, and that there was a decent amount of oppression against…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Borne Our Griefs and Carried Our Sorrows
Isaiah 53:4-5 reads, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Alma 7:11-12 states: “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Helping Hands
How do you frame your covenants? I can appreciate people finding meaning through the lens of dwelling in the house of the Lord, holding to the iron rod and following the covenant path, shepherding lost souls, or fighting the good fight. As I have aged, I have found little so meaningful as understanding my covenants though the symbol of the Body of Christ. Some years ago, my mind was awakened as I sat through the administration of the sacrament. I realized that my covenant to remember the body of the Son, was not only a promise to remember a weeping god, burdened with the weight of the human yoke and…
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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 :: 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…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Upon the Rock
Lately it feels like everything in my life is on fire. Simultaneously. Not a small brush fire here or there that needs a bit of quick attention and management, but frightening conflagrations that threaten to consume and destroy. There is a lot of fight and flight and not enough peace and quiet. And for me it means feeling tired and unsettled is the default. In my more objective moments, I realize some of this is just a feature of my personal phase of life. But there is something else at play. So many others seem to feel the same, as if we are all being pushed to the edge of…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Light of the World
As I was driving my girls to school early one morning, we noticed how beautiful the sky was. In the time since we had left our home in darkness, sunlight had been creeping over the horizon, displaying varying shades of glorious hues on a canvas of clouds. I commented on how beautiful it is to watch the sun rise, and my 8-year-old daughter corrected me: “Mom, don’t you know the sun isn’t really rising? The sun isn’t moving at all!” She was correct. Indeed, the sun wasn’t moving at all. We talked about how strange it was to think about the fact that we were at that very moment spinning…
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Sabbath Devotional :: This Glorious News
January has always been my least favorite month. After several weeks of excitement and anticipation for the holidays, suddenly it is all over. The tree needs to be taken down. The decorations need to be packed up and put away. Life resumes the normal day-to-day routines. Winter no longer feels festive — it just feels cold and dreary and long. The widely spread messages of love and goodwill that are so abundant during the holiday season seem to disappear, forgotten, until Thanksgiving comes around again. In addition to the after-Christmas letdown, January is also a time that holds particularly painful memories for me, which has resulted in each New Year…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Jesus and the Bent Woman
The Gospel of Luke shares an intriguing story in Chapter 13:10-17. For the last recorded time in his ministry, Jesus teaches in the synagogue. Among the listeners is a woman. In that day only men’s presence “counted” for quorums, so there may not have been many women in attendance. This woman is unique not just because she’s in the minority, but because she suffers from an ailment that has curved her spine so severely that for the last 18 years she hasn’t been able to stand up straight “at all.” She constantly faces the ground, the dirt, the trash and debris. She can’t look people in the eye. Imagine how…