A Christmas Story

The Christmas of my tenth year, our family lived in a little house in LaVerkin, Utah. We weren’t poor, but we weren’t rich either. Like Ralphie, I wanted a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun more than anything else in the world. When Christmas morning came, there it was, under the tree! I was ecstatic. I didn’t think about the sacrifices my parents must have made to give it to me, and graciously, my parents didn’t remind me. No one even told me that I would shoot my eye out. Dad showed me how to load it. He cocked it, pulled the trigger, and hit mom’s living room table leg. She was NOT happy. I can still see my dad’s sheepish grin, and I remember how quickly mom forgave him.

Growing in Innocence

Eliza R. Snow once challenged the sisters of the Church to “grow in innocence.” I confess that before I watched an episode of The Joseph Smith Papers on KBYU where she was thus quoted, I had not conceived of the idea that we can “grow in innocence.”

The Grand Experience of Mortality

I heard a General authority in the Church (I don’t remember which one) refer to this life on earth as “the grand experience of mortality.” The phrase stuck in my mind for days. I couldn’t get rid of it, especially after what I wrote in July about “Unhistoric Acts.” (see my blog – July 2012)

I Go a Fishing

In Matthew chapter 25 the Savior teaches a parable about a businessman who must travel for a period of time. As a test for three of his employees he gives each of them a sum of money to manage while he is gone. The first two do well – they double the businessman’s money. The third is afraid he will lose the money, so he buries it in the ground to be sure that he can return it safely to his master.

The first two are praised for their initiative and given more responsibility. The third was dismissed because of his timidity, and his money was given to the first two. (Matthew 25:14-28) The parable closes with the following verses:

Unhistoric Acts

I have thought a lot over the last few years about the good but largely anonymous lives of millions of people scattered over the earth. They live quietly, and die just as quietly. They go to graves everywhere to silently await the resurrection. There is often a memorial service of some kind depending on custom in their culture. There is sadness, and sometimes heartbreak if death is untimely. The living remember them briefly, but soon, they are all but forgotten by nearly everyone as the world rushes onward. Cemeteries the world over are full of such unheralded people. Some of them are visited on Memorial Day by relatives and friends, but after a generation or two, they are mostly left alone.

Your Own Sacred Grove

My wife’s brother is a stake president in the southeast. He shared the following as a spiritual thought in a meeting with bishops and other stake leaders. I asked him to allow me to publish it to my blog – he was happy to do so.

Judge Not

I have often thought that, excepting His infinite and eternal atonement, the final judgment that the Savior must pass upon each of us will be the most difficult task that the He will be called upon to perform. He is so patient, compassionate and loving with each of us that to tell us we have not measured up to the standards that His Father has set will cause him great sorrow and pain. If we have not taken full advantage of the infinite atonement that he has so selflessly provided for us, his sorrow will be compounded by our insensitivity to his love and compassion.