greaterthansparrows

Hubby got up, a little after I did, and said, "Good morning--although it's debatable whether it's a good morning."  A line I might have heard before, once or twice. He was dragging from a bad night where he didn't sleep much, and wasn't looking like he would be very lively very soon. I was making my usual morning visit to Planet Kathy yesterday, about making memories--which is an idea we also promote and cherish--and one of the things she talked about was visiting World's Fairs in New York and Vancouver (where we had also been) among others. I was ready to chime in and wanted to be accurate in making a comment, so I asked my  bleary sweetheart if I remembered correctly that his trip to the New York World's Fair was part of his National Boy Scout Jamboree trip.  It was. But he didn't stop there--he proceeded to launch into his whole New york itinerary with his brother, what parts were with their group, which were on their own with their leaders...

A sister in Relief Society said that she had a moment, lining out her Seminary materials last week, where she just suddenly felt like she missed her Heavenly Father so much.  We used to be with him, we are taught; but for this moment her heart was open and longing for that nearness, that presence, that she used to know.  She really knew, not as a precept, but as truth. We lived in a perfect place with such complete love and light, that we can scarce imagine it now.  Our spirit selves remember, and every so often, that feeling wells up inside us that we can't put words to.  Paul speaks of "groanings that cannot be uttered" and the footnote says the Greek is "sighings." (Romans 8:26) He is describing those moments when the Spirit draws our hearts upward to God in a state where there are no words.  Language sometimes just isn't adequate. That yearning to be with our Father again, though it may reach toward the eventual day of our return, also pulls us to b...

(Not a perfect clarity, but the best I can figure out on my lonesome with the scanner.)   I was just tired enough with the time shift to go to bed last night, rest but not fall asleep, get up for an hour, and now feel crummy this morning. I got up and wrote because I couldn't sleep for the story, so might as well get it down.  (My body says stick to reading next time.) This is not that story, because that is for something else, but this is another part of it. This is Barbara.  And me. 1994, the only time we went to the mall together, and we weren't shopping, we were having a picture for memory before time was gone. I realize that this is about the point in that year when cancer went from a battle to be won to the means for calling her home.  It's funny how anniversary points can come and go and not be noticed most years, but clobber you on others. The dress in this picture I had made for her birthday, because she didn't have anything comfortable to wear after h...

We in the Church have a unique understanding of the meaning of the Fall of Adam. 2 Nephi chapter 2 is on the reading list for those preparing to go to the temple for the first time.  Verse 25 famously says that " Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy."  We tend to stop there, but the next line is just as crucial:  "And the Messiah cometh in the fullness of time that he might redeem the children of men from the fall." Lehi explains to his son that the earth would have been created for nothing without the Fall.  Eden was not a place where anything could change.  There would have been no sin, no misery, no joy, no righteousness. No children, so no human family. "Opposition in all things" may make us gnash our teeth, wishing we could just make everything all perfect--make it go away!-- but it is a crucial principle of truth.  The purpose is choice.  Paul said , "For since by man came death , by man came also the r...

When the angel announces to the shepherds that a Savior is born in Bethlehem, Luke records that,"suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will to men.' " (Luke 2:13-14)  Those two verses have been set to music so many times, it is impossible to think of them any other way, despite the lack  of the verb 'singing' in the text. I wonder sometimes how that manifestation appeared to the shepherds, who were invited to be the first witnesses of the birth of the promised Messiah.  Was there a definitive number, huge, but distinct?  Was there a host so large that the limits could not be seen as they stretched out into a mistiness beyond vision (I know, Hollywood) but powerfully real to spirit even beyond eyes?  Who got to be there, and how were they chosen?  What must that have been like to see and experience, from both the fields and the heavens? Did I ...