Sunday, March 28, 2010


"Behold, and hearken, O ye elders of my church, saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, your advocate, who knoweth the weakness of man and how to succor them who are tempted."

This scripture caught my eye and attention a few days ago as I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord is our advocate! He speaks for us in a beneficial manner before the throne of Grace. He's on our side (our better side that is.) He knows our frailties and failings and stupidities. And He knows how to strengthen us. And yes, we are all tempted so we do indeed need that succor.

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It has often occurred to me that the word "know" in the scriptural sense is experiential rather than just something learned intellectually. Adam "knew" his wife by experience. The Lord knows the weakness of man through experience. We learn to know the Lord through experience.

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“A little boy, I’m told, wrote a letter to God (this is published in a collection of children’s letters). It said, “Dear God, How do you feel about people who don’t believe in you? A friend of mine wants to know.” Recently I was invited to sit in on a graduate class elsewhere–a group most critical and equipped with jaw-breaking terminology and bone-breaking arguments against religion.

At one point I said, “So I’ll know where you’re coming from, would each person here consider: If you had only one question to address to Jesus Christ, what would you ask him?” Well, most of those in the room had a grievance and said that they would ask a kind of “pick-a-fight” question. But one lad, in the corner, didn’t respond, and, having been urged, finally said with a thoughtful smile, “Well, if I had only one question, I would ask, ‘How am I doing?”’ – Truman Madsen, On How We Know

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

There really is nothing like a good book!



One blessing of convalescence is having a chance to read. Allysha recommended Peace Like a River, a national bestseller by Leif Enger. It was a happy surprise when a sister in my ward brought it by for me with a bouquet of lavender tulips in accompaniment. I loved the book! I recommend you find and copy and read it for enlightenment, uplift and just plain delight.

"The novel is narrated by Reuben Land, an eleven-year-old boy suffering from severe asthma who lives with his unusual family in a small Minnesota town in 1962. His mother abandoned the family years before; his younger sister and best friend, Swede, writes epic poetry at age eight; and his father, Jeremiah, a school janitor, is a man of faith who quietly performs miracles – one of which is to bring Reuben to life after he is born dead."

There much more than that but I'll let you discover it.

I am also reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. It won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award. "The novel is the fictional autobiography of the Reverend John Ames, an elderly congregationalist pastor in the small, secluded town of Gilead, Iowa who knows that he is dying of a heart condition. At the beginning of the book, the date is established as 1956, and Ames explains that he is writing an account of his life for his 7-year-old son, who will have few memories of him as an adult."

Another great read. Both books have underlying religious themes.

(Book descriptions from Wikipedia.)

Saturday, March 13, 2010

I should post...

It's been a while. I have sat down to post numerous times and haven't had the energy to do it. My life has changed somewhat dramatically in the past six weeks. The last week of January I was finding it difficult to get going in the morning. I would talk myself out of bed and be ready by the time my Dad came. His care was getting harder and harder. His dementia had progressed and he was requiring a ramp up of the constant supervision he has needed this past year. A friend had told me last fall of an adult day care center her mother-in-law attended that she highly recommended. One day as I was sitting quietly realizing my strength was going I remembered that recommendation and decided to look into it. It proved to be sent from Heaven and none too soon because within a few days I was flat on my back in bed. Everything just stopped. Willpower was no longer enough to get me up and at it. The side benefit was my Dad loved the daycare center. It is run out of the Community Church in Orem by a group of saintly people who seem to exude love for the elderly dementia patients they care for. It's small with 7-8 drop ins. My sister would bring my Dad there at 10:00 and I arranged for my children to pick him up at 5:00 and drive him for an hour before returning him to my sister's place for dinner and bed. (At first I thought I would be able to do the pick-ups but nope - it wasn't to be.)

To make a long story short as my sister was not far behind me in not being able to maintain care for my Dad at her house, we have now found a permanent place for my Dad. He and his black Stetson (his pride and joy since last Father's Day - it's the most well-used present he's ever received!) seem to be adjusting well with a few minor hitches here and there. I am now on my sixth week of not being able to do much. Some days are better than others. I've always been go, go, go and now it's slow, slow, slow if I'm going at all. Yes, I've been to the doctor. The first one was a bust. I think I've now found someone who can really help. I'll know more next week upon my return visit. In the mean time I'm getting some reading and sleeping done. I'm pretty much living in pj's and slippers - getting dressed to go out maybe once or twice a week. There's nice things about not being on the run - like sitting and looking out the window at the magnificent clouds and flitting birds from tree to tree. I thought I would have turned around by now but not so. I see some glimmers so hope still springs eternal - it's just the spring part comes in it's own due time.