Last night, I sang many of the chorus songs in George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. We have likely all heard the “Hallelujah” chorus, and I hope we have felt the exultant joy of “For Unto Us a Child is Born.” I, too, had heard the well-known pieces and loved them for a long time. But the entirety […]
Faith
Reflections on Thomas S. Monson
Over the past week and a half, I have read so many thoughts and memories from friends, Church leaders, and other organizations about the passing of President Thomas S. Monson, prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I shared some of my initial thoughts when I first saw the Mormon Newsroom article […]
Lessons from a YSA Ward: Serve, Love, Believe
I attended the Wilford YSA ward in Millcreek, Utah, for over 7 years, which means about 350 Sacrament meetings in the same chapel. Many who have spoken or stood at the pulpit have looked out over the congregation and gazed upward to a beautiful frieze of Christ teaching in the temple, which hangs at the […]
3 Ways to Improve Your Spiritual Vision
[Note: This post is an adaptation of a talk I gave in my new ward today. It has been changed slightly to be a little more blog-friendly, but also not changed very much because I didn’t feel like shortening it.] Do you have a favorite miracle in the scriptures that reminds you of God’s love […]
Grace and the Book of Mormon
A year or two ago, one of my co-workers gave each member of our team a new copy of the Book of Mormon and a challenge: choose a topic to study and use this new copy to take notes on that topic. I loved the idea, but I was reading a different book of scripture […]
When the answer is peace
Last week, I was in a discussion about the spiritual needs of us younger-ish people. We spoke about answers from God. There was this feeling that many seek answers but don’t seem to get them. That they ask, but don’t feel they receive. And that without an answer to all the questions and all the confusion, it […]
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SLC Mid-singles Conference Review
I’ve gone and done it. I went to an LDS mid-singles event on purpose. (You see, I did accidentally go to a mid-singles fireside some four or five years ago. It scared me. I needed to face my fear.) But a week ago, several mid-singles LDS wards in the valley hosted a conference with about 1200 […]
Passings: Something of the Sacred
For many years, I have been a regular visitor to local care centers. This probably started when, as a child, I went with my grandparents as they served in an LDS branch at their nearby care center. And perhaps much of it stemmed from my dear friend Grace. I have found care centers to serve in […]
Mercy, Miracles, and a Cafeteria
About three years ago, I had what I thought to be a brilliant idea. I wanted a forum for anyone in the world to share gratitude to others who had been Good Samaritans in their lives, whether anonymously or knowingly. I wanted to highlight moments of gratitude, mercy, and miracles. My motto would be a […]
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BYU Women’s Conference: #giveback
As a testament to the fact that normal, yes, even weakness-filled people get asked to do cool things, I was invited to speak at this year’s BYU Women’s Conference. I wouldn’t really say it was magical–more along the lines of “But I’m not like all those other women who do everything right and are never […]