John 4:40-54

On John 4: 40-54

Thy son liveth

Go home to him

The Messiah told me

Love echoed in empty gut wrenched chambers of my soul

Somehow he knows me

Somehow he fixed this

My joy

My great relief to be with my son

Again

Significance

Significance

It is more than of little significance that the one

Who redeemed us from death and sin

Can become our closest friend

Flight

Flight

But I can fly

My heart screamed to my head

I fly above buildings

People’s petty squabbles

I soar into the great blue

Push away the clouds

My arms, up, out, or down

Doesn’t matter

The currents of air

I create as I move forward

Push my hair

Against my shoulders

Freedom of will

All directions I desire

With no purse to weigh me down

My concerns left on the ground

I can fly

Come Follow Me

The Church of Jesus Christ launched a new curriculum home-based gospel learning. Now we have done family home evening and family scripture study nearly every night for 12 or more years.

Tonight we started that curriculum with a lesson about the sowers of seeds. We also had two teen cousins over for the lesson. Now, I am a little nervous. There is help in the book for working with young children and teens, but they are different sections, so it is completely up to me to figure out how to make these lessons workable for us as a family group ranging in ages from 2-45.

So we read the parable of the sower and worked on discussing how we can make ourselves (and our home), our dirt, more fertile for the gospel seeds to take root.

Did I mention, we also love wordplay, puns, and similes, and metaphors and all sorts of stuff like that?

Now add in teen boys. Pretty soon phrases like "You are dirt." and "animal poo" played heavily into the discussion. I think the take away ended up being something like "You need to take in good food to make good poo/fertilizer to make your soil healthy and strong."

So now I begin to understand that I get to play off those ideas all week during our family scriptures study.

Relief Society

I belong to a group called "Relief Society."
The name alone tells you a lot about the group. A society to provide relief.
Although providing relief is always good, Relief Society is so much more.

It is about strengthening us, as women
Strengthening our homes and family
Strengthening our communities
and in extension, lending a helping hand throughout the world.

My Grandma Died

My Grandma died this week. Last Sunday she and Grandpa flew out to visit her brother in Oregon. On Sunday night at 10:40 I got a call, Mom said "Emergency." Grandma had an aortic aneurysm and wasn't expected to live the night.

So I called her, and said my goodbyes and thank yous. My mom and dad hopped a plane first thing in the morning. Prayers ascended to heaven that she would last until my mom was able to say goodbye.

Then Wednesday they moved her from the ICU to a hospice house. She still had a good day or two, and her other living child was able to come and join them.

Grandma didn't die, she thought she might try to live. They had hopes that Jesus would heal her, even though they knew it was her time. The spirit confirmed to my mom while she was messaging me that Grandma's time had come. But she wasn't ready to accept it and instantly fought that impression. I guess that is grief. So it was a roller coaster ride of ups and downs.

By Saturday they finally accepted it enough to remove her oxygen and let her pass away peacefully. Mom called the funeral home to start understanding the arrangements and such, although she had no idea that it would be that very night that she would pass away.

It is hard to process the grief of losing someone so close to you, even when you know that is only for the short period of our mortality.  I tend to keep myself busy and only processes a bit at a time. If I need to, I find more things to keep myself busy.

Last Thursday or Friday night, while I was helping my Ewan with his homework, I got a call "Come play games with us." But I turned them down. Even though a little voice whispered. "It will be your last time." I pushed that off. Grandma and Grandpa were coming back after their trip for another 2 weeks before heading back to Texas.

Sigh. I learned Grandmas don't keep.

But I see the Lord's tender mercies. In 1 class I am taking my homework is already caught up for the next 3 weeks.

Praise to the Poet

I love the writings of Isiaha, the cadence or rhythm is soothing yet is still like the drumbeat calling us to battle.

The imagery is strong and inspiring. When you catch the imagery and understand the cultural references it reads smoothly, like poetry and draws you into the story.

The story of redemption, of building, of a great time of peace. But first there the dispersal, the destruction, the cleansing. All causing a change of heart.

What beauty! How important the theme and the message and how impressive the wordsmith. I believe both Isiaha and the scribes that translated him had to be inspired to write it.

How beautiful are their words.