Stronger Through Him

 Memorial Day is the day in which we honor and remember those members of the US Armed Forces who sacrificed their lives in service.   Jesus himself said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13).  There are literally hundreds of thousands of stories of men and women who lost their lives in the name of our freedom.  Here is just one. The SS Dorchester was headed from New York to Greenland during World War II when torpedoed by a German U-boat.  As the ship was sinking 4 new chaplains bravely assisted soldiers eventually giving up their own life vests so that others could have a chance at survival. They were very different men.  Reverend George L. Fox was a Methodist minister, Alexander D. Goode was a Rabbi, Father John P. Washington was a Catholic priest , and Reverend Clark V. Poling was a minister for the Reformed Church in America.  Nonetheless, they linked arms, sang hymns and offered comfort and encouragement until th

 Lots of things in our house are wearing out.  I suppose that happens when a house is 20+ years old.  The dishwasher leaves a small puddle of water on the floor every 10th load or so.  One of the burners on our gas stove needs hand lit.  The oven temperature fluctuates.  Cupboards sag a bit.  We just had to replace the roof.   It's a good house, but it's aging.  And most of those things we have just learned to deal with and get by with.   However the thing I really disliked was the sliding glass door with condensation between the panes of glass making our backyard look perpetually foggy. Today George, along with the assistance of a friend, replaced the door.  It was a lot of work.  Our house has settled some so the space was slightly smaller than the new door.  They had to do lots of chiseling and shaving and cutting and hammering.  They put it in and pulled it out several times. After several hours, they finally had the new door in place.  When I looked through that clear glas

 In the movie "The Blue Miracle", a man who is running an orphanage for boys is talking to a teen who has been living on the streets.  The teen is defending his decision to turn to stealing as a part of his survival and the man makes this statement.  "If you want to make your life better, you've got to do what you know is right every single day. No matter what anyone thinks.  Even when it's hard."  ". . . choose you this day whom ye will serve; . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).  Not choose what's "not that bad" or "probably okay" but what you know is right.  If it doesn't match up with what God teaches then it isn't right, no matter who else is doing it or supporting it. Every single day.   Make it your pattern of living.  Christ will strengthen you.   Even when it's hard.  It will probably require sacrifices sometimes.  It will probably be lonely sometimes.  And it won'

 There are so many ways to say "I'm so sorry and I care." This week our school has felt an outpouring of love. Our art teacher collected stories and photos about Lucian and created a scrapbook for his mom from our school.   The high school orchestra teachers sent a recording of them playing "The Lord Bless and Keep You" to our staff with their condolences.   Other elementary schools brought food for the staff and cards with personal notes of encouragement.  We had a school wide moment of silence for Lucian and each class discussed it as appropriate with office and counselor support as needed.   The kindergarten class was releasing butterflies and let one go in his name and the kids all said "goodbye Lucian".   We have helped raise over $6000 so his mom can give him a burial.  She had cried in agony that she knew cremation was cheaper but she just couldn't do that to her baby.  We all pitched in and so did many community members. That's the last

 D&C 59:21 teaches a foundational doctrine: "And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments." This scripture has been cited more than 75 times by prophets and general authorities.  75 times!! Obviously this is a scripture we should pay attention to! Here are just a few of the ways they prompt us to increase and show our gratitude for all we have been blessed with from our Heavenly Father.  Elder Eyring notes that we thank God through how we honor and keep the Sabbath Day holy. Elder Andersen says we thank God by looking around and finding God's hand not just in the big stories in far away places, but in the tiny miracles around us in our daily lives.  Paul B Pieper prompts that we thank God by tuning into the promptings of the Spirit, reflecting on them and taking the time to write them down for ourselves and our posterity. Elder Cook says, "It is extremely

  D&C 59:18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Today was kindergarten butterfly release.  It pleased my eye to study the intricacies of the butterflies with each perfect detail.  It gladdened my heart to watch their teacher show them how you have to put your finger in front of the butterfly and wait patiently and gently and it will climb on.  You can't grab them or chase them, force doesn't work.  What a valuable lesson, patience in gentle waiting.   I needed this today. ❤️

  Several years ago I was at the temple with George and as we sat in the Celestial Room, in quiet contemplation, I offered a quick prayer.  It was a prayer I've grown accustomed to asking, "Lord, what do you want me to know or work on right now?" I let my thoughts drift and after a few minutes picked up the Bible laying on the end table.  The soft white leather felt smooth as I flipped open the book and looked at the page it had opened to.   1 Peter Chapter 2.  It wasn't a chapter I was very familiar with but I began reading.  Soon I came to verse 12: "Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." And then verse 20: "For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God."

 In D&C 55:4 William W Phelps is given an important assignment: "And again, you shall be ordained to assist my servant Oliver Cowdery to do the work of printing, and of selecting and writing books for schools in this church, that little children also may receive instruction before me as is pleasing unto me." Little children being taught from books is pleasing to Him. You know who else it is pleasing to?  Children. They are wired to learn.  Teaching children to read unlocks their power to see and learn about the experiences of other times and places.  It increases their ability to see from multiple perspectives and to better interact with the world.  As George RR Martin said, "I have lived a thousand lives and I have loved a thousand loves. I've walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read." How beautiful is it that we were created with the intelligence to read!  We need to model it and encourage it in our children.

 I was finishing a long and admittedly boring training yesterday with two other teachers when I heard one of them let out a horrific gasp.  I looked up in concern as she read aloud the email we had each just received. It was devastating news.  I've cried so many tears.   One of our precious kindergarten students had passed away.  He drowned in the pond at a local park. My heart felt like it was ripped in half.  I hurt for his teachers.  I hurt for his parents and family.  I was in disbelief. Lucian was in our special needs classroom.  A classroom where I teach Spanish once a week.  He had shoulder length beautiful hair, an impish smile and was lightning quick.  He was a handful and a heartful.   At the beginning of the year when I would come he would yell and run away.  After a few weeks he would watch my computer as I led them in our Spanish songs they had grown to love.  Before long he would wave in the hall and sometimes take my hand to help him walk to class. Then about a month

 Sometimes blessings received give us the opportunity to share. Every occupation has its perks.  And deficits, but let's go with the perks here.   George and I went to the local Free Teachers Store, an amazing resource for teachers where we can get some extra supplies from surplus and donations.  There are regularly random items added as appreciation gifts or for us to share with students and families.   This week as we were leaving we were given two cases of cereal each.  So since we are both teachers, we had four cases.   When we got home and opened it we realized it was scripture cereal.  And no matter how good it is we don't need 24 boxes.  Not even if it's Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax cereal.   "Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof" What on earth is fitches? Apparently a member of the ranunculus family that has lots of pungent black seeds. But I'm no

 Today I really needed to reread this post I wrote a year ago.  It is time for me to do some more encouraging and I invite you to join me: "Just try harder."  "Maybe if you weren't so out of shape."   "Quit making excuses."  "You...are a failure."  "Well look at that.  You didn't make your goal again.  Surprise.  Surprise."   "Just add her name to the list of people you have let down."     I am embarrassed to say that those are words that I used to fairly regularly use with myself.  I knew I needed to nix the negative self-berating but every time I tried, it became one more thing to berate myself about.  "See!  And you can't even control your tongue with yourself!"   Then I learned a gentle but magical truth a few summers ago.  I was at a conference and the presenter invited me to lunch.  Me!  As we sat and talked she asked me about some professional and personal things I was working on and over our Subwa

We came home tonight to find our yard and home trashed.  There was debris and trash strewn all over the yard and in our bushes.  Those responsible were actually climbing on our roof and in the yard. Ella was initially a bit concerned, but when we explained that it was a roofing company and that they were here to replace our roof it made a lot more sense.   Sometimes we can rush to judgment when we see what appears to be a whole lot of messy in someone else's life.  Sometimes we can even rush to judgment on the messy in our own life as we try to better align with God's commandments and in the process knock off a shingle or two .   But when we have the foresight to hold onto the big picture, we can know of the security that will come from being safely in His shelter.   "For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy." (Psalm 61:3).  I know that this mess is a small price to pay for knowing we will be protected from the storms to come.

 It's butterfly time in our kindergarten classrooms.  They are learning about life cycles and excitedly predicting how many days it will be until a butterfly emerges from the chrysalis.  Today I was quizzing the kids on their understanding of the life cycle.  One little girl said, "The caterpillar eats and eats and then makes a upside down chrysalis.  Then takes a nap and BAM like magic a butterfly appears." Not quite, but she has the basic idea.  What actually happens is a perfect combination of hormone suppression and expression that allow the caterpillar to delay metamorphosis until the right time.  The time by which enough food has been stored and they can now have their specialized cells fully develop into the parts of a butterfly. But where does the caterpillar go? It doesn't just sprout wings.  It undergoes a process in which its body is broken down and disintegrates and becomes food and fuel for the new change and growth. It literally has to be destroyed for t

  At church today when the empty sacrament cups were dropped in the tray the sound hitting the metal bottoms was particularly pronounced. Probably because I hadn't heard that sound in more than 14 months since they've been put into plastic bags to be discarded.  Anyway, as I heard that sound today it almost sounded like coins dropping in.  And it reminded me of a conversation I had about offering plates and how we don't have them.   While we do tithe and are encouraged to give fast offerings and other donations generously, we do that in private.   But as I watched the sacrament passed to each person and each cup drop in it made me think of offerings, not in money but in many different ways.   Offering to take His name upon us might mean working on serving, forgiving or loving a little better this week.   Offering to let resentment go and be less demanding to others.   Offering to give up a TV show or some time on my phone in order to show up for serving another.   Offering

 Hannah was married to Elkenah.  He also had another wife.  That wife had borne him children.  Hannah had not.  Her most fervent desire had not been answered.  At what had to have been one of her lowest points, and I think we can all identify with this moment, she is at the temple praying.  It says she is moving her lips but words aren't coming out.  In fact, the priest Eli, accuses her of being drunk.   In reality she is praying with all her heart.  Perhaps she is so full of emotion that audibly speaking them will unleash the tears.  Perhaps she struggles to even find the right words.  Perhaps she is afraid to even speak out loud those personal desires.  I've been in all of those praying situations, haven't you?  In 1 Samuel 1:10 it says, "And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore." Can you feel her there? In the bitterness of her soul? When it feels like there is no goodness left around you, when everything feels too much, too un

  Naomi and her husband Elimelech lived in Bethlehem with their two sons.  Due to a famine in the land they travel to Moab seeking work and the means to support their family.   While there, both sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth.  Then, over a period of years, both sons and Elimelech die.  Naomi, Orpah and Ruth are devastated, as would be any in their circumstances.  Naomi wants to return to Bethlehem where things have improved, and probably seeking the comfort of familiarity.  She tells both her daughters-in-law that they are free to go.  Orpah tearfully chooses to leave.  Ruth issues this famous decree to Naomi: "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”  Ruth 1:16 Thy God shall be my God.  The Moabites worshiped a god called Chemosh and their rituals included human sacrifice.  This was Ruth's faith tradition.  Yet sh

  When Joshua was planning the siege of Jericho, he sent two spies into the city. They went and lodged at the home of Rahab, the harlot.  The king heard about her visitors and demanded that she turn them over.   Instead she made up a story about  how they had just left and sent them to chase after them.  The men were actually hiding on her roof beneath sheaths of flax that were drying.   Why would she do this? She said she had heard about the Red Sea being parted.  "And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath."   She had enough faith to convince her to take action on the Lord's side.   She then asked for the men to spare her family when they came to battle.  She used a red cord to lower them out the window and allow them to escape.  She was told to mark her home using the cord and her family would be spared.  In Ja

 I treated myself this to this shirt this week.  I wanted to remember that there are strong women who have come before me and that I can learn from them if I put in the work to study their lives. Sarah waited on the Lord.  Not perfectly and certainly aspects of it were out of her control.  She wanted to have children and that blessing hadn't come and in her old age must have seemed beyond the realm of possibility.   She even came up with her own alternative plan based on the customs of the time and offered up her Egyptian slave, Hagar, to Abraham to provide him with posterity.  It didn't go as well as she had planned and resentment and conflict developed between Hagar and Sarah to the point that Hagar had to leave with her son, Ishmael.   It gives me comfort to know that in her imperfection Sarah even laughed at the Lord when he promised her a child as she approached age 90.  She forgot that what we see as impossible may not be for Him.  Her faith wasn't perfect and she had

 "Every girl and woman who makes and keeps sacred covenants can have a mother heart. There is no limit to what a woman with a mother heart can accomplish. Righteous women have changed the course of history and will continue to do so, and their influence will spread and grow exponentially throughout the eternities." Sister Julie B Beck shared those powerful words.  Motherhood is joyous, heart wrenching, fulfilling, frustrating, demanding, and thankfully has room for our imperfections.  I can't express how grateful I am for my children.  I love the idea of a mother heart.  But I want to add a piece of a mother heart that is critically important.  What every woman, no matter what her current stage of motherhood is, needs in her heart is to find those moments when she hears and feels the gentle whisperings of  Heavenly Parents saying, "You are okay." This picture captured one of those moments for me.  Not while it was being taken, but months later.   I was feeling l

 In John 15:13 Jesus instructs, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." There is no question that to sacrifice one's life for another is an act beyond comprehension and surely the highest mark of love there is.  I wonder though, how many of us say we would perhaps be willing to lay down our life for our friends, but can't seem to lay down our phone for our friends and stop by in service.  Or maybe to lay down our remote and invite a spouse or neighbor on a walk or to study scriptures together?  Do we lay down our pride and ignore the Jenga style pile of dishes in the sink and open our doors and our hearts to our friends ?  Or lay down our discomfort and meet someone new who might need a kind word?  Can we lay down our work for a bit and fully engage with our families, who are often among our most treasured friends?  You know, play a game, listen to their stories, complete a chore together.  Do we lay down our busy schedules,

 George and I were at Lake Michigan this week.  It was chilly, but we stopped a a beach at Tunnel Park hoping to capture the sunset.   As we pulled in and jumped out of the car, we knew we were racing the clock.  There were steep stairs going up to the top of the dunes on one side and a trail leading to a tunnel on the other.  We had to make a split second decision about which way to go.  We opted for the tunnel. As we approached we could see the beautiful glow of purple, orange and pink visible through the tunnel.   I couldn't actually see the sun, but there was absolute evidence that it was there.  Sometimes in our lives, we have to trust unsure evidence of the Savior as well.  But if we look for the beautiful glow of His light, we will find our doubts diminishing and our hearts looking forward to the journey toward the end of the tunnel.   Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has taught: “There really is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the Light of the World, the Bright and Morning St

 This week I got a text message adding me to a list of VBS (vacation bible school) volunteers for this summer.  We don't even live in that community any more so I had to decline but it made me think back to the many different VBS programs my kids were invited to and welcomed to, regardless of our faith differences.   They were just good people reaching out to share their love of Jesus with their friends.  Our kids had a wonderful time and I knew they were in good hands.  Colton and Kyrie even ended up helping and volunteering some summers as they grew older.  Are we that welcoming at church?  To be clear here is what was instructed in D&C 46:3-6 "Nevertheless ye are commanded never to cast any one out from your public meetings, which are held before the world. 4 Ye are also commanded not to cast any one who belongeth to the church out of your sacrament meetings; nevertheless, if any have trespassed, let him not partake until he makes reconciliation. 5 And again I say unto

 Ella had a long week.  She had periodic bouts of nausea, vomiting, severe stomach pain and crazy bas vertigo off and on for almost a full week.  It would come in waves and was excruciating. After three days we took her to the doctor.  At day five they sent her to the ER for fluids for dehydration and to run a whole battery of tests but they couldn't find the cause. She couldn't dress herself or stand without help and the doctor said he was sorry but they didn't know what was wrong. He said we would need to simply keep treating the symptoms.  And they sent her home still violently ill.  I was physically exhausted from being up with her in the night and worried and frustrated that there didn't seem to be anything we could do to alleviate her discomfort.  That's definitely one of the hardest parts of parenthood for sure.  George and I took turns alternating days off to stay home with her.  She is finally feeling better and is just tired.  We probably will never know f

 I read an inspiring story this week. A woman in Arkansas was out on a run with her dog when she was stopped by a 6-year old yelling and asking if she could pet her dog. The woman paused next to the young girl and told her that she could certainly pet her dog as long as her parents okayed it.   The girl then shyly explained that her dad had died and her mom was inside the funeral home behind her at her daddy's funeral. Then, without prompting, the woman's dog, Blue, stepped up to the girl and sat in front of her.  She threw  her arms around his neck and just experienced that hug for several minutes. According to the woman,  the girl's family and friends who had been observing didn't have a dry eye among them. Finally, the sweet girl looked up and asked if the woman would like to go meet her dad. Recognizing the importance of this last opportunity for the girl, the runner shrugged off her discomfort at wearing sweaty running clothes and took her hand and went to meet her

 A poem inspired by D&C 45:1-15. Dear Savior, remind me when I’m lost in the crowd That you’ve already taught me that you’re not in the loud. When I scroll through the screens taking in all the voices, Help me pause and remember I’m master of my own choices. Give me wisdom to know when to let arguments go, When to write in the dust, and to let my words be slow. Remind me to walk in my own wilderness oft, For that’s where I feel you, where my heart is most soft. Remind me to pause, to know you’re there and be still; To let the earth softly heal me, let your Spirit refill. Remind me to listen not to everything, but to you; You’re my advocate, my brother, my friend most true.  You’ve prayed for me, for my suffering, and offered your own For me you were raised, for me you did atone.  Your voice is the clarity, making sense of confusion The light shining brightly to reveal my delusion. Please soften my anger, replace my anxiety with hope Please direct me daily as I learn to better cope.

 Just a simple reminder to myself that I need to ask God to show me His ways, not ask Him to change His ways to match mine. 😬   As we have sung so many times, Lead me; guide me; walk beside me. The best part of His paths, is knowing He will be there with me.