The power of a seed: Turning our faith crises into sacred experiences. (Update: Sadly, the California wildfires of 2020 have destroyed many parts of Big Basin State Park.) A short time ago, I walked through the majestic redwoods in California's Big Basin State Park located in the Santa Cruz mountains. Just a short drive north from San Jose (or south from San Francisco), I grew up camping and hiking amongst these stately redwoods. Because Big Basin was a short drive from our house, ... VIEW POST
Part 2: Suffering a Crisis of Faith? Grow Your Own “Sacred Grove”
“Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Joyful and Triumphant”
"Come and behold Him!" I must take time from the holiday scurry and scuttle to acknowledge and pay tribute to the Savior and His birth. Each year, the Christmas season brings new meaning and significance for me. And each season increasingly separates me from the festivities of the holidays while pulling me closer to the magnificence of the Savior's birth. Some Western societies/cultures seem to be forgetting and even attempting to erase their roots and traditions in Christianity while ... VIEW POST
Got a Muddy Conscience?
Clear it! A few weeks ago, my husband and I spent a few days at Lake Tahoe to attend our niece's wedding. Every time I visit Tahoe, the lake's deep blue hues and clear water always surprise me. In the summertime, our family has taken our boat out on the water, and there---in the middle of the lake---I have admired the beauty of the changing hues against the green of the surrounding pine trees. In the winter, we sometimes skied the slopes. (Well, I tried---I'm not much of a skier.) We ... VIEW POST
“For Such a Time As This”
Feeling Marginalized? "I was born in the wrong century, I swear I was!" says my politically conservative brother, David. It's quickly becoming his mantra. My siblings and I grew up in San Jose, California. David is the only member of our family who still resides in the San Francisco Bay Area after my husband and I moved to Utah in 2019. My siblings and I remember when San Francisco and Berkeley became lightning rods for the 1960s counterculture movement. We were small children but the ... VIEW POST
Praise to the Man
In tribute to Joseph Smith and his birth 210 years ago. Wandering through the Sacred Grove, my 15-year-old mind tried to absorb the First Vision experienced by a boy who was a year younger than me at the time. Sitting atop the Hill Cumorah (in Palmyra, New York) a few hours later, I marveled how Joseph Smith translated the gold plates into the Book of Mormon and organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints despite horrendous obstacles and persecution. Touring Carthage Jail and ... VIEW POST
Weighting While Waiting
Exercising our physical and spiritual muscles Two years ago, I joined a gym and took up weight lifting. I had made the conscious decision to live a more disciplined temporal law. This also meant changing what I ate. At the time, I was in my 50s and watched with growing consternation, my atrophying muscles, increasing weight gain, and decreasing strength and stamina. And, I still had a gigantic appetite. I had always been thin and could eat with abandon. Aging changed all that. Personal ... VIEW POST
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