This photo doesn’t represent how they were really sitting before the camera entered the room. It is more like a study in awkwardness. 😂
Mark’s summer schedule is pretty clear this month, then ramps up in July and August. We have seen a lot of his friends in June, and despite all the time together, we haven’t thought to capture a picture of these kids in their habitat in our basement. Of course, when we thought to take the photo, the pose wasn’t ideal, but all well. In two blinks one of these friends will be away at college. In a few more blinks, they will be serving missions.
Fitting everything into 400 cubic feet of space for shipping. ✔️
A good friend is moving to Brazil, and a few of us gathered to help. I have spent so much time with this friend over the years, and I have maybe three photos to show for it. I wish I had taken pictures of the fun things we did together.
In my Father’s house are many mansions:…I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:2
Recently, I learned the original Greek word, monai, which became a Latinized version of mansions in this passage, actually means stopping places or resting stations. So, the original passage would be something like, In my Father’s house are many stopping places or resting stations, “thus giving the impression of a long journey rather than a large estate.”*
This makes me think of the mission of Jesus Christ in a new way. He prepares places to rest, not just at the end of our journey, but every day. These resting stations allow us to continue on the journey after a brief pause to be strengthened or encouraged, forgiven, and healed.
We need stopping places where we can have our injuries dressed and find the comfort of a Healer.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30
Every day, we need a stopping place to repent, and an ideal to follow.
Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—
Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;
Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.
Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5
Every day, we need a resting station to receive encouragement.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33
Where, then, are these resting stations in our lives? Perhaps some physical places come to mind, and maybe some less tangible things, such as behaviors or blessings can be “places” of rest. Whatever the image of rest, I know that the Savior’s understanding, power, and presence are involved.
*Concepts and quote about the Greek translation are from C. Wilfred Griggs, “The Last Supper According to John,” From the Last Supper through the Resurrection: The Savior’s Final Hours, ed. Richard Nietzel Holzapfel and Thomas Wayment, p. 116.
Even though our numbers at family dinners are small, I still set a special table on Sundays. The rest of the week, we sit on bar stools around the kitchen island and eat from basic plates and drink from plastic cups. Whatever the setting, dinnertime is a sacred family rhythm. Amen.
These seasonal displays are a lot of work, so I chronicle them. Everything is old in this array except a few of the books…there are always new books. Do you see that poinsettia being amazing in June? Weird.
Today I played violin at my friend Helen’s graveside service in the rain, then we said goodbye to Paige and Michael at the airport. So, tonight I just want to revisit memories full of smiling faces.
Double Arch
Dead Horse PointDead Horse PointNeedles OverlookNewspaper RockLunch by Newspaper Rock
The Ross family tour bus departed on Memorial Day, just as most people packed up their RV’s to come home. We passed masses of traffic traveling home in the other direction, and discovered that the places we visited near Moab were not crowded. Richard made excellent plans and accommodations for us. He is so good at this.
After such a wet winter, the landscape was more green than we can remember. There were so many wildflowers, that whole fields were dusted in color, mostly orange, but many other colors, too.
Do you spy Paige and Michael, and Daniel and McKenna traveling with us? Lucky us! My brother Joe shared his van with us so we could all ride together.
This is volume 2. I am working on volume 3, and have loved each one.
My books from this New Testament series are so full of personal marginalia that they are probably ruined for anyone else’s use.
I like to leave helpful notes to my future self in the Table of Contents and throughout the book.
I like having different kinds of books in different places in the house, and save lighter reading for the bedside table. Light fiction at bedtime is a wonderful idea.
My current light reading? 😂
I had forgotten how funny this book is. I laugh every day.
My friend Janine took me to the roof of the Conference Center so we could get a view of the construction surrounding the Salt Lake Temple. Each crane was in use, cement was being poured, and there were workers everywhere. There was a lot going on.There are many beautiful pieces of art on display at the Conference Center. This is an enormous mural of the Savior greeting people of all nations. If you look carefully at the clouds, you will see that they are angels. 🤍
Reading this book was like revisiting my old life as a college student, doing field work, collecting insects, identifying trees, and watching for wildlife. My interests in the Bible, theology, zoology, botany, and writing held a party in my mind as I read Annie Dillard’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel. I loved this book.
A few quotes:
I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.
I cannot cause the light; the most I can do is try to put myself in the path of its beam.
Fish gotta swim, and bird gotta fly; insects, it seems, gotta do one horrible thing after another.
The creation is not a study, a roughed-in sketch; it is supremely, meticulously created, created abundantly, extravagantly, and in fine.
I have often noticed that even a few minutes of this self-forgetfulness is tremendously invigorating. I wonder if we do not waste most of our energy by spending every waking minute saying hello to ourselves.
I am buoyed by a calm and effortless longing, an angled pitch of the will, like the set of the wings of the monarch which climbed the hill by falling still.
Lately, I have experienced really low motivation to achieve, work, go out, and improve. I have needed to ignore how I feel, and like a robot, I continue to work each day.
I find satisfaction in accomplishing things I don’t feel like doing, and I’ll keep working until my motivation sneaks back in, well past curfew.
“Where have you been?” I will ask. But the answer won’t matter because I have continued to grow, regardless.
