A few days ago our church broadcast a Christmas Devotional. Normally Jerry and I would have watched it online that evening, but since we had been visiting friends that day and got home right at Lo's bedtime we decided to just view the archived devotional later.
Still not having watched the devotional, yesterday I went shopping for Christmas gifts and felt an undeniable pressure and anxiety surrounding me. Then, after returning home, I finally got around to reading the online summary of the Christmas devotional. An instant peace filled my heart and pushed away the holiday stress. If there is anybody else needing to refresh their spirits and remember the true joys of the season, check it out.
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter Part One
I do love a good holiday. Jerry got Good Friday off work even, so the long weekend was especially good with him around more. 
What is it about Easter Eggs that just gladden the heart? Plastic and hard boiled alike!
That Lo got to decorate eggs for the first time. I put him in his craft-project tee shirt, and Jerry had slapped protective vinyl over the carpet, so the mess stayed mostly contained...
On the ground there is a crushed hard-boiled egg. That Lo Lo kept getting so tempted to squeeze them in his fist while he was putting decorations on them. We also ate a fair amount of eggs during the project.
And even though I love the secular fun parts of Easter, our family is trying to make the holiday more Christ-centered overall. So we took this idea from a friend: in the week/days leading up to Easter Day, discuss the final week in Christ's mortal life. We did this with the Gospel Art picture kit we have at home. One of the pictures shows Christ riding the donkey into Jerusalem, and Lo Lo listened so intently as we told him the story. Then, all of a sudden he jumped up and ran to get his little deer that he rides on. After talking about the gospel pictures, we put them up sort of haphazardly on our dining room wall and that was pretty much the extent of our Easter decorations.
It actually really did help me to keep my thoughts on the Savior to see all those depictions of His life. We also used the picture wall for an activity with friends on Easter Day. We hosted an Easter dinner at our house yesterday, and after people had finished eating, we played a little game trying to put the pictures in chronological order. The meal was yummy, and we cooked our first ham. Sometimes it feels difficult to live far away from family when the holidays roll around, but getting together with a group of friends really brightens the mood, and we had a great Easter!
What is it about Easter Eggs that just gladden the heart? Plastic and hard boiled alike!
That Lo got to decorate eggs for the first time. I put him in his craft-project tee shirt, and Jerry had slapped protective vinyl over the carpet, so the mess stayed mostly contained...
On the ground there is a crushed hard-boiled egg. That Lo Lo kept getting so tempted to squeeze them in his fist while he was putting decorations on them. We also ate a fair amount of eggs during the project.
And even though I love the secular fun parts of Easter, our family is trying to make the holiday more Christ-centered overall. So we took this idea from a friend: in the week/days leading up to Easter Day, discuss the final week in Christ's mortal life. We did this with the Gospel Art picture kit we have at home. One of the pictures shows Christ riding the donkey into Jerusalem, and Lo Lo listened so intently as we told him the story. Then, all of a sudden he jumped up and ran to get his little deer that he rides on. After talking about the gospel pictures, we put them up sort of haphazardly on our dining room wall and that was pretty much the extent of our Easter decorations.
It actually really did help me to keep my thoughts on the Savior to see all those depictions of His life. We also used the picture wall for an activity with friends on Easter Day. We hosted an Easter dinner at our house yesterday, and after people had finished eating, we played a little game trying to put the pictures in chronological order. The meal was yummy, and we cooked our first ham. Sometimes it feels difficult to live far away from family when the holidays roll around, but getting together with a group of friends really brightens the mood, and we had a great Easter! ps. also note in that photo above, I hung Easter Eggs from the chandelier. I know it isn't that creative or original of a decoration, but I was proud of it because Lo Lo cheered and commented on it quite a bit. Holidays are so much more fun now that we have a kid. :)
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Hill Cumorah--Site and Pageant
I guess we came expecting something just a step above a local roadshow type play, but the Hill Cumorah Pageant left us absolutely dazzled and amazed. We talked afterward about how we cannot figure out how some of the special effects even came to pass. 
And yes, I shall speak unto ye in scriptural language from this time hence. Because that is how blessed this pageant was unto us.
The moon rose as we waited on the field for the pageant to thus begin (it must have full darkness to start).
The setting sun came and with its colors, the actors in their garb filled the field:
Their joy was contagious as they wandered among the audience. Lo ceased his crying to say hello to a few of the colorful cast. (he wailed for about an hour straight right before the pageant began, as his bedtime was long past and the rest of the journey had proven taxing for him).
A wise man from the East. The set in the background is of exceedingly fine workmanship which left us astonished beyond all measure. And maybe left this woman astonished also:
We did cause that our position be relocated to the top of the hill for a time, in order that we might view the secret parts of this creation. We saw behind the scenes, the trebuchet that lifted the cross and figure of Christ, the stone which held the gold plates on Cumorah (and an actor putting the stone in place), as well as Moroni's monument.
This monument also had positioned around the base the names and statements of witnesses who saw and felt the gold plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. There are 3 witnesses who were shown the plates by an angel, and 8 who saw the plates from Joseph's hand.
And yes, I shall speak unto ye in scriptural language from this time hence. Because that is how blessed this pageant was unto us. 
The moon rose as we waited on the field for the pageant to thus begin (it must have full darkness to start). 
The setting sun came and with its colors, the actors in their garb filled the field:
Their joy was contagious as they wandered among the audience. Lo ceased his crying to say hello to a few of the colorful cast. (he wailed for about an hour straight right before the pageant began, as his bedtime was long past and the rest of the journey had proven taxing for him). 
A wise man from the East. The set in the background is of exceedingly fine workmanship which left us astonished beyond all measure. And maybe left this woman astonished also:
We did cause that our position be relocated to the top of the hill for a time, in order that we might view the secret parts of this creation. We saw behind the scenes, the trebuchet that lifted the cross and figure of Christ, the stone which held the gold plates on Cumorah (and an actor putting the stone in place), as well as Moroni's monument. 
This monument also had positioned around the base the names and statements of witnesses who saw and felt the gold plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. There are 3 witnesses who were shown the plates by an angel, and 8 who saw the plates from Joseph's hand. 
Here are the words of Moroni as he stood on Hill Cumorah thousands of years past:
And when ye shall receive these things [these plates, these scriptures], I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things.
There are some in the world who fight against this truth. They and their children lined the road which borders our church's Hill Cumorah land, and all throughout the pageant, used bullhorns to blast slander and lies about Joseph Smith, the Angel Moroni, and current members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I normally do not like to waste any time even acknowledging these types of sad and pathetic fighters against Christ. But I want to mention them at this time because of a good memory I had that night as we left the pageant. Jerry and I felt so warmed and thrilled as we walked back to our parked car leaving the pageant. It had been a richly spiritual experience for us, as well as a joy to the physical senses. As we neared our car, the sounds of the protesters on the roadside became audible yet again (during our time in the pageant the church music had drowned out the protesters). At first, we felt a growing dullness in our hearts, as we were forced to listen to the protesters because it took about 30 minutes of sitting in traffic to drive beyond their range of noise.
But then it dawned on us that we did not have to listen to the din. We turned up the volume in our car of the latest EFY CD, and began sharing with each other our favorite parts of the pageant. "Mine was when the actor playing Christ descended to the crowd of people--how do you think they lowered him like that?? Wires?? I bet he will look just like that when he comes to earth in real life--so glowing, bright, and powerful." Jerry agreed, and shared that he was struck by how realistic it had seemed when the prophet Abinadi was burned to death. There will always be wicked people who fight against the prophets. As the sounds of the protesters faded from our consciousness, we felt again the warmth of the Holy Spirit fill our hearts.
The adversary is powerless when we make good choices. As Jerry and I chose to fill our car with uplifting conversation and spiritual music, then the bad feelings we had concerning the protesters simply left. I am grateful to have had this reminder. The entire evening was a testimony building experience.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Got Spiritual Births? Especially Medicated Ones?
There is occuring right now a compilation of stories from LDS women who have given birth, as well as their thoughts on motherhood, pregnancy, etc. It is worth contributing if you've got a birth story ready to go, and they are especially in need of medicated birth stories right now. I know some of my readers have had GREAT experiences with medicated births. They point out that for some reason natural birthers are just more eager to share their stories, though they are certainly not the only ones having spiritual experiences related to birthing children. Anyway, here's the link: check it out.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Words of Comfort
We had a nice holiday weekend, though our 4th held rather a modest level of celebration and zero fireworks. I'll post a pic from a cute BBQ we had with some friends yesterday, if somebody emails me a copy (hint...hint...=)).
Anyway. I had a day last week where I thought, "Life is pretty great. No problems--just happy mellow existing." As I opened my scriptures randomly to read a few verses aloud to Lo, my heart felt no great need of comfort--and yet I felt pleased to discover that comfort is exactly the feeling that washed over me as I read Helaman 22:13/Isaiah 60:21, the first verse that caught my eye. It promises: All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. I know in my mind and heart that these words are Truth; Prophecy; Counsel; Command. What a gift from God to have these words. The interesting thing to me is that I did not think I needed comfort at the time that I started reading scripture. I did so in a sense of absent-minded duty. In fact, I felt pretty hunky dory before reading the verse. But how much better I felt afterward, not even realizing how much my happiness could increase until suddenly it did.
There might be people out there in the world who feel pretty great. They might be genuinely happy, just strolling through life without any great need of comfort. But I wish to reiterate that God always gives good gifts to them that ask, and there is always more good, more comfort, more peace to be had. So give it a try. Read some scripture TODAY.
Anyway. I had a day last week where I thought, "Life is pretty great. No problems--just happy mellow existing." As I opened my scriptures randomly to read a few verses aloud to Lo, my heart felt no great need of comfort--and yet I felt pleased to discover that comfort is exactly the feeling that washed over me as I read Helaman 22:13/Isaiah 60:21, the first verse that caught my eye. It promises: All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. I know in my mind and heart that these words are Truth; Prophecy; Counsel; Command. What a gift from God to have these words. The interesting thing to me is that I did not think I needed comfort at the time that I started reading scripture. I did so in a sense of absent-minded duty. In fact, I felt pretty hunky dory before reading the verse. But how much better I felt afterward, not even realizing how much my happiness could increase until suddenly it did.
There might be people out there in the world who feel pretty great. They might be genuinely happy, just strolling through life without any great need of comfort. But I wish to reiterate that God always gives good gifts to them that ask, and there is always more good, more comfort, more peace to be had. So give it a try. Read some scripture TODAY.
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