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“O come, let us adore Him...” (O Come, All Ye Faithful)   Why do I adore Jesus Christ? So many reasons. I adore imagining trailing behind Him for an eternity before we ever left the eternal courts - watching Him, adoring Him already, completely in awe of His already infinite capacity for obedience. I adore that Father chose Jesus as the Savior of the world because He trusted He would carry out the plan - the only plan - which could save ALL the rest of His fallen children. Revelation 12:11 says we fought the dragon before this life with the blood of the Lamb - blood that didn’t yet run through His veins! And by the word of our testimony. Not only did Father trust this perfect Son - WE trusted Him. We had never seen him disobey - and we trusted Him to fulfill our Father’s will and prepare and complete the rescue with His perfect life and sacrifice. I adore that Father trusted Him - and that we did, too. I adore that He brought light into a dark world, peace into a chaotic world, gratitude into a greedy world, purity into a polluted world, clarity into a confusing world, charity into a selfish world. I adore that He performed the last and great sacrifice - that He offered Himself as the Lamb to pay for every single thing that has gone wrong - or ever will - through the history of this fallen world. I adore that He withstood all of it as a Man, and borrowed His Godhood only to not die of it, in order to complete it. I adore that He entered the prisons of death and hell as one of us - almost under cover - and stormed the gates and broke them open from the inside - setting every captive free who will follow Him out. I adore Him as He changes the world by changing hearts and minds one at a time. This isn't always efficient, but He honors free will too much to ever, EVER force. I adore that He never ever forces; He only invites - “Come” - and I adore the invitation is never rescinded. Ever.   I adore Him as He keeps His promises. I adore Him because He is the Master of the atypical response. I adore Him because He is helping me with my shabby little fixer-upper of a life, and He isn't even daunted by the never-ending projects involved. I adore His generosity and patience, giving so very many second chances, and in a life that resembles Groundhog Day in its monotonous repetition of the same mistakes, I adore that He gives genuine approbation with my ridiculously feeble efforts to improve. I adore Him because He can take my meager efforts which resemble loaves and fishes and always make them enough - and sometimes even make them a feast. I adore Him because when my pain is so great I am sure I will die, He carries it, even though He has already carried it all alone in Gethsemane.   He is my best friend. My gift to Him is to try to copy Him, so people will think of HIM when they think of me. Did I mention fixer upper? Yeah, we still have a LONG way to go. I’m so truly sorry I don’t better resemble Him. But He has already gone the distance for me to even give me the chance, and did I mention this too? I absolutely adore Him for it.   Merry, Merry Christmas. Jesus was born for each individual in the human family. It's not the first time, nor the last, that I want to sing about this best of news: “O come, let us adore Him, Christ - the Lord.”

“How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given!” (O Little Town of Bethlehem) These words woke me up this morning. Images and thoughts flooded in behind:  - A teenage girl, bewildered at an angelic visit, but raised in a home where prophecies were taught, is willing to do the unexpected. Silently - the Son of God begins His journey on earth as one of us.  - A young man who receives his own angelic visit, does the unexpected, and marries the girl he knows is carrying a Child who is not his. Silently, the mother of the Son of God isn’t publicly rejected and humiliated in her innocent purity, which, unexpectedly, doesn’t look like innocence and purity.  - A newly married couple, miles from home, frantically try to find a place to have a baby. They gratefully accept the unexpected, but because they’ve been raised on prophecies - maybe not so unexpected? Silently, a poor, out-of-town couple embark on their journey to be parents to the Son of God. “So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven.” This is how God communicates to every single one of His willing children that His Son... IS... His Son. If the Creator and King of heaven and earth had come in a spectacular, more expected way - the way He will return - how could any of us have had the freedom to choose Him for ourselves? Our Father is so very polite; in bringing His Son into the world so silently, and in such an unexpected way, each of us has the blessing of figuring out who He is on our own, and test His fruit for ourselves. “No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive Him, still, the dear Christ enters in.” That first coming was so silent and unexpected - except for those who knew the prophecies. It was to be a pattern for the entire life of the Son of the Everlasting Father. The King lived a quiet life in unexpected anonymity. Even people who watched Him grow up, attended synagogue with Him, were His neighbors - had to decide for themselves who He really was. He died in seeming shame in His own community, and unexpectedly, in an occupied country that even its occupiers loathed. The willing death of the Son of God provided rescue for the entire human family. Now, two thousand years later, the noisy world mocks the silent, unexpected message that’s the only solution to the noisy world’s problems: love. Forgive. See. Give. Reach. Try again. Start over. Give each other room to do the same. Choose light. Reject darkness. Be good - for goodness’ sake. How on earth can such quiet, unexpected choices save the world? May you have a blessed, merry Christmas. May you have some silent, unexpected time in the next two days to ponder the silent, unexpected entrance of the Son of God into this sin sick world - and His anything BUT silent and unexpected return in the coming years - when the Babe of Bethlehem will rule and reign with justice, equity, mercy, and grace. O come - let us adore Him. Thanks to Kirt Harmon for the beautiful art. This painting of the nativity hangs in my living room all year. ( https://harmonart54.blogspot.com/ )

You know the problem with the Book of Mormon? It’s over 500 pages. In a world that has perfected and glorified the sound byte, nurturing new levels of ADD-behavior in even normal people, this is a pesky problem. That means it takes intentional effort to really mine the gold that’s in those pages.  But I second Moroni’s solid opinion that if you put in that effort and ask God about what you’re reading, your effort won’t be wasted. There are different levels of engagement: Perhaps you’ve never read the Book of Mormon or maybe tried once - sounded too hard - what is with these “And It Came to Passes”? True quote: this book would be a pamphlet without them. Perhaps you read it in seminary, and liked it depending on whether you liked your teacher. You mean to read it every four years when the Church at large reads it in Sunday School. You might even read a little more than 1st Nephi - which mysteriously always shows up at the same time New Year’s Resolutions do.  You enjoy Sunday School class about it, and by December have somewhat, semi read SOME of some of the lessons. Ish. You might have participated in various Book of Mormon challenges to read the entire book in a year, or half a year, or even a month. You might have even completed the challenge, with varying degrees of results. You read the Book of Mormon every year, perhaps even following a calendar to keep you on track. You’re always reading the Book of Mormon - beginning again the day after you read Moroni’s compelling invitation to see if this book isn’t all that it says it is. Moving through these levels of engagement was a frightening, sporadic, remarkable journey for me which took nearly 50 years of my life. In 2005 our stake had a challenge to read the Book of Mormon the first six months of the year. They printed a schedule to keep us on track - roughly 3 1/2 pages a day. I was in the midst of another self-discipline project at that time, and actually felt up for the challenge. I can do 3 1/2 pages a day. I loved it so much, I began again in July, and read the Book of Mormon twice that year. And the next. And the next until 2019.  That’s the year I slowed down and started daily study to make room for other things. I was hooked.  One year - I even snuck in a third reading the month of July with someone who has become an everlasting friend because of the shared project. In Alma 5:45-46, Alma teaches his people: “…Do ye not suppose that I know of these things of myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety? “Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by His Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.” There’s a price to be paid to fall in love with the Book of Mormon: time. Well. Time and effort. Intellectual and spiritual engagement. The price Alma testifies of is worth paying: how much do I really want to know what’s in this book? And let me tell you something fascinating: it was about the same time I was immersing myself in the twice yearly treks through this amazing spiritual tome that I became interested in current affairs and government. I began to study the founding of our country, and the principles of liberty. Then I began teaching them and writing about them. When people ask me how I got interested in politics my answer surprises them: I got serious about the Book of Mormon. I now read the Book of Mormon all the time, because we’re living in it. It’s a book about human nature and its cycles in the lives of individuals, families, and nations. Those cycles highlight the consequences of individuals and nations living God’s law - and the consequences when that law is rejected. The cycles and consequences play out the same Every. Single. Time. But its name says the most important thing about this book. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ - taking its place beside the Old and New Testaments of the Bible to witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. When you’re used to sound bytes, this book is steep. At first. But as my former stake president loved to teach our youth - it’s a lot like eating M&M’s. You might nibble a few if there’s a jar sitting out. But you kind of can’t stop. If you’re willing to engage in the climb. Go see what’s in there. The people who live in those pages are ordinary… extraordinary people.  Their encounters with Jesus Christ are an incredible guide to how to have our own encounters with the greatest Agent for sustainable change the world will ever know. I am a converted lifelong fan. And here I go again. Won’t you join me?

Can you imagine having a government so corrupt, that it has set up ways of knowing your personal religious beliefs and criminalizing them? How? By demagoguing the idea that your beliefs are hateful or a threat to the very freedom of society. Can you imagine that same government has usurped personal rights to such an extent that there has been false authority given to that government to have you executed for those beliefs? A deadline has been set to even prove how ridiculous your beliefs are - in order to justify and legitimize the executions. Can you imagine the op-eds to popularize it all? How can any rational person possibly believe that one morning the sun will rise, and won’t set until the FOLLOWING night? You have been mocked for months, and anticipation is growing for your belief in an extreme prophecy to be debunked. If the sign never happens, then this humble little church is indeed the radical fringe hate group the majority has been calling it for the last 6 years. Then. The night before the scheduled executions, a desperate prophet pleads in prayer for guidance and comfort. And the miraculous answer is given: “Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets. “Behold, I come unto my own to fulfill all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world , and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son… and behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.” (3 Nephi 1:13-14) Jesus Christ took a minute before His miraculous birth to assure a faithful servant that He was keeping His promises. All of them. Timing is never sure. Neither is the outcome. Would God be any less good and great if this story were remembered as a tiny church of martyrs, the sign coming two weeks or two months later? Not even a little bit. The Christmas story as told in the Book of Mormon is the story of a miracle - an entire church community exhibiting the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They waited for the sign, knowing “but if not…”, they would be executed the next day. Also knowing that God is still good, and always keeps His promises. That’s why I’m so excited that He’s coming back. Because He said He would, and I believe Him, because He always keeps His promises. So - AMEN to John the Beloved at the close of his apocalyptic vision: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20) Thanks to Kirt Harmon @ https://harmonart54.blogspot.com/ for this beautiful nativity painting which hangs year round in my living room.

Every. Time. No matter how many times I watch the 1946 film, It’s a Wonderful Life, I cry like a little girl, or the Cowardly Lion. I love everything about this film - every single thing. Jimmy Stewart - come on. Donna Reed. Buffalo Bills, won’t ya come out tonight… Clarence… Zuzu… Tommy… “Excuse you for what???”  “I burped.” I love the higher human lessons portrayed in the ordinary life of an ordinary man like George Bailey, choosing others before himself over and over again, making a lifestyle of it, building a character from it. There are 4 minutes in the film which serve as a remarkable microcosmic snapshot of human nature: the run on the bank on George and Mary’s wedding day. Dozens of Bailey Building & Loan customers come in a panic when the Bedford Falls Bank has closed.  It’s Depression time: people are out of work. The bank won’t open for days; there are bills to pay, mouths to feed. A time of universal fear and uncertainty always brings out the bottom feeders: enter Mr. Potter, a two-bit despot who has made a vocation of capitalizing on his neighbors’ misfortunes. George Bailey manages to rally his neighbors when his bride offers their own hard-earned honeymoon money to tide everyone over until the bank reopens. And thus begins Frank Capra’s most insightful lesson on human nature. We see very different kinds of people in the next few minutes. First we have Tom, who somehow can’t manage to read the room. He can’t be swayed; his mind is made up. He’s worried about his own concerns, and it’s immaterial to him that this is someone’s private property and not even his own principal in the business.  If you’ve seen the movie as much as I have, you can probably hear him chirping repeatedly like a stubborn little cockatoo, “I’ll take two hundred and forty-two dollars!” Next: there’s the likes of Ed, who, like most humans, follows the lead of Tom, and asks for his full balance. But George can convince him to be reasonable and think about making that $2000 last for everyone in the room. He ends up taking $20. George mutters, “Well, now we’re getting somewhere.” Third: Mrs. Thompson, completely cognizant of the sacrifice George and Mary are making, also follows the lead of Ed before her, and asks for $20. And finally, we have Miss Davis. This is always where my tears start, long before the final denouement of the movie. My heart and tear ducts catch every single time I hear that sweet little lady say, “Can I have $17.50?” Every. Time. When I watch this scene, I find myself asking myself: who are you? Whom do you wanna be? Who are you becoming? Can you only see your own needs? Or are you becoming increasingly capable of choosing to sacrifice for someone else? This is the true meaning of looking out for “the greater good” - a phrase that’s become truly cringe-worthy for me. The way that thinking is applied now, someone decides what the greater good is for someone else , besides himself, rarely if ever sacrificing himself. These few golden minutes of one of my all-time favorite films has become a profound human nature quiz for me. Who am I? And do I like who I am becoming? I think I wanna be Miss Davis when I grow up. https://youtu.be/iPkJH6BT7dM?si=e_1h3SE4UBrjPms5

Love the Lyrics - O Holy Night "...and in His name all oppression shall cease…”   Murray City had a lovely Christmas sing-along event Tuesday night, primarily to sing the beloved Christmas carols brought from England from William Robinson in the mid 20th century - beloved almost exclusively by Murray kids.   We also sang “O Holy Night” - and as we sang about Jesus being born to be our friend and slave, we sang those words above, and this one line caught in my throat and heart.   Because seriously, there is so very much oppression in this world today. Can’t you feel it?   Everywhere you look, someone wants to control someone else.  Petty, frightened, wounded humans scrabble to control other petty, frightened, wounded humans rather than get after the business of learning to control themselves.   On the world stage, tyranny threatens to oppress globally.  Petty, frightened, wounded wannabe despots sell their plans to control the world as a beautiful utopia - a world where sustainable equity has finally been achieved. All the while, they really plan to place themselves atop their well-ordered society, their fellow humans beneath them in privilege and property.   And how do they gain the control necessary to place themselves on top to oppress? By hurling their own motives in the faces of those who oppose them - as accusations of oppression!  Apparently, it’s oppression to the oppressor - to have an opinion of not wanting to be oppressed.   There’s even tyranny in individual homes, as petty, frightened, wounded individuals hold their families hostage to meet their needs, never considering the cost to free will and good will in their relationships.   In the end, isn’t that where tyranny comes from? Petty, frightened wounded humans seeking some control in a world completely beyond their control.   What every petty, frightened wounded human must learn is that there is only one cure for their human disease of control lust - Jesus Christ.  In His name - eventually - ALL oppression will cease.   Here’s what I love about Jesus - He is the complete opposite of a tyrant. There is zero desire to control.   The scriptures prophesy of the return of Jesus Christ who will some day - soon, I pray! - depose the usurper and take His place as the true King of this earth.   He will rule and reign with absolutely zero force. His power comes from His great love penetrating those petty, frightened, wounded hearts. The hearts who freely receive that love and choose Him will create the beautiful, well-ordered utopia by ruling and reigning over themselves, and allowing everyone else to do the same.   No need to force anyone.   No need for a King to force anyone.   In the name of Jesus Christ ALL oppression will cease, because those who receive His redeeming love will stop oppressing.  They will emulate the example of the Master who forces no one.   The Master who taught this lesson by loving and serving and sacrificing Himself.   Humans will have learned to control the only thing in this universe they CAN control - the thing they have actually been assigned to control.   Themselves.   When He returns, the ONE forced action of every human will be to acknowledge His sovereignty as the literal Son of God and the Savior and Redeemer of this fallen world. And Jesus won't even force that; His power and glory will be so manifest as to compel every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that He is the Christ - the Holy One of Israel, the chosen Messiah.   “If you sense that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, why not do so now? For in the coming of that collective confession, it will mean much less to kneel down when it is no longer possible to stand up!” (Neal A. Maxwell, "Why Not Now?" General Conference, October 1974)( https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1974/10/why-not-now?lang=eng )   Till He gets here - my work is clear - learn to control just me - and honor your right to control just you.   As we go in HIS name - all oppression will cease.   And only in His name. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Come Follow Me (Ether, Part 2) Ether chapter 12 recounts another face-to-face conversation between an ordinary mortal - Moroni - and the resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ - just a few chapters and a few thousand years apart from Mahonri Moriancumr's face-to-face with Jesus. (see chapter 3) These accounts appearing so near each other in the record underscore something very important for me: ordinary people can ask for help from heaven - and get it. According to Moroni, extraordinary things happen to ordinary people because of faith: "Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth. "Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost. "Behold it was the faith of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites. "Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after. "It was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith. "And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God. "And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith , and they were glad." (Ether 12:13-19)'' So. Why doesn't help come every time? Why do people get forgotten down wells or pinned beneath buildings after earthquakes, or petition God for babies, or pain relief, or a place to live, or a life partner, and nothing happens? Why do so many beg for relief from specific temptations, only to battle those same temptations every single day the rest of their lives? The bigger question isn't: how do you develop faith to move mountains. That is for studying and practicing, for sure. But truly, the bigger question is: how do you develop faith... to not move the mountains? How do you wait in a well or under a building, and possibly die there? How do you watch others hold babies your arms ache for, and continue to hope for babies of your own? How do you live with constant pain, year after year, and practice the faith to know God hasn't forgotten you? How do you face church every week in a ward full of families as a single person, wondering if maybe the love of your life died in the Civil War or the Spanish flu epidemic? What does it look like to keep your covenants when a loathed temptation continues to plague and vex and seduce, and you feel like maybe taking the sacrament every week is an exercise in futility? This particular phrase from Moroni has forever changed me: "There were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong,... [they] truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith , and they were glad." (Ether 12:19) Here, Moroni is speaking of the likes of Mahonri Moriancumr, one who could not be kept from within the veil because of his faith. Moroni suggests here that MM could already picture the body of Jesus Christ; otherwise, why would he ask Him to touch the stones he had moltened? That was such strong faith, Moroni uses the phrase "could not" four times in this chapter in describing Christ's response to MM's petition - basically asserting that Jesus Christ was bound to bring MM within the veil because of his faith. That sounds like a natural law to me. God, whom we imagine to have zero limitations on what He can or cannot do, is bound by eternal laws which He obeys with exactness. He never deviates from those eternal laws. He is so completely constant that the human family can rely on Him completely to behave in a certain way when certain conditions are present. Studying natural law has been the Rosetta stone which made phrases like " could not" or God would cease to be God" (Alma 42:13) make sense in a completely new context - the context of God as the perfect Executor of eternal law. God is an exalted Being whose job description includes: must adhere to the exact and unforgiving eternal laws of the universe 100% of the time in all conditions, regardless of how He is feeling at any particular moment. And God is able to do this, because He has trained His emotions completely to love without restraint as He enforces and executes these laws of the universe. Is it any wonder He begs His children to pay attention to those laws? I've quoted this before, but it describes natural law in context with God so well: "It is important to understand that obedience is not simply a requirement of a capricious God who wants us to jump hurdles for the entertainment of the royal court. It is really the pleading of a loving Father for you and me to discover, as quickly as we can, that there are key concepts and principles that will bring happiness in a planned but otherwise cold universe." (Neal A. Maxwell, A Time to Choose , p. 13-14) So, back to faith. If we exercise an eye of faith, we can see mighty things before they take place. We can visualize cancer shells shrinking before, during, and after treatment appointments. We can see legs which haven't walked for months getting stronger and walking when the physical therapist shows up. We can imagine the job we don't yet have as we submit yet another resume. We can imagine decorating a Christmas tree, surrounded by loved ones who haven't come home for Christmas in years. We can see in our mind's eye - with an eye of faith - prodigals dressed in white in the celestial room of the temple. We can see these things before they take place, thank God for the promised blessing before the promise is fulfilled, knowing full well the perfectly reliable and unchanging nature of the Promiser. And then we can wait. And I think I speak for every human when I quote Inigo Montoya and mutter: "I hate a'waitin'." Don't we all. When you're in pain, you want it to be over instantly, or maybe last week or last year. Some conditions of the Fall are superseded or intervened upon by Divine power in a miraculous manner, but many, many more are not, and require waiting. Heart-wrenching, soul-stretching, holiness-forging... waiting. Those of God's children who must wait do not have less faith; perhaps they have more. Perhaps the greatest eyes of faith are developed in the waiting. David A. Bednar suggests that it may take greater faith to not be healed. ( https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2016/08/accepting-the-lords-will-and-timing?lang=eng ) One of the best waiters I know is Nick Vujicic, who was born in 1982 with no limbs. I first became acquainted with Nick through the moving short film, Butterfly Circus , made in 2009. I was then privileged to hear him speak in Salt Lake City when I attended the World Congress of Families in 2015. In that speech, Nick made one of the most powerful statements I've ever heard which revealed the mighty eye of faith he had spent a lifetime developing. Paraphrased, he stated that he couldn't wait until the Resurrection, because he pictured that the first person he would hug with his restored arms would be Jesus Christ. That's what it looks like to have an eye of faith. Eyes of faith are riveted upon the Promiser - the Author and Finisher of our faith - the One we can trust completely to keep His promises: here, or in eternity. Faith means trusting that all things will be made right and all tears will be wiped from our eyes (Revelation 21:4). Our faith-filled, tear-filled eyes will be wiped by hands with wounds in them. An unspeakably high price was paid to make everything right. Jesus Christ has far too much invested in this human project to abandon us now. So hold on... and wait. Wait for - and with - the one who will make everything right.

Come Follow Me (Ether, Part 1) Generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of much of the Book of Ether. It's like a flip-book version of the rest of the Book of Mormon to me - as if Moroni is saying at this point: "Okay, just in case you've missed the point of my father's abridgement for lo, these many pages, let me give you a Reader's Digest version of a much longer time period, but in a much more condensed story." And then, instead of hundreds of years over hundreds of pages, we get thousands of years over not even three dozen pages. I'm just saying, a ride warning should be issued for the book of Ether. Also, a neck brace. But then there are these two chapters... these two glorious, incredible chapters - 3 and 12 - which tell of two face-to-face encounters with Jesus Christ Himself: In chapter 3, Mahonri Moriancumr pierces the veil which protects us from the glory of God in our fallen state - and converses with Jesus millennia before His birth in Bethlehem. In chapter 12, Moroni speaks face to face with the resurrected Jesus Christ. In spite of multiple readings over my lifetime, I feel to take my shoes off as I enter these two chapters. It is sacred to encounter a conversation with a human being and God. But it's also sacred to learn the conditions which qualified these humans to enter the presence of God's glory in their fallen human state. Sacred - and instructive. In chapter 3 Mahonri Moriancumr (abbreviated as MM going forward) presents the Lord with his solution to the lighting problem in the barges which would spend nearly a year in and out of water. Is it possible he read the record of the flood? Check out Genesis 6:16 - particularly the footnote for the word "window." Was part of MM's personal study for this problem - scripture study? It's obvious MM knows his solution is outlandish. It's obvious he knows the Fall has rendered him 100% unqualified to be in the glorious presence of his God. He knows what will be required for his request to be granted. He knows what he is asking is - for the current conditions - impossible. He. Knows. But he asks anyway. "...Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; ... "And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness;.... "Behold O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of man." (Ether 3:3-5) MM [modern vernacular recap]: I know I can't be in Thy presence, and Thou cannot be in mine; but that's what I need. I need You to part the veil and touch these stones. That's all I've got. That's what I've come up with. I know I'm not worthy as I am, but that's what I need, and since You asked, and I know You can do anything which will help us... And miraculously, Jesus complies. And while I like to think that absolutely nothing surprises Jesus ever, I sense a certain element of surprise in Jesus' reaction to MM's fear, don't you? "And the Lord saw that the brother of Jared had fallen to the earth; and the Lord said unto him: Arise, why hast thou fallen?" (Ether 3:7) When Jesus realizes MM saw His finger touch the stones, He says the thing - the Beautiful Thing which He tells every person for whom He would perform a miracle when He was in the flesh. Jesus always, always, declares - "because of thy faith." And besides telling MM He's never seen such faith in one of His children, He also makes this thunderous statement explaining: "...for were it not so [the exceeding faith of MM] ye could not have seen my finger." (Ether 3:9) Which begs the question: is faith a natural law? When faith is sufficient, must God comply with mortal requests? I seriously don't know the answer to this question. And I know many, many people who righteously, diligently, faith FULL y petition the Lord, receive a "no." But reading this chapter begs the question - what does it mean when the Lord could not be kept within the veil, because of the faith of the brother of Jared? And how do you develop that kind of faith? (Hint: probably not solid answers, but more musings in Part 2...)

(From talk given in sacrament meeting March 10, 2024) God's plan for our salvation is absolutely yummy. The technical scriptural term is 'delicious.' Every great missionary in the Book of Mormon teaches it by teaching the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Creation - the need for a home away from our heavenly home - to develop our preference for light and goodness. Fall - the need for a place which included opposition - creating resistance for us to push against, and creating a gap between earth and heaven which cannot be breached. Atonement - only Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice made it possible to breach the gap between the stains of a fallen earth and our heavenly home. Jesus Christ's atonement provides restoration - a way to recover God's fallen family - "all as at first" (Hymn #2 - "The Spirit of God"), but with the invaluable learning experience of mortality. We gain access to all the blessings and promises of Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice by entering a covenant relationship with Him and Heavenly Father. This is how we receive infinite power from Jesus Christ - the power to change . To grow. Though a covenant is often compared to an earthly contract, we don't sign documents to ratify entering a covenant relationship the way we do in human contractual relationships. Instead, we participate in ordinances. Covenants are private and personal with God - but they're made official and must be ratified by an ordinance - performed by someone authorized - the way documents are formalized by being witnessed and signed by a notary. Ordinances must be performed by one in authority . This authority comes from the Author of the covenant. He is the one who sets the terms. The word ordinance comes from the Latin word ' ordinare' - to put in order. Heavenly Father is a God of order: "Behold, mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion." (D&C 132:8) Participating in ordinances is a sign we are still willing to be in a covenant relationship according to the original terms of the covenant - even though we can never perform this with the same honor and fidelity which God does. Even putting the word 'willing' into the ordinance (of the sacrament) is like fine print in the contract. This is how God acknowledges He knows full well we are incapable of honoring the covenant at the same level He does. Upon entering a covenant relationship, we agree to go through the process of sanctification - God's self-improvement program designed for us to become like Him. That is His desired end result - that we become what He is - holy. A scriptural name for God the Father is 'Man of Holiness' (Moses 6:57). Like Naaman (2 Kings 5), who was instructed by Elisha to bathe in the Jordan River seven times, we need the whole process of sanctification. With our limited knowledge, and because God's program of sanctification takes a lifetime, we can be tempted to abandon the process, thinking it isn't working. What would have happened had Naaman given up after his second washing? Or third? Or fifth? How lovely that God teaches this powerful lesson of finishing the process in this story - by making Naaman's requirement be the scriptural number of completion, or perfection - seven. Elder David A. Bednar has reminded us of the teachings of David O. McKay, who taught that the purpose of the gospel is to make bad men good, and good men better. He references these two steps to Mosiah 3:19: " For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man , and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." Baptism and weekly partaking of the sacrament are the preparatory ordinances of the Aaronic priesthood. They aren't preparatory for Aaronic priesthood holders - they're preparatory for us - those going through the sanctification process. They prepare us for the covenants and higher ordinances of the Melchizedek priesthood. Baptism starts the process. The sacrament is the 'rinse & repeat' step in the process - even after higher temple covenants have been made. In his April 2007 general conference talk, "Ye Must Be Born Again," Elder David A. Bednar compares the process of a cucumber becoming a pickle to the transformation a human being goes through in the sanctification process. In describing the pickling process, he uses such symbmolic phrases as: Precise procedures Steady, sustained, and complete immersion is required for the desired change to occur Gradually alters the composition of the cucumber Sealing... in jars that have been sterilized and purified... so the finished product can be protected and preserved [For us - that sealing protects us not just from evil, but from the very glory of God! This sealing process is what enables us to abide being in the very presence of God (D&C 88:22).] None of the essential steps can be ignored or avoided The end result of the pickling process transforms an ordinary cucumber into a pickle. The end result of the sanctification process makes humans holy - as our Father and God is holy. Father's plan is to have us enter a covenant relationship and participate in this process of sanctification so we become clean again, we lose our desire for the things of this world and the flesh through practice, and we become holy as He is. The process is described in Moses 6:59-60 and 62: "...by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory; " For by the water ye keep the commandment [baptism]; by the Spirit ye are justified [receiving the Spirit through obedience is how we are justified and walk clean, even in our imperfections], and by the blood ye are sanctified [Jesus Christ's atoning blood is the act which gives power to sanctify];... " And now I say unto you THIS is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time." With baptism, the water itself has no power to make us clean. With the sacrament, the bread and water have no no power to make us clean, or keep us clean. These are symbols only. The ordinances are the way we say we are taking seriously the entering into the covenant relationship. They continue to tell the Lord we are willing. Willing - again - that fine print word which shows the Lord is fully aware of our inability to meet the terms of the covenant with the perfection He has. The power comes from Jesus Christ and His sacrificial blood. This is the power which brings the remission of sins and gradually, over time, makes us holy. We bring faith and repentance to the waters of baptism and to the sacrament table for the rest of our lives. This is what enables Jesus Christ to make us clean, allows us to walk blameless as we continue to mess up, and eventually transforms us and makes us holy. The sacrament follows the pattern of the tabernacle of ancient Israel: Our meeting houses - the outer court Our chapels - our holy place - the chapel is an ordinance room deserving of our highest reverence The sacrament time of our sacrament meetings - the Holy of Holies Elder Kyle S. McKay of the Seventy spoke in our January 2016 stake conference [Murray Utah Little Cottonwood Stake]. He compared the sacrament table, covered in a white cloth, to a body laid out at a memorial service. He said even the Aaronic priesthood bearers - bearers of the tokens of His sacrifice - are symbolic of pall bearers - taking the Lord's remains to their final resting place - our hearts. How do we know if the process is working - if God is accepting our end of the covenant? What does He promise us? To have His Spirit to be with us. Paul teaches in Ephesians 1:13-14: "In whom ye also trusted [Christ], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, "Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." We are the purchased possession - purchased with the blood of the perfect Lamb. Feeling the Holy Ghost, even once in a while on the way to constant companionship, is the Lord's way of giving 'earnest money' on our inheritance. This is how He promises us: He means to follow through with the entire transaction - the entire process of sanctification until we regain His presence. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ - the good news and good word. It is delicious. Alma ends his powerful sermon on this word - which must be planted by faith - with this promise: "And now, my beloved brethren [and sisters], I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of His Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen." (Alma 33:23)

(edited from Facebook post November 3, 2022) A season of lengthy recovery [fall 2022] has given me the luxury of more quiet time to cross stitch and piece quilt, thus supporting my shameless movie watching habit. Or perhaps it's the other way around; I cannot pick.   Last night, as I pieced millions of 4 1/2" 9-patch squares (actually 112), I watched the original Pollyanna starring Hayley Mills, one of the sweetest nostalgic places of my childhood.   I watched this guileless little girl move from situation to situation, simply being good, and in so being, changing the world. Okay - not THE world - but the world around her - the hearts of the people around her. Simply by being good to others.   I always cry when I watch Pollyanna, because that's how I roll. But last night, as I watched this sweet story of a good little girl, I cried for a different reason: our culture is destroying this important part of children's education.   I've been blessed with instant grandmahood-dom; in March my dear son married an amazing single mom, and suddenly, her sweet little boys are mine.   One of the things I most dearly wish for them is to encounter such children as Pollyanna, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Mary Lennox, Meg & Charles Wallace Murry. So, imagine - I am the grandma who gives them books.   It's so very important to expose children to literature filled with other little children who make good choices, who are kind to others, who are courageous even within a childhood sphere. The best children's literature introduces such children to real children, and sparks an important question in their minds: what if I can be that kind of kid? If encountered through childhood, the influence of this kind of literature helps children enter adulthood determined to be that kind of kid for the rest of their lives.   To leave such literature out of education hasn't been simply neglect or an oversight. It's been a deliberate strategy to create a pernicious vacuum, devoid of reality or truth. It's in such a vacuum where things that aren't real or true can be more readily accepted. I mourn what has happened to the field I studied - English education - though even when I prepared for a career in it, the vacuum creation was already well under way.   One of the most crucial things parents can do for their children is to expose them to great literature - "old-fashioned" literature. The most timeless stories portray ordinary children behaving in extraordinary ways - with ordinary virtues like kindness and loyalty - and with extraordinary virtues like courage and sacrifice. Among my favorites: Pollyanna - Eleanor H. Porter Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett Freckles, Gene Stratton-Porter Girl of the Limberlost, Gene Stratton-Porter Little Britches, Ralph Moody Heidi, Johanna Spyri A Wrinkle in Time , Madeleine L'Engle Number the Stars , Lois Lowry The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart Those who know me well know I can play this game all day. And for the record - the Disney version of Wrinkle in Time could not be wronger. Just... NO. Stories matter. Goods stories matter the most. And good stories well told... are magic.   And better than giving these books to your kids? Read them together. This will set the stage for some of the sweetest and most important conversations you'll ever have with your children. The memories that tug on my heart the very most - like Emily in Our Town [Thornton Wilder] - are the tender memories of reading stories that matter to my children, and seeing an old story through their fresh, young eyes.   I didn't waste a single moment reading to my children - even when they were older. Maybe especially when they were older. I was investing in the forging of their characters, and the promised dividends are truly priceless, seen in perpetuity through the rest of their lives. Madeleine L'Engle wrote: “We can surely no longer pretend that our children are growing up into a peaceful, secure, and civilized world. We've come to the point where it's irresponsible to try to protect them from the irrational world they will have to live in when they grow up. The children themselves haven't yet isolated themselves by selfishness and indifference; they do not fall easily into the error of despair; they are considerably braver than most grownups. Our responsibility to them is not to pretend that if we don't look, evil will go away, but to give them weapons against it.” (Madeleine L'Engle, Circle of Quiet) Great books full of great stories - with simply good children in them - is such a weapon. Reading them aloud further strengthens and forges the greatest weapon - virtue. Great literature will help create more people in the world who know the importance of being good - for goodness' sake.

[Originally published August 25, 2015] Five years ago, on an August afternoon, I saw a quilt like this hanging in one of my favorite quilt shops. Pine Needles was doing a "block of the month" class, and each of these adorable paper doll dresses was one of the monthly blocks - along with the two paper doll blocks, which reminded me of the Betsy McCall paper dolls that used to appear monthly in McCall's magazines. But, oh, the clothes...my response to seeing this quilt that day in the store was visceral - I WANTED IT. (please imagine a bigger font) Everything about it - the fact that it was paper dolls in the first place, the fabric choices - even the tiny "tabs" of white grosgrain ribbon on the shoulders of the dresses - all of it hearkened back to endless happy hours from my childhood playing with real paper dolls. Before I knew it, I had pled with my mother to consider giving me my November birthday gift (money) and Christmas gift (money) - NOW, so I could purchase the kits that were available, finish out the year, and purchase the remaining kits so I could make this enchanting homage to one of my most cherished childhood memories. She agreed, happy birthday / Merry Christmas to me, the kits were in my home, I was ready to make it up! Or... not. Problem: I had taken one hand applique class, sort of learned how to hand applique, and in typical ADD fashion, the sample / practice block from the class was in... which drawer? I did not have the skill set to make this quilt. Please absorb that again: I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE THIS QUILT. But... I WANTED it. I. WANTED. IT. And thus began a kinetic experience that God used to teach me one of the most important lessons of my life. Again. First, I dug out the practice applique from that one class I took a few whenevers ago... If you look very carefully at this sweet little pillow, you will see that many of those apples have strange little non-applish lumps and bumps. The stems and leaves weren't too bad, but those apples...! I worked on it for months to teach myself the technique of needle turn applique. Confession: to this day, I can't really "needle" turn as much as "finger" turn, with the help of my needle. Let's just say, thank heavens it's not being graded by Mrs. Linford, my 8th grade home ec teacher. The lumps and bumps don't really spoil the overall effect, don't you agree? Then, as each apple got smoother and smoother, and I actually finished the pillow and decided I was ready to tackle the quilt. A few months later, I decided I was really ready to tackle the quilt. And a few months after THAT, I was really, truly - I MEAN IT THIS TIME - ready to TACKLE THE QUILT. I decided I couldn't mess up a dress with mostly straight lines, so I started with this one. Emboldened by the success, I picked the next not-too-many-weird-little-curves looking dress.. And so continued on until one day, my denial could no longer deny that I had to make those dang dolls, and make gathered or pleated skirts, or tiny little balls - or tinier still little dolls! Again, I say, Mrs. Linford would not be impressed with some of the finer points of my workmanship. But I wasn't making this for Mrs. Linford, now was I? After the quilt came back from the quilter's - thank you, Cindy Leon, for your love, care, and brilliance on behalf of my heirloom! - I still had to learn one more untried skill - scalloping the edges and binding around those curves! And thank you to my long-time quilting buddy sister-friend, Connie Bell, for holding my hand yet again, and being a kinder, gentler home ec teacher, with the affectionate alias of Mrs. Pixton. Finally, this weekend - almost exactly five years after I first saw this quilt in Pine Needles, I hung my own version of it in my sewing room. Please believe me when I tell you this: I can't believe I made it. I can't believe I made this. When I first saw it, all I knew was that I wanted it...with only a hint of a clue of what was required to make it. I look at it now, and think of two powerful statements that teach the same lesson: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." - Philippians 4:13 ALL things? Make a quilt? Seriously?!? Yup. Every single thing we do to grow makes us more like the only perfectly obedient Son, so He helps us. And why would Jesus Christ, with all the chaos and suffering in this world, help li'l ol' me, in my currently sheltered corner of the world, make a quilt? 1. It taught me patience. FOUR YEARS? The pre-quilting me could not have conceived of sticking to this project and actually finishing it. Those four years? They would have passed anyway...and now I have a quilt! 2. It taught me perseverance. Almost the same as #1, but if you squint you'll see a finer point: with my highly distractable brain, steadily working on something, off and on, over four years, has given me a kinetic experience akin to perfecting my life. I have actually experienced, with my muscles, the process of sticking with something, over time, and changing because of it. I've experienced putting it down for long periods during those four years, and picking it up again, just as committed to finishing it as I ever was. 3. It taught me that if I really want something completely out of reach, there is actually something inside me that doesn't shut down and dismiss it as impossible. That is never a bad thing to learn, especially because... 4. It taught me that I can, in very deed, become like Jesus Christ eventually. I can practice being like him every day, making lumpy bumpy apples and doing it quite badly. But because of His grace - both in allowing me the experience of practicing and having His Atonement clean up the messes I inevitably make along the way - I can keep at it, and over time, that grace will make me...enough. 5. It taught me that God wants me to be happy. I mean seriously, it's only a quilt, right? But it makes me happy. And God - my Father - my Creator who takes joy in creating and calls His creations good - loves that I find joy when I copy Him in creating beauty. It's a chatty little quilt, isn't it? If you know me very well, this shouldn't surprise you. :)

Jane Eyre , Charlotte Bronte (original book review posted August 1, 2016) I first read Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre when I was about 12 or 13 years old and obviously, didn't get much of its richness. I was young enough to be terrified by Jane's childhood experiences, and naive enough to not understand Jane's parting with Mr. Rochester. The ending was less than satisfying because of Rocheste r's injuries attempting to save his wife - how could I have seen that as the fulfillment of foreshadowing from earlier in the novel? Fast forward to my adult self, after having seen every film version of this novel ever made, and reading it again in book group a couple of times... I love that Jane has a strong sense of herself as a person of inherent worth, that she doesn't view herself as less than Rochester because of being younger, poorer, plainer, or of lower station socially and financially. And I love that Rochester doesn't see her as lower than himself either. I love that they actually SEE each other - equally. No mother-son relationship, no daddy-daughter date - this is a full-blooded relationship between an equal man and woman. I find that terribly romantic. Paul refers to relationships in heaven as seeing as we're seen, and knowing as we're known. Jane and Rochester come as close to that kind of love between a man and woman as I've seen in literature. I love that Jane denies herself the one thing she has longed for her entire life because of that strong sense of self, and her relationship to God. As she tells Rochester why she can't be with him, she says she should be willing to pluck out her eye, or strike off her hand, if either offended God. That is the statement that is literally fulfilled, as he becomes worthy of Jane during their time of separation. Being true to self and God, true romance, integrity, redemption. Besides the absolutely gorgeous language, Bronte teaches powerful eternal truths in a timeless and quintessential love story. This may be my #1 favorite novel.