Write at the Heart

Years ago my son flushed some toys down the toilet. We called the best repairman we knew! My dad. He snaked it, plunged it, put it in the tub to flush water through it, and a ball came out! He reinstalled the toilet. But to our chagrin, it STILL wouldn’t flush! What. He removed the toilet AGAIN, repeated everything he’d just done, and even stuck a wire hanger all the way through it! Nothin’! Well, we got a new toilet. 🤷‍♀️ THEN we brought the old toilet outside and with GREAT anticipation smashed it with a hammer! And wouldn’t you know, in the S-curve was a small, seemingly insignificant plastic orange! That little clogged orange had completely destroyed the functionality of the toilet! I realize comparing the flow of a toilet to the spirit in our lives is a little weird, but they’re both pretty important, and yes, I’m going there! In Mormon 1 we read about such evil and blasphemy that the disciples were taken away, miracles and healing ceased, all spiritual gifts were gone, and “the ...

Why a 10-year-old? Ammaron tells 10-year-old Mormon, the same age as my 5th grader, to prepare to be a keeper of the plates! He tells him when and where to get them, to watch the people over the next few years, and to write down his observations.  What great faith to have in a child! But Ammaron knew exactly what he was doing! He knew Mormon was a good kid, a “sober” kid (or as the footnote suggests, “trustworthy”) and “quick to observe,” (or as Elder Bednar said, “prompt to watch and to obey”). And Mormon “remembered the things which Ammaron commanded [him]” (Mormon 1:5) and followed through with everything asked of him, despite horrible circumstances. He “tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus,” (Mormon 1:15) and continued faithful for years while his people self-destructed all around him! We have the Book of Mormon because of many, but Mormon’s part was VITAL. And it all started as a child. It’s hard to wrap my head around until I start thinking of my own children. They’re not...

There are certain expectations I have from my dishwasher. I put dishes in, push Start, hear humming, swishing, sloshing, draining, and when I open it up again, voila! Clean dishes! Except lately they are NOT coming out clean! Come on, it has ONE JOB! (First world problems.) But seriously, if it’s NOT cleaning, WHAT is all the noise? What is going on in there? It ACTS like it’s cleaning! It SOUNDS like it’s cleaning! But apparently it’s all for show. Those dishes don’t lie. After a period of AMAZING love, unity, & happiness comes the second half of 4th Nephi, and it’s really a downer. How does it start? Division and pride. People forgot Christ. “There were many churches which professed to know the Christ, and yet they did deny the more parts of his gospel, insomuch that they did receive all manner of wickedness...” (27) Key word PROFESSED. They CLAIMED to know Him. It sounded good on the outside, but the inside proved otherwise. “People draw near me with their mouth, and with their ...

In the midst of a years-long personal trial as a teenager, I wrote in my journal that it felt like I was in a pit, and try as I might, I could never quite reach the top. I was trapped. So reading about the “Three Nephites” being cast into prison, into furnaces, into dens of wild beasts,  and cast down into the earth... I felt it a bit. But- the prisons could not hold them.  The furnaces & wild beasts could not harm them.  And, “by [God’s] power they were delivered out of the depths of the earth; and therefore they could not dig pits sufficient to hold them.” (28:20) The “Three Nephites” greatest desire was to “bring the souls of men unto [Christ], while the world shall stand.” (3 Ne. 28:9)  Who are they? Where are they?  What’s it like to “behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men”? (7)  What’s it like feeling no pain or sorrow, save for the sins of the world (which sounds like a lot of sorrow to me)? (9) What’s it like to minister on...

One time after a pretty rough day with the kids, I told my husband that my then 3-year-old had been acting like a CRAZY person! A little while later that 3-year-old came up to me and in her sweet voice said, "Mom, I not a crazy person." Ahh! I had no idea she’d heard me call her that! I felt so bad. I vowed to be more careful how I talked about my kids to others (even if she WAS being crazy-- I could have said “spirited,” maybe “extremely passionate,” ha!)  There's power in LABELS. There's connotation in NAMES. Two years ago, President Nelson gave the talk "The Correct Name of the Church” & I remember thinking MIC DROP! at the end. I loved being Mormon! I loved being LDS! But I LOVE being a member of The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints even more. He said "Responses to this statement... have been mixed. Many members immediately corrected the name of the Church on their blogs and social media pages. Others wondered why, with all that's goin...

The Princess Bride movie is one of my favorites to quote! Near the climax when Westley wakes up from being “mostly dead,” he asks, “Who are you? Are we enemies? Why am I on this wall? Where is Buttercup?” Inigo says, “Let me explain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up. Buttercup is marrying Humperdink in a little less than half an hour. So all we have to do is get in, break up the wedding, steal the princess, make our escape, after I kill Count Rugen.” Westley responds, “That doesn’t leave much time for dilly-dallying.” 😆 Can you imagine the task Mormon had with multiple records of two great civilizations laid out before him? How could he possibly decide which parts to include and which parts to leave out? His abridgment would be for US, the last days, the climax! There was too much to explain! He had to sum up. “And now there cannot be written in this book even a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach the people.” (3 Ne. 26:6) Luckily he had God to tell him what t...

Years ago when my daughter was just learning soccer, we’d shout from the sidelines, “Get the ball! Take the ball! Kick the ball!” and it just wasn’t clicking. Then, after a couple games, she scored her first goal! She ran up to me and said with enlightenment, “Mom. Soccer games are NOT about being nice!” 😂 I get what she meant, but that’s not quite the lesson we wanted to teach! There’s always room for being nice. I’ve seen both good & bad sportsmanship watching kid sports! But it never fails- when a player gets injured on the field, ALL the other players from both teams “take a knee.” And when the fallen player gets back up, either to continue the game or sit on the sidelines, everyone applauds! We all get knocked down. We get bumped & bruised. We have mistakes & failures. Don’t we all deserve concern & respect in vulnerable times? Don’t we all deserve support & encouragement when we get back up? The words of Isaiah in 3 Ne. 22 are some of my absolute favorites. “...

“There’s a call that comes to you and me...” The old seminary song “The Olive Tree” came to my head last night. And as I reviewed the words of the song I played again and again as a teenager in seminary not cause I understood it necessarily but because it “sounded pretty,” it hit me like a ton of bricks! THIS is NOW. The allegory of the olive tree finale is NOW! “Thou art called to prune my vineyard with a mighty pruning, yea, even for the last time.” D&C 24:19 This is what President Nelson has been trying to tell us!  This is not just about missionaries with name tags, or spending hours in the family history center, or attending the temple. I love how Pres. Nelson clarified in simple terms that gathering Israel is building faith! It’s helping others make and keep their covenants! It’s being willing to speak the name of Christ! It’s seeing everyone as a child of God & loving them as such! Yes, that’s a lot of exclamation points, but as I read a bunch of scriptures on gather...

I’m really trying to “redouble” my efforts in prayer, as Elder Ballard counseled, and while I’m probably closer to “re-quartering” my efforts, at least I’m trying. This morning while on my way to meet a friend, I offered up a prayer out loud. Anyone else pray aloud while driving? This friend has some very difficult trials, and I’m trying to be more thoughtful and specific in my prayers, so I prayed that I’d know what to say to help and encourage her. I prayed to be an instrument in His hands. As she told me of her struggles, I tried to be helpful. During our conversation, at one point she looked at me and said, “You are just nailing it in your words today!” I immediately felt God in that moment! Later, after making another comment to her, she told me with emotion that it was an answer to her prayer. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, how simple my car-prayer was, but how sweet that I received a tender manifestation that it was answered!  You see, I KNOW how I hear Him! I LOVE seeki...

There was no bread. The first time Christ administered the sacrament to the Nephites, He commanded his disciples to go and get some bread and wine. (3 Ne. 18:1) So they did. I imagine they went quickly and grabbed the best bread they had! But the second time, no one brought any!  “Now, there had been no bread, neither wine, brought by the disciples, neither by the multitude” (20:6) Did the disciples look at each other and say, “Oh no! Why didn’t we think to bring bread?!” No matter the reason, there was a lack. And somehow, someway, Jesus produced bread.  “But he truly gave unto them bread to eat, and also wine to drink.” (7) Christ KNOWS how to get bread- He fed 5000 people with only 5 loaves and 2 fishes & had 12 baskets left over! The Lord also said to Moses, “I will rain bread from heaven for you” (Ex. 16:4) and the people ate manna for days! So if Jesus could make miracle bread, why did He make the disciples go and get some that first time?  Good question! I’ve t...

We were SO excited to take our kids to Disneyland. I read article after article on preparing for that day. I packed the bag with ALL the essentials. We got up early, ensured the kids looked cute for the billions of pictures to be taken, loaded everyone up, and drove the 20 minutes from our hotel. We parked, got the stroller loaded, down the elevator, and out to the shuttles. We were so close! We’d done so well! And then I noticed one of my sons wasn’t wearing shoes. How did I miss that! I asked WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES?? He looked down, surprised, and said sheepishly, Oh, I just forgot. Yep. Forgot to put on shoes. To go to DISNEYLAND. Where shoes are KINDA important. We ended up buying him $40 Mickey Mouse Crocs at Downtown Disney, the CHEAPEST shoes we could find. 😂 In the hustle and bustle of life, I take care of a lot of things. But I’m guilty of something way too often... forgetting to pray. THERE. I SAID IT. Way too often I sheepishly look down and say, oh yeah, I forgot. Now before...

In college I was set up on a date. As he opened the door of his truck for me, I thought, points for being a gentleman! I slid into my seat and immediately noticed I was sitting on something. And what do I pull out from under me? A GIGANTIC KNIFE. No sheath, just PURE BLADE! My date gets in the driver seat, and I’m not quite sure how to ask him if he’s TRYING TO KILL ME. I held up the jagged edges of steel glistening in the moonlight and said, uhhh, found this! He casually drawls, “Oh yeah, I just got done skinning the raccoon that’s in the back of my truck.” YEP. He then showed it to me!😂 Apart from not seeming alarmed AT ALL for leaving an open blade on his passenger seat as he went to pick up a PASSENGER, the date did not go well. Have you ever had someone open the door to a pickup truck of friendship only to be stabbed in the back (or, ya know, bottom😆) with gossip & judgment? Nobody needs fake kindness to your face, then talking behind your back. Nobody needs pretend friends....

At soccer, my son was THRILLED to see a couple kids from his 1st grade class on the opposing team. They smiled & waved before & after the game.  They weren’t wearing the same color. They weren’t rooting for the same outcome. They weren’t running in the same direction! But they were in the same class at school! And to these cute little kids, THAT, above all, is what mattered. I loved the messages of unity throughout conference! I feel to the core THIS is what God wants us to know. We are ALL His children. Yes, the complexities we face are more than a soccer game. But ultimately we are in the same class with the same teacher. I wish there was more smiling & waving, humanity & friendship while playing the game of life.  William K. Jackson talked of the culture of Christ: “This culture is grounded in the testimony that our Heavenly Father exists, that He is real and loves each one of us... This culture espouses the concept of equal worth. There is no recognition of...

After Christ’s visit to the Nephites, word spread fast! “And it was noised abroad among the people immediately, before it was yet dark, that the multitude had seen Jesus, and that he had ministered unto them, and that he would also show himself on the morrow unto the multitude.” (3 Ne. 19:2) Yep, people were talkin’! And they didn’t just sit there; they acted! “Yea, an exceedingly great number, did labor exceedingly all that night, that they might be on the morrow in the place where Jesus should show himself unto the multitude.” (19:3) They knew when and where He would be. So they did everything they could to be there! There was no time to waste.  Guess what? We know when and where His prophet will be this weekend. Do we “labor exceedingly” to be there? When people gathered to see Jesus again, there were SO many that they divided up into 12 bodies, and the 12 apostles divided up, each teaching a section, each “minister[ing] those same words which Jesus had spoken—nothing varying fr...

These chapters in 3rd Nephi are some of THE most beautiful! THIS is Jesus Christ! His compassion, His teachings, his personal ministering to the One, & His prayers to the Father! Yes, the scriptures give us snapshots of utter evil and darkness- and it’s recorded for a reason. These are the last days. We can relate, learn, & prepare. But the scriptures also give us glimpses into the extraordinary light and goodness of the gospel, & what it will be like when Christ comes again. Christ IS coming again! We HAVE this account of Christ’s visit to the Americas because “the multitude did see and hear and bear record” 3 Ne. 17:25 That phrase, “they did bear record,” is in these chapters AGAIN and AGAIN in one form or another! -They did bear record when Christ prayed to the Father for them They did bear record when Jesus wept They did bear record when angels encircled them They did bear record when Christ ascended into heaven They did bear record when the disciples received the Holy ...

One time during the sacrament my son accidentally grabbed two pieces of bread and one of the pieces fell on the floor. Before I could stop him, he snatched up the one on the ground and ate both pieces, then whispered to me, “Now I will remember Jesus’s body EVEN MORE.” 😂 And quite possibly get a disease... I love that Christ institutes the sacrament with the Nephites! I love what he teaches about it! I love the symbolism! Like baptism, it’s one of those things you could argue- well, why do I have to do it to show I follow Him? Like, He knows my heart, so is eating a piece of bread really necessary? I have a beautiful little book called “Covenant Keepers” by Wendy Watson Nelson, the wife of our dear prophet, and it gave me SO much understanding of covenants and ordinances & why we do these things! About the sacrament, she says,  “How would our experience with the sacrament change if we imagined the Savior to be the one blessing the bread and water— just as He did for His Twelve...