When Mark became a missionary, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hug him while he was 19. What a small sacrifice in comparison to the growth and service we’ve seen from him this year. We won’t be celebrating with him, but we celebrate the good man he’s become.
We visited Paige’s family and enjoyed the best of times. We had to come home, but the echo of a little voice in Alabama ricochets in my mind in unexpected moments, and whenever I see a really good truck.
When we are young, we learn about rainbows.
Rain + sunlight = 🌈
We know the story of the Flood and the covenant that God made with Enoch and Noah. In the Bible, the rainbow is the token of that covenant. We know it so well that we might consider it a great story to tell children, but find little meaning in it for ourselves.
When I read a little deeper, though, I find a beautiful lesson about God,
The Lord’s tears for the wicked who will suffer are as the rain upon the mountains.
Likewise, when Enoch sees in vision the suffering of the wicked in the flood, he weeps and thinks that he will never be comforted.
The Lord weeps for the wicked, but He doesn’t want us to weep, but look to the atonement of His Son and rejoice. Will we allow Jesus Christ to carry the burdens of our sadness, fear, weakness, and sin?
Heaven’s tears are as the rain, and the Savior is the sunlight that can cut through our darkness.
A rainbow reminds me of the Lord’s covenant. It also reminds me of a God who weeps, who is just, merciful, and sends light to shine through the tears.
Tears + Light = 🌈
A just, merciful and loving God who weeps + the Light of Hope in Christ = A Fulness of Joy 🌈
Here is a tiny window into our Christmas celebrations. I hope you had a great Christmas. We did.
I made it out for a walk last night, but I decided to veer off my usual route and wander onto Charlene’s street. She was visible through her open gate to the backyard, watering her tomatoes. When I waved, she invited me back to see her yard, cared for by her wonderful children in honor of her late husband who always kept things beautiful. We shared an important conversation, and as I walked home, I realized that the Lord had steered me to just the person I needed. His timing was perfect.
Thank goodness for video calls. Amen.
Lives full of praise, music, and thanksgiving are uniquely blessed. Being joyful and relying on heavenly help through prayer is a powerful way to be peaceable followers of Christ. Striving always to be of good cheer helps avoid being cast down in spirit.
Quentin L Cook, October 2023
Sometimes I wait for permission to do something that would make me happy. Here is a superficial example. My favorite color is red, and I love interior design, but red has been “out of style” for a long time. So, dutifully, after Christmas, I have ushered out most of the red from my house. This year, someone gave me permission to keep some red things on the shelves in January. Four red plates and my seasonal red seat cushions are all it took to make me smile at my January kitchen.
The trends are mainly fueled by consumerism, so here is permission, if you need it, to put whatever you love on your shelves. To ignore the trends. To ignore the noise that tells us we are not stylish enough, sophisticated enough, or tidy enough.
On another level, here is permission to ignore some of the calls to listen to podcasts rather than seek our own revelation from God about life, faith, and joy. Our time is limited. Do we want a life diluted by noise?
There is a universe of possibilities within each of us. It’s a shame when we allow the world to dictate to us that we are inferior and the answer is to chase after relentlessly changing trends. Here is permission to follow the simpler and better way.
My plea to you this morning is to find rest from the intensity, uncertainty, and anguish of this world by overcoming the world through your covenants with God. Let him know through your prayers and your actions that you are serious about overcoming the world. Ask him to enlighten your mind and send the help you need. Each day, record the thoughts that come to you as you pray, and follow through diligently. Spend more time in the temple and seek to understand how the temple teaches you to rise above this fallen world.
Russell M. Nelson
