I have always loved anchors — the symbolism and the idea of being anchored to something. Of having something that will keep us secure despite all the winds and tempests. But lately, the word “unmoored” has been echoing in my head more and more. Unmoored means “not or no longer attached to the mooring.” A mooring is the chains or other material that keeps a boat securely fastened to the dock. (And that’s the extent of my very rudimentary shipping knowledge.) But in many ways, “unmoored” is a perfect word for the feeling I, too, often feel creeping in. And I see it reflected in those around me. We know…

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…