Category: Journal
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Types of Ground
What is the difference between the stony ground and the thorny ground? They sound very similar but there seems to be an important difference. Thorny ground is good soil because it can support the thorns. Stony ground can’t support thorns any more than it can support the good seed being sown. The thorns are evidence…
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“Take My yolk upon you”
When Christ invites us to take His yolk upon us rather than offering to join us in our yolk it is because by taking His yolk upon us it causes us to go where He is going, to do what He is doing, and to focus on the load that He considers worth bearing rather…
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A captivating dream
When I woke to my alarm at 5am I was having an interesting dream and since I was tired I stayed in bed. I dreamed that I had agreed to arrange a wedding for a friend of Bill’s (not a representation of any actual friend) but that I forgot about it until I was reminded…
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Seek ye first the kingdom of God
“Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to send for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant.” Susie Becker: Why…
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As calves in the stall
I live the promise of the Lord into those that fear His name (on other words, those who reverence Him and follow Him rather than those of the world) – that He shall arise with healing in His wings and they shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall (in other words…
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Easily dismissed
When I said that I was going to change my focus to minimize yelling at the kids Laura immediately responded that focusing on getting the work done wasn’t the problem. No questioning what I meant to try to understand or considering if I might be on to something – just an immediate dismissal of “that’s…
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An early Sunday morning
I woke up at 6:35 to a knock on my door. When nobody answered my response I got up to investigate and find Enoch at the bedroom door. As soon as I opened it he said, “Dad, let me tell you how to kill a snake.” I guess I know what he was dreaming about…
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First Pack Meeting as a parent
Isaac had his first pack meeting (since they canceled November and December due to the holidays). The pack learned to play marbles and charades. Enoch, Noah, and Ezra made it halfway through before I had to remove them to the nursery but I was still able to be there when they presented Isaac with his…
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Thoughts on Joseph and the birth of Christ
Is it possible that Joseph was less affluent because of accepting Mary after she was found to be with child than he had been before that? Could people have withheld their business from him because they thought of him as sinful for accepting the apparently sinful Mary? (It seems likely that accepting her would have…
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Late but not forgotten
I have been transferring notes from keep to my journal and in a note mor than two years old I remind myself to capture the feeling that I felt when President Monson announced the lowering of the missionary age. I felt that that would become a cultural touchstone in the church. I’ve never followed up…