“Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.” A woman from Samaria came to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink. In the exchange that followed, Christ taught her: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:6-10) I am fascinated with water. Maybe

Several months ago, I was in New York City and visited the Eldridge Street Synagogue on the Lower East Side. It was the first building built to be a synagogue in the United States. Trying to fit in as much as possible, it was a quick stop before our scheduled tickets at another museum. A local Jewish tour guide guided us through the museum on the lower level where we learned about Jews coming over from Eastern Europe after facing persecution. With musicals ever present in my

It's fall again, which means, among other things, I'm planning costumes. Costco is the unfortunate mixture of Christmas lights and oversized skeletons. And we have thrifted a pumpkin carving kit to use tomorrow. Halloween is a very strange holiday, useful primarily for keeping kids up too late, stuffing them too full of sweets, and packaging them in polyester costumes (usually a little too large in the sleeves). Shortly before my first child was born, my husband and I visited

This year my family has had the unique opportunity to ponder what it means to be healed. Our 20-year-old son, Mattie, has profound disabilities that require full care, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and blindness. In 2024 he became very violent towards himself and my husband and me. For two years, it was a daily struggle to bathe him, dress him, feed him — and keep him and us safe. Many times, we were unsuccessful in that effort, and the physical scars borne by all three

"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" (Alma 5:14) I love talking about hearts! The scriptures are FULL of heart references: a willing heart, a broken heart, a pure heart, a childlike heart, a proud heart. My dad taught Seminary and Institute for over 30 years and if you had had him, you would’ve heard him talk abo

I recently reread a General Conference address by Elder Brik V. Eyre and was struck by this statement: “While our Heavenly Father consistently and lovingly reminds us that we are His children, the adversary will always try to label us by our weaknesses.” It reminded me of my own college commencement experience. I graduated from BYU in the late 1990s and the commencement speaker was a distinguished and accomplished journalist and author. According to my memory, his address was

Recently, due to a medical issue, I spent over a week unable to see. Suddenly, and without warning, I lost a lot of vision in my right eye, and there was the potential that some — or all — of the loss might be permanent. As I worked with medical professionals to find a path forward, I left every visit reeling with the possible loss of activities and opportunities that only a few days before were part of my daily existence. But then things got worse! On the post-surgery path

Last Sunday, I was teaching Relief Society when we read Helaman 5:12. I asked if anyone had an example of what it looked like to have such a strong foundation in Christ that the hail and mighty winds–shafts in the whirlwind even! — were powerless to drag them down. I wasn’t prepared for the story that followed. A sister in her 70s raised her hand and shared that she bought a DNA kit last year to learn more about her ancestry. (You might guess where this is going.) She learned

I took my senior capstone course with Kim Johnson on the devotional lyric, and one of our earliest units was reading through all 150 Psalms in less than a week. It was mind-boggling for me. I had read pieces of Psalms, but never the whole set all at once. What struck me most was how contradictory they felt. How wide and various the range of emotions I found in them. And, in fact, the largest hunk (apparently scholars estimate almost one in three) were lament psalms, prayer po

Ten years ago, my husband had a dream of taking our family of eight on a backpacking trip to Havasupai in the Grand Canyon. This was no small feat! We spent weeks preparing, gathering, and buying all the things we needed to make this trip happen. The week before our Havasupai trip was scheduled, we decided to go on a “trial run” to try out all our gear. Since it was summer in Phoenix, we loaded up the car and drove almost two hours north to cooler weather. In unexpected fashi

In just a few days, my bouncy, blond 5-year-old daughter will walk to the bus stop in her shimmery unicorn backpack and head off to kindergarten. She is my youngest, and I know she’s more than ready for a new school and new friendships, but I feel a tug in my throat and a weight in my chest when I think about closing a chapter of motherhood — the baby/toddler/preschooler chapter I have been immersed in for 18 years — and moving forward into a new, unknown one. Just a few mont

I know I’m not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes I judge a book by its title. That was why I picked up a book called “The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath” by Joseph Lieberman. It was a wonderful book describing the way Senator Lieberman, who was Jewish, observed the Sabbath. I’m still particularly drawn to the title: The Gift of Rest. Rest is a gift. It’s a gift to body, mind, and heart. Our Heavenly Parents knew this was a gift that w

In this hottest of summers I invite you to cool In the Jungle of Nool, on the banks of a pool. Where Horton the Elephant jumps off the page And comes truly alive as he takes to the stage. In the last decade, my son has appeared in three productions of Seussical the Musical. I grew up on Theodor Geisel's Dr. Seuss books, but my exposure to the musical was late in coming. I was leery at first, having been disappointed by other adaptations of beloved characters. But after seeing

Scripture is inexhaustibly full of possibility. It's less like a cryptic code to be cracked and more like a story. And the best stories stay with us precisely because they resist single interpretations. So, I want to be very clear that I do not mean to suggest that what I offer below is a Correct or Definitive or Perfected reading of Revelations. What I do mean to suggest is a possibility. And the possibility is this: I think there's a way to read the book that isn't a story

The story of Ruth and Naomi is especially moving to me. After Naomi’s husband and two sons had died, she pleaded with her Moabite daughters-in-law to return to their own nation and families of origin to be taken care of. Orpah left, but Ruth, determined to remain by Naomi’s side, lovingly replied, “Whither thou goest, I will go and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (Ruth 1:16). They left Moab and returned to Bethlehem where,