Real Life in Jesus Christ's Church

While I was typing the Pearl of Great Price, looking for how many unique vocabularies I would find, I discovered the seven major dispensations represented. I realized the restoration lead by the Prophet Joseph Smith was not the first restoration. I wondered why I had not understood that, of course, periodic restorations were necessary. Throughout the history of the world, when sin, evil, and decadence became the norm, when the world was ripe in iniquity, God called a prophet to restore the gospel to that generation. Like the heads of the dispensations before him, Joseph Smith as the final restorer did a reset on truth, restoring pure doctrine, priesthood, covenants, ordinances, and Church organization.            I made a list of questions for which I hoped to find answers: What constitutes a restoration? What is a dispensation?  Who are the heads of the major dispensations?  Why is our dispensation called “The Dispensation of the Fullness of Times”? What has God held in

A nice way to end a Christmas family home evening is with this choral reading that juxtaposes scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon. Each family member who is old enough to read is given a copy and the group is divided in half. One group reads the Bible scriptures and other reads the Book of Mormon scriptures. A narrator reads the bold, italicized headings. (Citations are not read.) The Christmas Story on Two Nations A Star From the Book of Mormon:  There shall a new star arise such an one as ye never have beheld (Hel. 14:5). From the Bible:  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy (Matthew 2:9-10). Mary From the Book of Mormon:  The Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. And behold, he shall be born of Mary (Alma 7:9-10). From the Bible:  The angel Gabriel was sent from God … to a virgin… whose… name was Mary (Luke 1:26-27). His Name From the Bible:  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS (Matthew 1:21). Fro

The scriptures give many examples of eating, and with the holidays coming, I have been thinking about eating—who to invite and what to serve. The main purpose of eating, of course, is to sustain life, but if a social and/or spiritual aspect is added,  eating  can become  dining.  For example, Jesus extends a weekly invitation to dine at His table. The bread and water served at the sacrament table is not enough food to fill an empty stomach but more than enough to satisfy spiritual hunger. “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28). About five years ago in our ward we had a departing missionary and a returning missionary speak in the same sacrament meeting. The congregation seemed quadrup

  When our children were young, it was relatively easy to choose gifts for them. Christmas morning brought them delights and surprises. As these easy-to-buy-for children grew into teenagers, it became challenging to surprise or delight them. At some point, Richard and I decided it was better to please them than attempt to surprise them, and why not spend the money on things they needed, wanted, and would use. We began taking each teen shopping (negotiating where necessary), purchasing what he or she wanted (within the budget), wrapping the gifts, and placing them under the tree. I heard more than one teen say to a sibling, “I can’t wait for you to see what I am getting for Christmas.” As the gifts were opened Christmas morning, the element of surprise was to the rest of the family and the delight was to teens that got what they wanted Several of our now adult children have made an art of thoughtful, timely giving. They have refined this gift by being observant, listening for