Category: Jesus Christ

By the way

One morning last week, my second counselor and I made a visit to a ward Primary leader. We were with her for about a half an hour and I shared a scripture and we prayed together before we said goodbye. As we walked to the car, I was feeling good until we saw the dog.

This large, unleashed dog saw us at the same moment that we saw him and he charged toward us to greet us. I have childhood trauma from mean dogs, and I never want to see a large dog running toward me, friendly or not. So, I was definitely not at my best when I saw this happy? savage? dog running straight for us. “I don’t like anything about this,” I said, and Barbara tried to divert the dog’s attention from me. (Bless her.)

But the owner of the dog was also there, unseen on his skateboard in the street. He ran over to fetch his friendly dog. Still, I hadn’t started breathing yet, and the fight-or-flight chemicals in my veins definitely continued to react.

But then I really looked at the young man. I recognized him! He had been on Tim’s ultimate Frisbee team before the pandemic. And in that moment I knew that I needed to be a friend to him.

I began where I was, flustered, not quite myself, and said, “I know you!”

And suddenly, I remembered his name, which was one that I hadn’t uttered in probably 5 years, and then we were having a surprisingly vulnerable conversation about church. Church!

When he said he wasn’t part of our church, the words, “That’s just fine, we love you all,” came out of my mouth. The young man swept back his hair and we talked for a few more minutes.

“Did I just tell this young man that we loved him?” was the shaming thought that came to my mind as we left the scene. But as more hours and days have passed, I have realized that the words I spoke were really not my own. I also remembered that some of my favorite stories of Jesus happened during unexpected meetings. The woman with an issue of blood was not his original focus or destination, and neither was the Samaritan woman, but these “scenes by the wayside” show his disciples the perfect pattern:

Take time to talk to someone. Be real. Offer hope. Share love. The people you meet by the wayside might just be the ones you are meant to talk to that day.

Ward conferences report

This is my view as I think about my experiences over the past few months. Paige’s watercolors are on one wall. The large canvas print is one I ordered from the Church History Museum gift shop.

We finished a very intense ward conference season on Sunday and I feel a mixture of emotions. As stake Primary president, I have had speaking assignments, teaching opportunities, and ministering visits which have taken my energy and some of my health (cold and flu season stuff), but I miraculously rallied each weekend thanks to the prayers of good friends.

I have felt the love of God for his children, and Primary children in every ward were well behaved and anxious to participate. I have seen a leap in their knowledge and understanding during the past few years because families are teaching them from the scriptures at home. The Come Follow Me program has amazing results!

The passing of my first counselor Anne’s husband in the midst of these conferences has been a source of deep sadness. These words from the Book of Mormon are true of my inspired and faithful presidency, “But behold, they have received many wounds; nevertheless, they stand fast.” (Alma 58:40)

Here are some words from the song that I taught in each Primary that summarize my thoughts, “I know He lives, I will follow faithfully, my heart I give to him, I know that my Savior loves me.”

I enjoyed this devotional.

The chapel where I watched this devotional had fewer than 50 women in the room. I think many women stayed home to watch online, which is understandable and good. I decided to celebrate Relief Society with my church sisters, and it was a sweet experience.

I keep thinking how much I have grown under the mentorship of President Russell M. Nelson.

He has guided my development in many spiritual skills to make me a better disciple of Christ. Tonight as I listened to him speak, I wrote in the margin of my notebook that he is a friend to women. He is a true friend to me.

A Close Embrace

The Prodigal Son from churchofjesuschrist.org

[This post is something I have shared before, but I discovered more on the topic that I want to share in the final quote at the end of the post. My personal testimony of the Book of Mormon doesn’t hang on academic evidence. Still, I smile to see that Joseph Smith’s translation of these concepts in the Book of Mormon align with Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic meanings for atonement.]

A few years ago, we were taught by a visiting leader in a stake conference that every major writer in the Book of Mormon used the imagery of a hug to teach the Atonement of Christ, with words such as clasped or encircled. He challenged us to search for these passages. As I have studied, I have found other words, including clothed to convey the effects of the Savior’s Atonement. Here are some examples:

  1. Nephi, in a time of grief, pleads with the Lord to “encircle [him] in the robe of righteousness.” (2 Nephi 4:33)
  2. Lehi tells his family just before his death that he is “encircled about eternally in the arms of [God’s] love.” (2 Nephi 1:15)
  3. Jacob teaches that the “righteous…are clothed with purity, even with the robe of righteousness.” (2 Nephi 9:14)
  4. Alma quotes Ammon, about those who repent, “They are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love.” Ammon also says that the repentant are  “snatched from their awful, sinful, and polluted state.” (Alma 26:15, 17)
  5. Alma, quoting Amulek, “[God’s mercy] Encircles them in the arms of safety.” (Alma 34:16)
  6. Mormon writes that if the people had repented, they would have been “clasped in the arms of Jesus.” (Mormon 5:11)

I don’t think it trivializes the Atonement of Christ to liken it to an embrace, being snatched from ruin, clothed with righteousness, or being held during a difficult time. The more I think about it, the more I want to share it.

Rich meaning is found in study of the word atonement in the Semitic languages of Old Testament times. In Hebrew the basic word for atonement is kaphar, a verb that means “to cover over” or “to forgive.” Closely related is the Aramaic and Arabic word kafat meaning “a close embrace.”

Russell M Nelson, Daily Joy: A Devotional for Each Day of the Year, p. 178

Good Shepherd

This is one passage that I enjoyed in this lovely book,

The only sheep I kept at the ranch house were “the bums,” as orphan lambs were called in sheep parlance. They needed special care and I needed them. At the homestead they had been given their bottles of heated milk before we left the cabin, and then they followed the bunch, never very far ahead of me, however. I am sure they looked on me as just another old ewe. They were an engaging and endearing group, gamboling along the trail, playing and jumping, appreciative to a degree, the gentlest of all pets, for that is what they grew into…

As grown ewes, the former “bums” never seemed to forget the care they had received and were often leaders, cooperative and usually obedient.

Margaret Duncan Brown

Sheep are generally prone to fear and panic. Like us, they follow the wrong paths easily. No wonder the Lord is called the Good Shepherd, because he knows where to seek his sheep. No one can find rest without his special care, and those who rely upon him most come to know him best.

The Good Shepherd never gives up on us. Will we have eyes to see his efforts to help?

I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick…

Ezekiel 33:16

Work in progress

I am getting pretty close to finishing this little project, which is based on a very famous painting. I know what it will look like when it’s finished, but it’s still a mystery to me how this is all going to come together. What a metaphor for my life.

I planning for a few months of ward conferences, so despite winter telling me to rest, I have a very full season ahead. My first counselor, on whom I depend so much, is carefully watching over her husband in his final days on earth. These years of serving in our stake callings have not shielded us from life’s challenges. My second counselor Susan passed away suddenly in 2022. Among the women in my presidency, which have changed over time, we have faced milestones along with the challenges. We’ve sent 5 missionaries into the world, had 3 children get married, and had 1 grandchild and one great-grandchild born. We have led during a pandemic and experienced two major surgeries with long recoveries. And now, my counselor’s husband is in hospice care.

There are some challenging days ahead, but if I have learned anything through my service, it is that my Heavenly Father will give me the strength to do what he has called me to do. He is doing the same for my presidency and for you.

Things that helped

After reading through my 2023 blog posts, I’ve decided that I want to end the year by listing one daily, one weekly, and one monthly thing that helped me get through a year which was actually very challenging.

A daily practice that helped:

  • I took the counsel of President Nelson and I kept a journal of impressions that I had while I prayed, and I acted upon those impressions. This created a leap in progress in my understanding of how revelation works and how interested God is in my life.

A weekly practice that helped:

  • Friday dates with Richard

A monthly practice that helped:

  • I tried to do a variety of work in the temple. Richard and I were able to complete temple ordinances for several ancestors with the help of our children, my brother, and my parents.

I have also looked over my reading list from 2023 to see where I have been. I have a special shout-out for Charles Dickins’ David Copperfield and Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

As I prepare for 2024, I don’t have any major resolutions. I do have plans to keep my good habits, while giving myself the grace to just do one thing at a time, including new things.

Wishing you a gentle look back at your 2023, and a hopeful look forward to your New Year.

Love,

A.