A Prayer of Faith

The other day, while my daughter was off at the stables, my four-year-old son and I had sat down to lunch. Between bites of pbj, and gabbing about everything form legos to his bike, he very suddenly and very earnestly asked, “Mamma, why was Joseph in jail?”

His question caught me off guard, and so, just to be sure, I asked him, “Which Joseph?”

“Joseph Smith.”

The consternation was clearly visible on his face. In his developing sense of the how the world works, only bad guys go to jail, and I could see he was having a very hard time with the thought that the Prophet had been where bad guys go. I want my children to feel secure in the world, to trust that the justice system ‘works,’ that it will keep them safe, and so I hate to have to explain that the unfortunate characteristics of human nature, such as fallibility and the capability for dishonesty sometimes get in the way.
Read the rest of this entry »

Merrilee Boyack has done it again! The author of The Parenting Breakthrough and Strangling Your Husband is NOT an Option has brought us yet another way to enhance our family lives in the delightfully readable and easily practicable52 Weeks of Fun Family Service.

Whether you are new to the idea of family service projects, or already incorporate a great deal of service into your family life, 52 Weeks of Fun Family Service can help inspire you and guide you to ways to touch the lives of others and strengthen your own family in the process. Read the rest of this entry »

I went to the cannery yesterday.

Ordinarily, I love the cannery. I love the spirit that is there, a spirit of industry, unity, self-reliance, and obedience.

We were cruising: 50 cans of orange drink, 140 cans of white wheat, many cans of sugar, 50 cans of red wheat….

“How much wheat are you putting in those cans?” the missionary asked the sister across the table from me. She was weighing cans just as I was.

“Five pounds,” was her reply.

He proceeded to tell her that she wasn’t putting enough in. The chart read 5 pounds, 13 ounces. (How did we all miss that?)

Feelings of panic and dread came quickly. Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s review is a scrumptious little Valentine’s bon-bon. It’s The UnValentine, by Sam Beeson with paintings by Jesse Draper; it’s delightful; it’s adorable; and it’s something completely different. Beeson and Draper’s respective works are well married in this piece, as they both perfectly portray overwrought teenage romance tinged with a comically naive cynicism.

It’s a stand-alone piece, just one brilliant, darling, hilarious poem exquisitely illustrated with spectacular mixed-media work of original oil paintings and vintage valentines amidst candy hearts and gaudy gilt frames that would do any Victorian parlor proud. The poem tells of Lily, lost in her distaste for all things Valentine, who experiences a sudden change of heart with an unexpected note from Ray, a boy just as romantically disenfranchised as she. I can’t help but see it as something of a bound printed matter version of performance art–beautifully crafted, flawlessly executed, and yet, tantalizingly obscure. While I loved it, I honestly didn’t quite know what to make of it upon first read. Luckily, I had the chance to exchange an email with the author, Sam Beeson, and was able to ask him a few questions. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a scripture that my husband and I refer to quite frequently. It’s embedded in the “war chapters” and is one of those if-you-blink-you-might-miss-it kinds of scriptures. Its message is simple and profound. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at the Life of Christ as reported in the four Gospels of the New Testament, we see that his behavior towards and teachings about women were profoundly, revolutionarily loving in a way that we, in our current state of gender equality (relatively speaking) might take for granted, to the point that we are in danger of losing their impact. Christ’s respectful treatment of women was socially radical to say the least, which lends added strength to the messages inherent in those moments. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever stopped to think of the wonder of the day in which we live? Perhaps we can appreciate it more if we see how far mankind has come. Read the rest of this entry »

I have read some posts on prayer lately, and heard some amazing talks on the subject, and while it was on my brain, I thought I would share again this review because the insights in this book meant so much to me. The book really helped me gain a greater appreciation for how prayer works, and how a spiritual perspective can help me through hard times. I hope it might be helpful to someone else as well.

I’m sure you know how it feels when you hear or read something that is exactly what you needed at that point in your life. That’s what S. Michael Wilcox’s talk-made-into-a-book, entitled When Your Prayers Seem Unanswered, was for me. One of my dear friends had heard Brother Wilcox speak, and she shared some insights she had received in a Relief Society lesson. Shortly thereafter, I found a talk he had given where he discussed the concept of unanswered prayers. And my life was changed. Forever. Read the rest of this entry »

I love General Conference. I’m always a bit saddened when the spiritual feast comes to an end and the “conference is adjourned for six months.”

However, hasn’t the feast just begun? Read the rest of this entry »

I have been reading The Infinite Atonement, by Tad R. Callister, and I came accross a passage so sublime, which has left me with much to ponder, that I have felt inspired to share it here. From page 65, referring to the Savior:

One wonders about his emerging godhood, as he grew from infancy to boyhood, and boyhood to manhood. What were his feelings? What was it like to be a god among mortals? With whom did he discuss his burdens? True, the bodies of other men walked by his side, but none was his intellectual and spiritual equal. None could see and feel and understand as he saw and felt and understood. What was it like for Christ to walk the dusty trails of his own creation, to see his divine works through mortal eyes? When did he come to know that the birds that sang music to his ears, the flowers that scented the air, the hills and valleys on which he loved to run and play, the sunsets and stars upon which he longed to gaze and ponder were his creations? He was their designer, their architect, their framer—yes, their very creator.

Read the rest of this entry »