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Sabbath Devotional :: The Master Peacemaker’s Diverse Responses to Conflict
As a mediator and disciple of Christ, I have often reflected on Jesus Christ’s varied approaches to conflict. He did not merely “turn the other cheek” or “agree with [an] adversary quickly” every time he was faced with disagreement or difference. Sometimes we oversimplify the Savior’s teachings about conflict resolution and miss opportunities to create peace. As “the way, the truth, and the life,” I believe Jesus would like us to learn from all of his life experiences and teachings to create more nuanced and diverse approaches to peacemaking. As Eva Witesman wrote in a 2017 Deseret News op-ed on peacemaking, “When I make peace, I want to build it.…
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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 :: The Vessel
Sharing these thoughts tonight with a mostly spent lamp and immense gratitude for your prayers and fasting. In preparation for teaching the parable of the Ten Virgins in a gospel doctrine class a few years ago, I learned a few things about ancient Jewish wedding traditions. The groom became betrothed (or legally married) to the bride first, but then went back to his father’s house to prepare a home for the new couple and left her to prepare herself and her dowry for their new life together. This separation was generally for about a year, but the exact time of his return for her was not set. The custom was…
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Sabbath Devotional :: To Love as the Savior Loves
I attended the adult session of stake conference tonight. Elder R. Scott Runia of the Seventy was there. He brought us greetings from our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and shared with us what he characterized, with great emotion, as “probably the last message I will hear directly from his lips.” What our prophet said to Elder Runia and the others leaders in attendance at that meeting was this: “Brethren, we need to prepare the Saints for the Second Coming. We all need to be better. We need to love more as the Savior loves.” Love. That is how, according to the living prophet of God, we need to prepare…
