Kyra Moon

 I once read of someone who believed something but after a lot of prayer and scripture study and temple attendance concluded he was wrong. For me, I began where he ended but after a lot of prayer and scripture study and temple attendance concluded that my original belief (where he ended) was wrong. I'm not here to say whether he's right or I'm right (and we are both allowed to change our minds). But it does make me think that God does care about us knowing truth but He also wants us to have a journey to find it. He wants us to challenge our assumptions and soften our hearts. He wants us to approach Him with curiosity. And of course, some things should be rocks. And I would rather stand on a rock that doesn't move. But if I have to drink unfamiliar water, I'd rather drink water from a moving source than a stagnant source. And I hope that someday we'll all be able to drink the best moving, living Water -- springing forth from an unchanging Rock.

  Note: this is one of my Holy Week posts. And it deals with a lot of heavy pregnancy topics. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent." -Psalms 22:1-2 There were a few weeks when I did everything I could possibly think of to keep the fetus alive last summer. It seems almost silly now, thinking of what I tried to do in hopes that maybe, maybe the swelling in her would go down. First, I refused the X-ray at the dentist because I couldn't bear the thought that the trace radiation would do anything to her. (Perhaps it was good I refused it because it turns out I had two cavities that I would not have wanted to worry about back then.) I then cut out sugar, figuring that  the sugar could possibly be causing inflammation of some kind (while knowing of course that her swelling was because of her body, not mine)...

 Boyd K. Packer once said, "Romantic love is not only a part of life, but literally a dominating influence of it. It is deeply and significantly religious." I've been thinking about this quote for several weeks now. I know that for many people romantic love is not part of their lives, and they still live happy, fulfilling lives. I don't think it is necessarily the dominating part of life even for people in a romantic relationship for much of their lives. But I still think there's something special about romantic love, even if it's never reciprocated. I think it's one of the first great introductions to Christlike love. After all, there's more to having a crush than feeling warm and tingly when you're close to the person. More to it than always wanting to be with them. More to it than lying awake thinking about them. There's also this element of surrender, this feeling that you would do anything for them. I remember this feeling well with variou...

 I've been slowly making my way through Psalms through the last year. It's not a long book, but it was still hard for me to read very much of at a time. All that praise! All that rejoicing! Or, in different chapters, all that angst about enemies! But mostly, all that praise! It's not, of course, that I don't believe we should praise God. But sometimes it seemed like a little too much at once, I have to admit. At times I imagined a conversation with someone who didn't believe in God, imagined trying to convince them why they should worship God. "It's in our human nature to worship something. After all, we worship sports and politics. May as well worship God." "So clearly I already have the worship fix I need from those," the imaginary friend would respond. "But God has done so many wonderful things for you!" "Like what? I don't believe in sin, don't believe God does anything to change the weather, and don't believe G...

Child starts to put on snow pants. Child gets frustrated and no longer wants to play outside. Child gets a snack. Child does not want milk that was offered. Milk is put back in the fridge. Child has a bite of snack.  Child now wants milk. Milk is brought back out of the fridge. Child finishes snack.  Child wants to play outside after all. Child puts snow pants on successfully. My children instinctively understand chiasmus.

 In honor of International Men's Day, here's to all the Elders Quorums who help people move in and out. They manage to get mattresses up narrow staircases and box springs into basements, and they don't even complain when a big box is full of textbooks instead of blankets. They help tie down the furniture in the stuffy, dusty moving truck. They stand there thoughtfully as they gaze at the truck, and they always say, "I bet we can fit it all in tighter." And how do we repay them? With a slice of pizza or a popsicle. If they're lucky. For lifting where you stand and not shying away from trials, we salute you.

 "And whoso is found a faithful, a just, and a wise steward shall enter into the joy of his Lord, and shall inherit eternal life." -Doctrine and Covenants 51:19 I love the idea of stewardship. I love the idea of understanding that you have the responsibility to take care of something.  One of my favorite illustrations of stewardship comes in WALL-E. The humans have lived an easy, boring life for hundreds of years, and there is really no reason for them to change. But the captain learns more about Earth and realizes, "We have to go back." They need to go back because it is their responsibility to take care of the Earth. And then, in the credits, you get to watch them taking care of the Earth. It's so neat. It's hard to explain the empowerment that comes from feeling a sense of stewardship. I felt it a bit when Kevin was the building coordinator of our church building in Michigan. In that temporary calling, he was in charge of making sure people knew how to cl...