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The Path of Discipleship
I was asked to speak at stake conference (a large church meeting that happens once a year). Invited to speak 5 weeks out, I had lots of time to study and ponder. Some of my best thinking happens when I walk (5 miles every week morning). By my calculations, I put 125 pedestrian miles into this talk. I loved studying some of Isaiah’s most beautiful prophecies of the Savior in the week leading up to General Conference. I loved listening to the talks of modern disciples of Christ. I loved my final preparation which was spending the last 10 days with 3 of my grandchildren, ages 5, 2-½ and 6…
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Hear Him and Never Walk Alone
What if you could hear God’s voice in the pages of a book? Last week was the 191st anniversary of the first printing of the Book of Mormon in which The Grandin Press published 5,000 copies. Today over 150 million copies of the book have been distributed. In 1830 the book was sold for $1.25 – $1.75 per copy. A few years ago, a first edition Book of Mormon sold at auction for $80,000. When I read these stats, I remembered an experience in the Northeast. My husband and I took our twins on a trip a few weeks after graduation. We experienced natural beauty, US history and dinners featuring…
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My Savior’s Love
I hear the piano music before I walk into sacrament meeting with my 13-year-old son. I’m wearing a hoodie, jeans and no make-up. My son, with an incision on his partially shaved head, wears hospital scrubs and pulls an IV pole. A woman with a kind face stands at the door and hands him a homemade fleece blanket. I think: this is what it feels like to be in the Twilight Zone. The familiar hymns remind me of church, but don’t erase the antiseptic smell nor the sterile, white walls of the hospital. I feel the sting of tears as we walk into a small auditorium at Primary Children’s Medical…
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A Good Fight
Two days before Christmas, my daughters and I grab some water bottles, fill the gas tank and drive 4 hours north to pick up my granddaughter. Her 6-week old brother is in the hospital with RSV. On the drive home, one daughter reads books with my granddaughter while the other fields calls and texts for me. My dad is not doing well. He needs medical attention. We call an ambulance. My dad spends Christmas in the hospital, as does my grandson. Our celebration is muted. We make Christmas dinner, but hold off on stockings and gifts. The day after Christmas, my grandson is well enough to leave the hospital. …
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On Sacred Ground
Anyone who knows me even a little knows two things about me. My family is my orbit and my faith in Jesus Christ is my anchor. My church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and its history are important to me. I’ve experienced most of the U.S. church history sites with my family and have lived near several of them. When we lived near St. Louis, we were 3 hours from Nauvoo, IL. We took visitors 5 times that year. It is a place I love knowing. When we lived near Salt Lake City, UT, we were close to church history sites all over the state. It’s a…
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Holes in the Sky
I listen to my son’s story of feeling his grandma near. He was alone. He was struggling with the language and culture in a foreign country. It was a difficult time for our family. She had been gone for 3 years. It’s not the first time I’ve heard the story. Hearing it still makes me cry. He shared the story at a family gathering last month, our first since her funeral. We’ve been together in small groups, but for various reasons, it’s been 18 years since our last family reunion. After eating one of my mom’s signature desserts, 34 of us sit close. We swap anecdotes, some funny, some poignant,…
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Vulnerability and Victory in 7 million steps
The alarm went off at 5:15am. I wanted to hit the snooze button and snuggle deeper under the covers. But I didn’t. My husband was stirring, plus our friends would be in our driveway in 15 minutes. Every Friday (rain or shine, snow or ice) for more than 2 years my husband and I threw on tennis shoes and sweatshirts and met Tylee and Larence Searle for a 5-mile walk. In the stillness of all those mornings before the sun rose, we walked over 7 million steps or 28 million if you combine the 4 of us. It started as a way to exercise and quickly morphed into sacred time.…
