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. “...