I have heard that statement, “Coming to oneself,” several times in the last few months, and prior to that, I seldom remember hearing it. Yet, the other day, someone quoted from the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:17): “And when he came to himself…” When I heard that quote, then I remembered the parable,…
On A Yes Face
We all have a face, a unique face, “like” as well as “unlike” everybody else’s face. That may sound a great deal like double talk. But it’s true. Our face is unique and different from all other faces. That is a scientific fact. Every face has pretty much the same general features: eyes, nose, mouth,…
On Gender Differences
I remember as a youth, during harvest time, there were many country (farm) women working hard in the fields beside the men. For most of them, when the sun went down and they returned home from the field, their day’s work had just begun. They had to continue their day with their wifely duties, getting…
On The Thorns of Life
I remember as a youth in Minnesota running through what we called “the woods,” a rather dense stand of trees behind our house and catching my arm on a thorny vine from a blackberry patch. Not only did it wound me, but a big hooked thorn was still in my arm. I remember how it…
On Fathers Are Important Too
As Father’s Day approaches, may we take the time to actually contemplate our fathers, their lives and the contribution they made to our lives and the lives of our children. I have often wished that my father would have written his history, and since he did not, I attempted to do it for him. In…
On His Fruits
I grew up in a north central region of this country where we enjoyed the four seasons of the year. It was a long time ago, before fresh produce was shipped all over the country. Fresh fruit in our town was only available during the harvest time. After our fall fruit harvest was over, the…
On Personal Prayer
Prayer is a very personal and individual exercise of one’s faith. When I see people pray in a restaurant, for example, I sometimes think, why am I not doing that? Or I listen to someone in church pray with such sincerity and obvious love for the Father that I think, why don’t I pray like…
On Hard Things
When Adam and Eve transgressed and were asked to leave the Garden of Eden, I wonder if either of them had any idea what the Father was saying to them. “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall…
On Charity II
In our materialist society, it is a tremendous challenge for many people to become charitable, and yet Paul, a disciple of Christ, tells us that unless we are, we are no more than “sounding brass and tinkling cymbals,” or, in other words nothing. Moroni described charity as follows: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and…
On The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
“Where we came from, if one did not want to die of poverty, one became a priest or a bandit!” That quote came from the spaghetti western, The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Thank goodness that isn’t where most of us came from today. However, with H.D. (High Definition) technology, we can all be fully exposed…