I compiled these recipes for our neighborhood “gift” this year and thought I would share it here. These are some of the foods that say “holidays” to me. I’d love to hear some of your favorites!
Merry Christmas! Read the rest of this entry »
This story, about the hymn “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” was taken from this website (which gives permission to share and copy the article).
One of America’s best known poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), contributed to the wealth of carols sung each Christmas season, when he composed the words to “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” on December 25th 1864. The carol was originally a poem, “Christmas Bells,” containing seven stanzas…
This piece has been cross-published from the Blogger of Jared, where it is part of the current “Life of Christ” theme going on there now where there have been several excellent submissions. We highly recommend that you check it out.
Looking at the Life of Christ as reported in the four Gospels of the New Testament, we see that his behavior towards and teachings about women were profoundly, revolutionarily loving in a way that we, in our current state of gender equality (relatively speaking) might take for granted, to the point that we are in danger of losing their impact. Christ’s respectful treatment of women was socially radical to say the least, which lends added strength to the messages inherent in those moments. Read the rest of this entry »
I went visiting teaching yesterday. I must confess that I was not excited to go. I was tired. I didn’t feel good. I hadn’t had much downtime with my children because we have had lots of craziness (errands, doctor’s appointments, car troubles, dad out of town). More than anything, I just wanted to be cozy and comfortable at home. “Visiting teaching is never convenient,” I found myself thinking. (It really rarely is.)
I printed out the lesson and mused over the title: “Blessings of Relief Society.” I found myself wondering about why the lessons this year have focused on Relief Society. I even noticed some complaints I have heard about these lessons and about Relief Society creeping into my consciousness. (How easily negativity can try to take root!)
Fortunately, the Spirit was merciful enough to teach and to touch me during the next hour and a half, in spite of the bad start to my service. I was able to repent of my attitude and receive a clear answer to my question. Read the rest of this entry »
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee (Isaiah 26:3).
Peace is a feeling that we all long for. It eases our minds and hearts and gives us a respite from the cares of the world.
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another (Romans 14:17).
These verses from Romans tell me what the kingdom of God consists of, and one of those things is peace. Do we follow after the things which make for peace? What are those things? Following are some of the ideas I have gleaned from the scriptures that make for peace. Read the rest of this entry »
Members of our stake have been invited to read the Conference Ensign by the end of the year. What a wonderful challenge! Of course, General Conference is wonderful the first time around, but I always find that while reading, I see and learn things that slipped by me. Reading the talks also allows me to engage in one of my favorite Conference activities: identifying repeated themes.
Consider what Elder Eyring once said:
The Savior has always been the protector of those who would accept His protection. He has said more than once, “How oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not” (3 Ne. 10:5)….
There seems to be no end to the Savior’s desire to lead us to safety. And there is constancy in the way He shows us the path. He calls by more than one means so that it will reach those willing to accept it. And those means always include sending the message by the mouths of His prophets whenever people have qualified to have the prophets of God among them. Those authorized servants are always charged with warning the people, telling them the way to safety.
…One of the keys to recognizing those warnings is that they are repeated…. The Apostle Paul wrote that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Cor. 13:1). One of the ways we may know that the warning is from the Lord is that the law of witnesses, authorized witnesses, has been invoked. When the words of prophets seem repetitive, that should rivet our attention and fill our hearts with gratitude to live in such a blessed time (Henry B. Eyring, “Finding Safety in Counsel,” Ensign, May 1997, 24, emphasis added).
My husband and I have been humbled by one of the themes we have discovered from this last Conference: the absolute necessity of clinging to the word of God as found in scripture and the words of living prophets.
Read the rest of this entry »
While visiting the family of our youngest son a few weeks ago, the adults in our group were startled one evening by the sudden, loud crying of our three-and-a-half-year-old grandson. He was apparently having a nightmare. Our daughter-in-law attempted to calm him with soft words and rocking, but he continued to cry out and talk nonsense which related to what he was dreaming.
She carried him downstairs to join the rest of us, and mentioned that this sort of thing had happened before. Once he was fully awake, she assured us, he would calm down. For a couple of minutes he continued to wail and display deep distress, despite his mother’s efforts to awaken and reassure him. Read the rest of this entry »
Before Sunday, 3 December, I found myself succumbing to a creeping “bah humbug” attitude, brought on by the early start and frequent ads of the commercial Christmas season.
I felt my heart begin to thaw (perhaps “defrost” would be a better word, since I wasn’t too far gone!) in Sacrament meeting when we sang Christmas songs and shared testimonies. Then that evening was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Not really wanting to venture out in the cold, I listened over the Internet. The defrosting was quickly complete. The encouragement, testimonies, and stories of the First Presidency were heartwarming to hear. To be reminded of the real meaning of Christmas was what I needed and what I received. Read the rest of this entry »
Originally published in 1975 as Of One Heart, The Enoch Letters, by the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell is a fictional, yet truly intelligent correspondance between Mahijah, a prominent man of his time who is converted by and comes to follow Enoch the prophet, and his friend in another land, Omner. In it, we have a beautiful first-person portrayal, not just of the wonder that is the community of the City of Enoch, but of the miraculous softening of the heart that comes with the gospel of Christ.
Through these letters, we experience conversion and the birth of a community in a very real and human way, seeing the evolution of the understanding of one man. Read the rest of this entry »