Jet Mariano

Category: Sacred Reflections

A season of quiet course-correction. I used to run ahead—saying yes to every favor and confusing hurry with help. These reflections pick up where Only Whisper begins: walking at the Lord’s pace, using “miracles of knowledge” to bless, and remembering why I’m here.

  • Marked in Time — Sep 11, 2025 — “For Times of Trouble” (Jeffrey R. Holland, 1980)

    The flight was rough, the miles were many, but the morning at the temple was calm and sure.

    Excerpt
    Discouragement isn’t in the trouble; it’s the adversary’s germ. The cure: prepare, work early, repent quickly, and remember angels round about us.

    Intro
    Today I revisited Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s 1980 devotional, “For Times of Trouble.” Trouble is universal; discouragement is a germ the adversary wants inside us. The scriptures teach that “preparation—prevention if you will—is perhaps the major weapon in your arsenal against discouragement and self-defeat.” I’m choosing preparation and steady work over panic and self-doubt.

    Straight line

    • Prepare early. “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining… If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”
    • Live simply and gratefully. “Love your life, poor as it is. …The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man’s abode.” (Thoreau, Walden)
    • Do the work. “Prepare. Plan. Work. Sacrifice. Rework. Spend cheerfully on matters of worth.” Start early; finish calmly.
    • Learn from setbacks. “Love your life, poor as it is. Drive even these experiences into the corner… and learn from them.” Trials can forge timeless bonds with saints who walked the same road.
    • Repent quickly. Change now and prove it daily. “You can change anything you want to change, and you can do it very fast.”
    • Remember help from both sides of the veil. “They that be with us are more than they that be with them.” Angels stand round about us.

    Final reflection
    My part is preparation, planning, and cheerful sacrifice. God’s part is grace, change, and ministering angels. I will work early, repent quickly, and let heaven handle what I cannot.

    Pocket I’m keeping

    • Prepare early; prevent discouragement
    • Love my life—simple, grateful, steady
    • Work → rework → finish calmly
    • Learn from pain; keep bonds with the faithful
    • Change fast, then prove it
    • Angels round about

    What I hear now
    “Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” (Joshua 3:5)

    Link to the talk
    BYU Devotional, March 18, 1980 — “For Times of Trouble” by Jeffrey R. Holland

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  • Marked in Time Sep 10, 2025 — Finding Joy in the Journey

    San Diego California Temple — made on an early iPhone. Daylight reminds me it’s less about the lens and more about the eye and the feeling. This house is family to me—my firstborn was sealed here on 12/12/12 at 12:00 PM.

    Excerpt
    President Thomas S. Monson teaches that joy is not in the distant future but in the daily moments we cherish with gratitude and love.

    Intro
    Life changes—sometimes suddenly, often gradually. President Thomas S. Monson reminds us that we cannot pile up tomorrows and expect joy to wait. Joy is in the journey now—in gratitude, in kindness, in cherishing those around us before it is too late.

    Straight line (what he’s saying)
    • Change is constant; the key is learning what matters most.
    • Childhood, family time, and simple daily joys vanish if we postpone them.
    • Don’t wait for tomorrows that never come; love must be shown today.
    • Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.
    • Gratitude transforms lack into abundance; ingratitude blinds us to God’s gifts.
    • Challenges will come, but we choose whether to cherish or neglect the people we love.
    • Christ’s example—serving, forgiving, and loving to the end—shows us how to live joyfully.

    Final reflection
    Time never stands still. My regrets are not about things I did, but things I left undone—words unsaid, kindness unshown. President Monson’s reminder echoes: joy is not about someday; it is about today.

    Pocket I’m keeping
    • Hug my family more, speak my love more.
    • Write the note, send the message, make the call—today.
    • Guard against letting stress eclipse people.
    • Give thanks deliberately, even for the small, ordinary blessings.
    • Joy = gratitude in motion.

    What I hear now
    Joy is a daily decision, not a future destination. If I train my heart to see God’s gifts in every moment, life itself becomes the journey worth rejoicing in.

    Link to the talk
    “Finding Joy in the Journey – President Thomas S. Monson

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  • Marked in Time Sep 9, 2025 – Repent of Our Selfishness

    Waning gibbous, waiting: I timed the moon to rest behind the Angel Moroni atop the Oquirrh Mountain Temple—quiet light on a higher call.

    Excerpt
    Selfishness is not just a flaw—it’s self-destruction in slow motion. Elder Neal A. Maxwell teaches that meekness is the real cure, for it doesn’t just mask selfishness but dissolves it.

    Intro
    Joseph Smith urged that selfishness be “not only buried, but annihilated.” Elder Maxwell builds on that: selfishness shrinks the soul, corrodes society, and detonates commandments. Like Copernicus reminding the world it wasn’t the center of the universe, we too must learn—we are not the center. Meekness and unselfish discipleship are the only antidotes.

    Straight line (what he’s saying)
    • Selfishness = self-destruction in slow motion. It narrows life until others no longer matter.
    • Appetite and ego can never fill emptiness; zero multiplied by anything is still zero.
    • Selfishness masks itself as swagger but is as provincial as goldfish in a bowl.
    • Joseph Smith: selfish feelings must be annihilated, not moderated.
    • Common forms: puffing credit, resenting others’ success, withholding kindness, rudeness, and abuse.
    • Cultural consequence: when selfishness spreads, societies decline—without mercy, without love, past feeling.
    • Selfishness detonates the Ten Commandments: it fuels envy, adultery, dishonesty, even murder.
    • Cain’s “I am free” after slaying Abel = ultimate selfish blindness.
    • Today: people strain at gnats (small issues) while swallowing camels (grave sins like abortion).
    • Followers share accountability with leaders in cultural decline; excuses won’t save.
    • True freedom comes from unselfishness—serving, forgiving, and lifting others.
    • Christ Himself is the supreme contrast: He did not look out for “number one.”

    Final reflection
    Selfishness corrodes both heart and culture. The cure is meekness—choosing to notice, to yield, to bless. When I dissolve selfish wants, space opens for Christlike love. The world says “look out for number one”; Jesus says, “lose yourself and you’ll find life.”

    Pocket I’m keeping
    • Before big actions: quietly ask, “Whose needs am I meeting?”
    • Practice daily meekness: count to 10 before speaking, let the Spirit filter words.
    • Replace envy with gratitude; bless the success of others.
    • Sow unselfishness in family life—ordinary duties cultivate extraordinary love.
    • Remember: selfishness shrinks, meekness expands.

    What I hear now
    Unselfishness frees me under a “freer sky,” as Chesterton said. Meekness is not weakness—it’s strength without selfishness. When I choose it, selfishness dissolves and discipleship deepens.

    Link to the talk
    “Repent of [Our] Selfishness” — Elder Neal A. Maxwell

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  • Marked in Time — “Think Celestial!” (President Russell M. Nelson)

    Super Blood Moon over the Los Angeles California Temple — not visible in America last night, so I pulled this in-camera Nikon double exposure from my archives (Oct 2014). Thinking celestial means taking the long view: steps, stars, and a witness in the heavens.

    Excerpt
    President Nelson invites us to “think celestial”—to take the long, eternal view where today’s choices shape forever.

    Intro
    President Russell M. Nelson taught that God’s plan is “fabulous,” that our choices matter eternally, and that the Savior’s Atonement makes that plan possible. His invitation: adopt the practice of “thinking celestial.”

    Straight line (what he’s saying)
    • “The baseless notion that we should ‘eat, drink, and be merry …’ is one of the most absurd lies in the universe.”
    • “I invite you to adopt the practice of ‘thinking celestial’! … ‘to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.’”
    • “Mortality is a master class” in choosing what matters most. “Your choices today will determine … where you will live throughout all eternity, the kind of body … [and] those with whom you will live forever.”
    • “Only men and women who are sealed … in the temple, and who keep their covenants, will be together throughout the eternities.”
    • If we choose telestial laws now, we choose a telestial glory then.
    • “How and where and with whom do you want to live forever? You get to choose.”
    • “Take the long view—an eternal view. Put Jesus Christ first … your eternal life is dependent upon your faith in Him and in His Atonement.”
    • “When you are confronted with a dilemma, think celestial! … When the pressures of life crowd in upon you, think celestial!”

    Final reflection
    Thinking celestial reframes today: my calendar becomes covenant practice, my setbacks become schooling, and my worship becomes preparation for where—and with whom—I want to live forever.

    Pocket I’m keeping
    • Begin with the end in mind (celestial family).
    • Choose temple time and covenant keeping first.
    • Guard agency—avoid anything that becomes a “god.”
    • Pray beyond a shopping list; seek revelation.
    • Take the long view when hurt, hurried, or tempted.

    What I hear now
    Tonight I’m posting an archival blood-moon shot and taking the eternal view. The moon changes phase; covenants point to permanence. Think celestial.

    Link to the talk
    “Think Celestial!” — President Russell M. Nelson.

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  • Marked in Time — “According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts” (Neal A. Maxwell)

    Waxing gibbous moon peeking through stormy blue over the Jordan River Utah Temple, Friday night (9/5/25), framed by leaves and looking East South East of the sky.

    lle’s “preconditioning,” included the Power of Now reference, and linked the YouTube clip you gave me:

    Excerpt
    Desire steers destiny. Elder Neal A. Maxwell teaches that God judges “according to the desire of [our] hearts”—and helps us train those desires toward Him.

    Intro
    Maxwell reframes agency at its core: desires are the drivers. Genes, circumstances, and environments matter, but—as he reminds us—“there remains an inner zone in which we are sovereign, unless we abdicate.” In that sacred space lies our real agency.

    Eckhart Tolle explains the other side of the equation in what he calls preconditioning:

    “Mental and emotional filters: our minds are filled with ingrained narratives, beliefs, and emotional patterns that act like lenses through which we view the world.”

    (The Power of Now; also shared in his YouTube talk on preconditioning)

    Those filters shape perception, just as culture, family patterns, and past wounds bend behavior. Yet, as Maxwell insists, they cannot erase that sovereign inner zone. What we persistently desire is who we become—and what we receive.

    Straight line (what he’s saying)
    • Desire is more than preference; it’s a real longing that directs agency and outcomes.
    • God mercifully considers our desires, works, and degrees of difficulty—yet won’t force us.
    • Satan desires our misery; wrong desires make us our own victims.
    • Lukewarmness flattens the soul; righteous desires must be relentless, daily.
    • Education of desire = learn truth and learn to love it; small acts create spiritual momentum.
    • “Do you,” President Brigham Young asked, “think that people will obey the truth because it is true, unless they love it? No, they will not” (Journal of Discourses, 7:55).
    • Some desires must dissolve (envy, self-pity); weak righteous desires can grow strong.
    • Parents teach and model, but each soul must choose; God’s arm is stretched out still.
    • In process of time, holy desires produce holy works.
    • Preconditioning may set the stage—but the sovereign inner zone decides the play.

    Final reflection
    My outcomes track my appetites. When I aim my wants at ease or applause, I drift. When I aim them at Jesus, momentum returns. Desire is today’s steering wheel. Elder Maxwell’s reminder of the inner zone keeps me accountable: I can’t blame culture, genes, or preconditioning. They explain, but they don’t excuse. Tolle helps me name the filters that fog my lens, but Maxwell reminds me that God still waits on what I choose to desire.

    Pocket I’m keeping
    • Pray, then plan by desire: “More holiness give me” → schedule one aligned act.
    • Replace envy with intercession: bless the person I’d be tempted to compare with.
    • Feed the flame daily—scripture, sacrament, service—before screens.
    • Name one mis-aimed desire and starve it for a week.
    • Measure progress by direction and devotion, not dopamine.

    What I hear now
    If I train my want-to, God will shape my able-to. Even a spark—“I desire to believe”—is enough for Him to begin multiplying light.

    Link to the talk
    “According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts” — Elder Neal A. Maxwell

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  • Marked in Time — “Preparing to Stand on Holy Ground”

    Reflections before reverence — a quiet stream “washes the edge” as the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple rises in the pool, a reminder to lay down our “shoes” and step onto holy ground.

    Excerpt
    Moses removed his shoes; I can remove my impurities. How I’m preparing my heart to meet God—at the temple and at home.

    Intro
    “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5).
    Elder Ulisses Soares: “Taking off our worldly shoes is the beginning of stepping onto holy ground and being transformed in higher and holier ways.” — “Reverence for Sacred Things,” Apr 2025

    Straight line (what he’s saying)
    • Holy spaces (temples, homes, dedicated places) call for removing impurity before we approach.
    • The Lord’s pattern repeats: printing office “holy, undefiled”; temple “mine holy house”; Missouri temple where the pure in heart shall see God—holiness is both place and people.
    • Small, intentional acts (like forgiving in the parking lot) are today’s “shoe removal.”
    • We don’t make ourselves holy; we offer our will. Christ’s Atonement does the sanctifying.
    • Holiness is practical: reverence, clean hands/heart, focus, and meekness that lets the Spirit teach.

    Final reflection
    I arrive at holy ground with dust on my soul—hurry, annoyance, stray pride. God isn’t asking for theatrics; He’s asking for shoes—the little impurities I can actually take off.

    Pocket I’m keeping
    • Pause before entry (temple or prayer): breathe, confess, forgive, then go in.
    • Language fast: no sarcasm or sharp words on holy days.
    • Clean gatekeeping: music, media, and thoughts that fit the space I’m entering.
    • Offer the will: “Lord, here are my shoes today—take hurry, take resentment.”
    • Home altar: make my living room reverent before I ask for revelation.

    What I hear now
    Saratoga Springs Temple at sunset, the waxing gibbous rising—before the doors or the camera, I’ll take off the day’s dust. Then let Him make the moment holy.

    Link to the talk
    Exodus 3:5 • Elder Ulisses Soares, “Reverence for Sacred Things” (Apr 2025) • Doctrine and Covenants 94:12; 95:16; 96:2; 97:15–16 • Moroni 10:32–33 (“Yea, come unto Christ… be perfected in him… sanctified in Christ… become holy, without spot.”)

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  • Marked In Time: “The Tugs and Pulls of the Word” – Neal A. Maxwell

    When the sky sings, even the moon waits its turn. Saratoga Springs Temple at dusk.

    Excerpt
    Many aren’t in transgression—they’re in diversion. The world tugs; disciples choose differently. My notes and how I’ll apply them this week.

    Intro
    Elder Neal A. Maxwell warns that diversion wastes “the days of [our] probation.” God’s plan isn’t pleasure—it’s happiness. The difference is discipleship.

    Straight line (what he’s saying)
    • The lures are old; the amplification is new—tech, media, hype.
    • Diversion builds “personalized prisons”: “of whom a man is overcome…”
    • Mortal honors are transient—“they have their reward.”
    • Remedies: Holy Ghost, family, worship/prayer/scripture, wise friends, Joseph-in-Egypt reflex (flee).
    • “Far country” is measured by fidelity, not miles—return is possible; resilience is covenant DNA.
    • God prizes who we become more than rank—our real résumé is ourselves.
    • See things as they really are/will be; give glory to God.

    Final reflection
    My risk isn’t rebellion; it’s drift—scrolls, refreshes, small hungers for applause. Diversion is bondage with nicer branding.

    Pocket I’m keeping
    • Access the Spirit first (scripture, prayer, sacrament), then apps.
    • Family first—real talk over parallel scrolling.
    • Choose friends/inputs that aim at Zion.
    • Flee fast; repent resiliently.
    • Measure worth by being (meek, patient, submissive), not spotlight.

    What I hear now
    Say “stand aside” to the world. Post the image, close the tab, sit with gratitude. The moon keeps rising; I don’t need every notification to matter. Souls > stars > stats.

    Link to the talk
    “The Tugs and Pulls of the World” — Neal A. Maxwell.

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  • Marked in Time — “Consecrate Thy Performance” (Neal A. Maxwell)

    “Heart, soul, and mind.” When we offer all, He consecrates our performanc. Saratoga Springs Temple · waxing gibbous moon

    Excerpt
    Consecration isn’t giving things as much as yielding self. When heart, soul, and mind align with God, He consecrates our efforts for lasting good.

    Intro
    Elder Neal A. Maxwell teaches that ultimate consecration is our will swallowed up in the Father’s. Step by step, His grace is sufficient, and our performances are consecrated “for the lasting welfare of [our] souls.”

    Straight line (what he’s saying)
    • Consecration = yielding will to the Father—one stepping-stone at a time.
    • We often “keep back part” (skills, status, habits); partial surrender still diverts.
    • Worth is fixed; assignments change—He must increase, we decrease.
    • Good things can crowd out the first commandment; beware lesser gods.
    • Acknowledge His hand; avoid the “my power, my hand” trap.
    • Discipleship polishes us (rough stone rolling): contact, friction, meekness.
    • Surrendering the mind is victory; God teaches higher ways.
    • Jesus is the pattern—never lost focus; Gethsemane above all other miracles.

    Final reflection
    My hardest “part” isn’t money—it’s control. God wants a consecrated person more than a perfect portfolio. Yielded work beats impressive work.

    Pocket I’m keeping
    • Ask daily: “Lord, is it this?”—take the next small stone.
    • Worship before work; name His hand first.
    • Hold assignments lightly; hold Jesus tightly.
    • Trade applause for alignment.
    • Measure by love, patience, meekness.

    What I hear now
    I’ll hand Him today’s schedule, camera, and keyboard—and let Him aim them. Consecration is hourly trust; even detours can be consecrated.

    Link to the talk
    “Consecrate Thy Performance” — Neal A. Maxwell.

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  • Marked in Time — “Free to Choose” (Neal A. Maxwell)

    September 3, 2025 — after ~20 listens/reads since last night

    Manila Temple × Milky Way. Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s “Free to Choose” reminds me that joy needs both agency and daily submission—souls matter more than stars.

    Intro

    Elder Maxwell’s final BYU devotional (2004) feels like a compass: agency = joy + daily submissiveness. The line that keeps ringing: “Souls matter more than stars.” Freedom to choose is breathtaking—and sobering—because God honors our desires and won’t force us. That means peace is possible without compulsion, and accountability is real.

    Straight Line

    • Agency is God-given and personal. “I have given unto man his agency” (Moses 7:32). “Thou mayest choose for thyself” (Moses 3:17).
    • Agency is complete—consequence included. We can “live and move and do according to [our] own will” (Mosiah 2:21), but “whoso doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself” (Hel. 14:30).
    • Opposition is required, not optional. We’re enticed “by the one or the other” (2 Nephi 2:16); no neutral exists.
    • Desires direct judgment. We receive “according to [our] desires” and “wills” (Alma 29:4). Educate desire = spiritual continuing ed.
    • Real risk: some are “not willing to enjoy that which they might have received” (D&C 88:32). Tragedy = turning down joy.
    • No decision is a decision. Delay discards the holy present; accountability stands “astride every path.”
    • Lucifer can tempt but not compel. God won’t force; the devil can’t force.
    • Patterns > moments. Repeated choices shape prayers, power, and promises kept.
    • Souls > stars. The cosmos is vast, but the gift to choose—and choose God—is vaster. Joy needs freedom and submissiveness.
    • God’s posture: “What could I have done more?” He gives the maximum reward and the minimum penalty justice allows.

    Final Reflection

    Agency isn’t adrenaline; it’s alignment. The Spirit clarifies; He doesn’t coerce. Maxwell hooks joy to two daily moves:

    1. Choose (don’t drift).
    2. Submit (trust the Father’s will), like the Savior did.

    That mix removes panic from decision-making. It reframes boundaries as worship, not deprivation. It also explains why I can feel peace while longing tugs—the peace marks my stance, not the absence of pressure.

    Pocket lines I’m keeping

    • No decision is a decision.
    • Educate your desires.
    • Souls matter more than stars.
    • He will not force us.

    What I hear now

    • Name the choice: I will use my freedom to choose covenant-keeping over compulsion.
    • Educate desire (micro-habits): one scripture paragraph; one honest prayer; one tiny act of service. Desires follow diet.
    • Boundary as submission: Not replying to triggering messages is choosing God now, not “avoiding.”
    • Presence over pressure: Wife is in town—people > stars (and > screens). Focus mode stays on; lock-screen previews stay minimal.
    • Work lens: In interviews, I’ll listen for agency patterns: signal → hypothesis → test → decision → ROI. Under heat, do they choose calmly and own consequences?
    • One-line prayer: Father, I choose Thy will in this hour; educate my desires and make my joy clean.

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  • “In Him All Things Hold Together” Elder Neal A Maxwell

    Syracuse Utah Temple at blue hour beneath a setting first-quarter moon. I lingered long; the nudge lingered longer. In Him, the night—and I—held together.

    Intro
    I lingered at the Syracuse Utah Temple until the first-quarter moon slid above the spire and the stars came on. The nudge I felt there was the longest I’ve ever carried from any temple—it stayed even while I was shooting. Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s cadence kept pacing me:

    “In Christ all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17)

    And he widened the frame of my night with this:

    “I wish to talk about your unfinished journey. It is the journey of journeys… The trek awaits—whether one is rich or poor… married or single, a prodigal or an ever faithful. Compared to this journey, all other treks are but a brief walk in a mortal park or are merely time on a telestial treadmill.” —Elder Neal A. Maxwell

    The temple path made that “journey of journeys” feel less abstract and more immediate—boots on stone, heart in hand.

    The straight line
    Perishable skills expire; portable virtues don’t. The Lord is shaping “men and women of Christ”—meek, patient, full of love (Mosiah 3:19). When life frays, covenants are the stitching; Christ is the seam that actually holds me together.

    Final Reflection (Maxwell, in his own words)

    “These attributes are eternal and portable… Being portable, to the degree developed, they will go with us through the veil of death.”
    “Since He is risen from the grave, let us not be dead as to the things of the Spirit… In him all things hold together.”

    Standing beside the flower bed and the pale stone, I felt why: if I let Him order my heart, He will also order my steps.

    Another line the night underlined
    Elder Maxwell ties the sky to our discipleship:

    “At Christmastime we celebrate a special star… placed in its precise orbit long before it shone so precisely… ‘All things must come to pass in their time’ (D&C 64:32). His overseeing precision pertains not only to astrophysical orbits but to human orbits as well… our obligation to shine as lights within our own orbits.” —Elder Neal A. Maxwell (see Philippians 2:15)

    Insight: The moon over Syracuse wasn’t an accident; neither is where God has set me. If I stay in my covenant orbit—quiet, steady, on time—He’ll handle the timing and the alignment.

    What I hear now

    • Let Christ carry what’s flying apart. Pray first: “Hold this together in Thee.”
    • Choose portable over perishable. Practice a trait before a technique.
    • Shine in your current orbit. Steward the people and places already set around you; heaven runs on precision and timing.
    • Serve quietly. Authority of example > argument.
    • Take the yoke & learn (Matt. 11:29). Small obediences teach His large qualities.
    • Return, then refine. Revisit the same place (and person) until the light matches the message—the nudge at Syracuse taught me that.

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  • “Meeting The Challenges Today” Neal A. Maxwell

    Last light, first peace. Syracuse Utah Temple. 🌅

    “Meeting the Challenges of Today” — Elder Neal A. Maxwell

    Intro

    Driving to the Syracuse Temple, I queued up Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s 1978 devotional “Meeting the Challenges of Today.” One line kept burning: God’s foreknowledge and foreordination “underline how very long and how perfectly God has loved us and known us with our individual needs and capacities.” That changes how I face pushback—not with heat, but with holy steadiness.

    Listening loop: I’ve listened/read this message 30+ times since Thursday—car to Jordan River, then to Syracuse. Each pass peeled back another layer.

    Selected lines (to read slowly)

    • “In the months and years ahead, events will require of each member that he or she decide whether…to follow the First Presidency.”
    • “A new irreligion seeks to make itself the state religion…using preserved freedoms to shrink freedom.”
    • “Be principled but pleasant…perceptive without being pompous.”
    • “We were measured before and found equal to our tasks…God will not overprogram us.”

    Doctrine Note: Foreordination ≠ Predestination

    Foreordination is a conditional stewardship, not a guarantee. God can foresee outcomes without forcing them; agency remains intact.

    • David: God foresaw David’s fall but did not cause it. David chose Bathsheba; agency—and accountability—were David’s.
    • Martin Harris (116 pages): God foresaw the loss and prepared a remedy centuries earlier (see D&C 10; Words of Mormon).
    • Conclusion: God is never surprised; we are never compelled. Foreordination calls us to faithfulness, not fatalism.

    When minor defeats loom

    “There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, that others will step forward, having been rallied to righteousness by what we do.” — Elder Neal A. Maxwell

    How I’ve seen this: when I was knocked down at work, unexpected help appeared—quiet encouragements, timely messages, and small mercies that kept me moving. God’s compensating provisions are often people.

    Practice today: Who can I quietly rally by how I show up? Act first; announce later.

    My working understanding now

    • God doesn’t live inside my clock. He sees past–present–future at once.
    • Agency is real. He allowed me to choose Utah and walk hard roads; He wasn’t the cause of every sorrow, nor surprised by any of it.
    • Compensating provisions exist. He prepares remedies far ahead of my missteps.
    • **We are not foreordained to fail, but called to succeed—**and to become.

    Becoming, Not Just Describing

    Maxwell doesn’t invite us to argue; he invites us to become. Utah’s quiet—sometimes lonely—became the classroom where I finally studied harder, worshiped more steadily, and let the doctrine soak until it changed my reflexes.

    How I’ll practice becoming (small and daily):

    • Act > announce: do the next right thing before I say the next right thing.
    • Covenant rhythm: weekly temple worship, even when feelings lag.
    • Charity first: measure responses by love, not by likes or score-keeping.
    • Ask once, then release: honor others’ agency as God honors mine.

    Working creed: God foresees; I choose. If I stay on the covenant path, I’m not “stuck”—I’m becoming what my blessing already pointed to.

    Foreordination (Maxwell’s core teaching — extended excerpt)

    “Foreordination is like any other blessing—it is a conditional bestowal subject to our faithfulness… Prophecies foreshadow events without determining the outcomes… God foresaw the fall of David, but was not the cause of it… God foresaw, but did not cause, Martin Harris’s loss… and made plans to cope with that failure over fifteen hundred years before it was to occur.”

    Premortal memory (often called the “council in heaven”) — Joseph F. Smith:

    “In coming here, we forget all, that our agency might be free indeed… by the power of the Spirit… we often catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul, which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home.” (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 13–14)

    Why this belongs here: Foreordination honors agency; mortal forgetting protects it. The Spirit’s “spark” is what turns doctrine into direction—reminding me who I’m to become, not scripting how I’m forced to get there.

    When minor defeats loom (for this week’s online heat)

    “There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, that others will step forward, having been rallied to righteousness by what we do.”

    Application: in the FB pile-on, unexpected help appeared. God’s compensating provisions are often people. Charity begets courage in others.

    Tone to keep (even online):

    “Be principled but pleasant… perceptive without being pompous… have integrity and not write checks with our tongues which our conduct cannot cash.”

    We cannot judge who will come (God’s sight ≠ our verdicts)

    “The Lord… said, ‘Cast the net on the right side’… If he knew beforehand the whereabouts of fishes in the Sea of Tiberias, should it offend us that he knows beforehand which mortals will come into the gospel net?”

    Application: He knows who will soften, when, and how. My job is faith and kindness—not forecasting souls.

    A living (not retired) God

    “One dimension of worshipping a living God is to know that he is alive and seeing and acting. He is not a retired God… He is, at once, in all the dimensions of time—past, present, and future—while we labor within time’s limits.”

    Takeaway: He foresees without forcing, prepares without pampering, and lives to help—now.

    Final Reflection

    If God truly knew us and trusted us with these exact days, then opposition isn’t proof He abandoned us; it’s evidence He appointed us. Foreordination isn’t status—it’s stewardship; not a guarantee—but a charge to be faithful.

    What I hear now

    • Choose loyalty early; live it quietly.
    • Be firm without sharpness—principled but pleasant.
    • Treat foreordination as fuel for service, not status.
    • When weary, remember: we were measured before, and God won’t press more than we can bear.
    • Let pushback refine your discipleship, not redefine it.


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  • “I Love To See The Temple”

    Jordan River Utah Temple — filmed today around 3:15 pm on the way home from work. Summer birds, soft wind, and a steady spire through the trees… “a place of love and beauty.”

    Intro
    On the way home I pulled over where the Jordan River Temple rises above the trees and filmed a slow, quiet pass. The line kept looping: “a place of love and beauty.” With the temple in view, “I’ll prepare myself…” didn’t sound like childhood someday—it sounded like a choice for today.

    Song
    I Love to See the Temple — Janice Kapp Perry

    I love to see the temple;
    I’m going there someday
    to feel the Holy Spirit,
    to listen and to pray.
    For the temple is a house of God—
    a place of love and beauty.
    I’ll prepare myself while I am young;
    this is my sacred duty.

    I love to see the temple;
    I’ll go inside someday.
    I’ll covenant with my Father;
    I’ll promise to obey.
    For the temple is a holy place
    where we are sealed together.
    As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth:
    a family is forever.

    Final Reflection
    This children’s hymn grows up with us. “I’ll go inside someday. I’ll cov’nant with my Father; I’ll promise to obey.” The melody is simple; the promises are not. Preparation is worship. Obedience is love in motion. And “As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth: A fam’ly is forever” is more than a lyric—it’s a covenant Christ makes possible in His house.

    What I hear now

    • Prepare beats postpone. If it’s “my sacred duty,” act today.
    • Covenants quietly reorder life. “I’ll promise to obey” changes calendars and priorities.
    • Keep the temple in frame. Let “a place of love and beauty” shape how I speak, serve, and schedule.
    • Family is the point. Live so “a fam’ly is forever” feels true at home, not just in song.

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  • “A Wonderful Flood of Light” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell)

    Draper Utah Temple, late-morning sunbeams after summer clouds—color in the garden, light on the steeple. A small, literal “flood of light.” 🌤️✨🌸

    Intro
    Some days we feel a homesick tug for “another place”—only a mist of memory, but real enough to re-center us. President Joseph F. Smith taught that through obedience we sometimes catch a spark from awakened memories of the immortal soul that lights our whole being. Elder Maxwell adds that most of us arrive in mortality as buds of possibility, meant to open under covenant light—not merely to admire truth, but to apply it.

    Final Reflection
    Think of yourself not only as you are, but as you can become. Our premortal traits still whisper here; environment matters, but eternal identity matters more. Light from the Restoration isn’t for display—it is for development: meekness, patience, mercy. Knowledge informs; obedience transforms. Keep placing today’s light on today’s altar until those buds of possibility unfold.

    What I hear now

    • Receive impressions before the morning mists burn off.
    • Lead with identity; let environment follow.
    • Nurture buds with small, exact obedience.
    • Move truth from admired → applied—light becoming life.

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  • Called To Serve

    Called to serve.” Elder Mariano’s missionary tag resting on well-used scriptures—belief becoming deeds. 📖

    Intro

    I’ve been looping Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s “Called to Serve.” Two voices keep converging: King Benjamin’s charge, “If you believe all these things, see that ye do them” (Mosiah 4:10), and Elder Maxwell’s reminder that **deeds, not words—and becoming, not describing—**define discipleship. Mere assent without application is like hearing a lecture but skipping the lab. The audit is personal: Am I taking the field trip with the Savior, or just acing the lecture?

    Final Reflection

    “One mistake we can make… is to value knowledge apart from the other qualities to be developed in submissive discipleship… Being knowledgeable, by itself… is not enough… It’s like being briefed on a field trip but never taking the field trip.” And then the piercing question: “Are we steadily becoming what gospel doctrines are designed to help us become? Or are we… rich inheritors… but poor investors…?” —Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Called to Serve (BYU, Mar 27, 1994)

    Elder Maxwell won’t let truth stop at the ears. Doctrine is meant to develop us—into merciful, meek, patient disciples. King Benjamin removes the wiggle room: if we believe, we do (Mosiah 4:10). Knowledge informs; obedience transforms. The treasure we’ve inherited only yields a return when we invest it in daily, quiet, consecrated doing.

    Elder Maxwell says our “defining moments” rarely stand alone; they’re preceded by small, subtle preparatory moments and followed by many smaller moments shaped by them. His Okinawa story (age 18) shows how a single spared moment led to a lifetime pledge—and then came years of quiet confirmations: the Lord’s short, crisp promptings (often “more instructions than explanations”), the urgent nudge to “write the letter now,” and the painter’s metaphor—countless brushstrokes that outsiders may not value, but God is “in the details.” Put beside King Benjamin’s charge, the pattern is clear: belief ripens into decisive, timely doing. Knowledge informs; obedience transforms. Defining moments are built, one obedient brushstroke at a time.

    What I hear now

    • My past can shape me, but it will not script me.
    • Charity tells the truth and sets kind boundaries.
    • Don’t just know the gospel—become it.
    • Belief proves itself by doing (Mosiah 4:10).
    • Trade admiration for application—put today’s light on today’s altar.
    • Measure growth by Christlike traits formed, not facts recalled.
    • Keep taking the “field trips” of faith—show up, serve, endure cheerfully.

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  • His Image in Your Countenance

    Rain on the glass, light in the heart—‘Have you received His image in your countenance?

    Intro
    Yesterday after work, I was driving in the rain and decided to swing by the Taylorsville Utah Temple to photograph it through the windshield. The lyric asks, “Does the Light of Christ shine in your eyes?” Storms don’t decide that—presence does. The rain softened everything, but the temple remained steady, a quiet reminder of “a beauty from within.”

    His Image in Your Countenance (Janice Kapp Perry) — full song

    With no apparent beauty that man should Him desire,
    He was the promised Savior to purify with fire.
    The world despised His plainness, but those who followed Him
    Found love and light and purity—a beauty from within.

    Chorus
    Have you received His image in your countenance?
    Does the Light of Christ shine in your eyes?
    Will He know you when He comes again, for you shall be like Him?
    When He sees you, will the Father know His child?

    We seek for light and learning as followers of Christ,
    That all may see His goodness reflected in our lives.
    When we receive His fulness and lose desire for sin,
    We radiate His perfect love—a beauty from within.

    The ways of man may tempt us, and some will be deceived,
    Preferring worldly beauty, forgetting truth received.
    But whisperings of the Spirit remind us once again
    That lasting beauty, pure and clear, must come from deep within.

    Final Reflection
    Two lines won’t leave me: “Does the Light of Christ shine in your eyes?” and “We radiate His perfect love—a beauty from within.” The first is a question of identity; the second is a promise of overflow. Christ does not polish the surface—He converts the source. When His fulness displaces our old appetites, radiance stops being borrowed and starts being reflected. The world chases visibility; disciples seek visibility of Him. And like last night’s view, life can be rainy without being dim. If He is in frame, light still finds us—and then finds others through us.

    What I hear now

    • Holiness isn’t cosmetic; it’s conducted through a willing heart.
    • Eyes preach what lips can’t; let them carry peace.
    • Reflection over performance: light, not glare.
    • Repent quickly so the window stays clear.
    • Trade comparison for compassion; both can’t live in the same face.
    • Keep the Temple in frame when the week gets rainy.
    • Ask nightly: “Did someone feel His love in my countenance today?”

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  • The Quest

    Each step will leave its mark. “My footsteps are protected / By one who cares to see my life.”

    Intro
    “Though I am young, I know the way; the road lies marked before me.” Youth isn’t drift; it’s direction. And “I stand free to weave my life from my heart’s lovely pattern”—agency as craftsmanship. The quest isn’t loud or showy; it’s steady steps on a marked road, shaped with God.

    The Quest (full lyrics)
    Seminary Album, “The Quest,” 1977

    Though I am young, I know the way;
    the road lies marked before me.
    I can progress, rejoice, and grow—
    the sources given to me to know.

    That sweet, unchanging promise: the Quest.

    For I stand free to weave my life
    from my heart’s lovely pattern.
    I have a vague soft’s memory
    of what I was, yet cannot see—
    that helps me not to faulter.

    Often I stand alone,
    forsake the crowds around me;
    seek strength to live the truths I find,
    clothe modestly my flesh and mind—
    my spirit’s humble and refined.
    I can be pure because I see the joy
    that waits eternally.

    Each step I take will leave its mark,
    for each step leads me somewhere;
    and though the end is deemed to sight,
    the steps I take, if true and right,
    will bring me exaltation.

    I know I do not walk alone—
    my footsteps are protected
    by One who cares to see my life
    shine forth in beauty and love and light,
    exalted and perfected.

    Often I stand alone,
    forsake the crowds around me;
    seek strength to live the truth I find,
    clothe modestly my flesh and mind—
    my spirit’s humble and refined.
    I can be pure because I see the joy
    that waits eternally.

    This is my quest.
    This is my quest.

    Final Reflection
    “Each step I take will leave its mark… and though the end is deemed to sight, the steps I take, if true and right, will bring me exaltation.” Small, faithful steps compound. And “I know I do not walk alone—my footsteps are protected…” The hidden gem is how standards (modesty of flesh and mind, truth first, crowd second) are framed as joy: “I can be pure because I see the joy that waits eternally.”

    What I hear now
    • Agency is artistry: I’m weaving a life with God, not winging it.
    • Holiness is glad, not grim; joy powers obedience.
    • Standing apart is part of discipleship.
    • The Lord walks the road with me—protection, light, and finish.

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  • Free to Choose

    Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple — double rainbow before the storm.

    Intro
    On the drive to my 7:30 pm proxy endowment, I played the Seminary song “Free to Choose” and felt the nudge to write. The song isn’t about doing whatever I want; it’s about turning agency toward the light—again and again. When it says:

    “So I choose freedom,
    and there I learn to walk within the light…
    what leads me to free to choose again—
    and again…”

    that’s discipleship: choices that keep future choices open. And when it warns,

    “If I refuse… don’t be confused;
    …can slip and fall—
    got to stay free to choose,”

    it’s honest about missteps. Freedom shrinks when I’m captured by habits, pride, anger, or appetite; it grows when I repent and realign with Jesus Christ. That’s why the temple fits this song so well.

    Song: Free to Choose (Seminary album, 1987)

    I’m free to choose,
    to win or lose,
    no matter who
    comes and tries to turn my head around—
    and I’ll be fine.

    I’m in control;
    I’m free to choose,
    I’m free to choose.

    I’ve heard the news
    that I can choose
    the song I sing and what I want to say—
    what I got tied.

    I will set my goals,
    ’cause I’m free to choose.

    So I choose freedom,
    and there I learn to walk within the light.
    He said I’ll choose
    what leads me to free to choose again—
    and again—so when I choose,

    If I refuse,
    don’t be confused;
    just understand that I can cross the line,
    can slip and fall—
    got to stay free to choose.

    Choose what I will be;
    I am free to choose.

    So I choose freedom—
    I am free to choose.

    How the song teaches agency (my takeaway)
    • “I will set my goals”—Agency is deliberate, not drift.
    • “Walk within the light”—Freedom is not rebellion; it’s alignment.
    • “Choose again—and again”—Agency is renewed daily on the covenant path.
    • “If I refuse… can slip and fall”—Repentance restores freedom; sin constricts it.
    • “Got to stay free to choose”—Guard the heart from anything that addicts, divides, or dulls the Spirit.

    Reinforced by Elder Neal A. Maxwell
    “[God] wants us to have joy. We cannot do that unless we are free to choose. But neither can we have that joy unless we are willing to be spiritually submissive day in, day out, and unless we exercise that grand and glorious freedom to choose in which people truly matter more than stars.”
    — Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “Free to Choose,” BYU Devotional, March 16, 2004

    “So, brothers and sisters, here we are in Eden, and Eden has become Babylon… Even if we leave Babylon, some of us endeavor to keep a second residence there… Babylon does not give exit permits gladly… No wonder Jesus’s marvelous invitation to leave Babylon’s slums and join Him in the stunning spiritual highlands goes largely unheeded.”
    — Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “A Wonderful Flood of Light,” BYU Devotional, March 26, 1989

    Final reflection
    Agency is God’s gift; joy is the fruit of using it His way. The world shouts for weekend commutes back to Babylon. The temple whispers, “Choose light again.” Tonight I choose freedom by choosing Christ—so I can keep choosing tomorrow.

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  • That’s You and That’s Me

    Two open hands—one giving, one receiving. Some needs are plain to see; others we carry quietly. That’s you and that’s me.

    Intro
    Some needs are easy to spot—a hand outstretched at a corner, a face weeping in public. Others ride quietly under the surface: worry that doesn’t show, loneliness with a practiced smile, a “load” carried where no one can see. This week I kept thinking about both kinds—the visible and the hidden—and how the Lord is the One who sees them all. The photo below is the obvious kind. But I’m learning to look for the quiet kind too, including in my own life. “No one makes it all alone… we all rely on help from Home.”

    That’s You and That’s Me — Seminary album Free to Choose (1987)

    Some reach out with their hands,
    Some reach out with their eyes,
    And most try hard not to let it show,
    But it’s a thin disguise.

    Some needs can be hidden;
    Some are plain to see.
    No one makes it all alone—
    We all rely on help from Home
    To get us back to where we want to be.

    And that’s you and that’s me,
    Living off His goodness
    And learning how to be.

    And that’s you and that’s me;
    I want to be ever you—like He’s ever you and me.

    Sometimes I can’t hide it;
    Sometimes I just want to cry:
    “I need someone to share my load,”
    When no one’s on my side.

    That’s when I remember:
    You have days like these.
    No one makes it alone—
    We all rely on help from Home
    To get us back to where we want to be.

    And that’s you and that’s me,
    Living off His goodness
    And learning how to be.
    That’s you and that’s me—
    I want to be ever you, like He’s ever you and me;
    And He gives so freely and shows us how to care.

    And that’s you and that’s me,
    Living off His goodness
    And learning how to be.

    Final reflection
    The song names what discipleship looks like in real time: noticing. Some needs are loud; some are quiet. Christ meets both, and He invites us to do the same—“living of His goodness and learning how to be.” Sometimes that means coins in a palm. Sometimes it’s a steady text, a prayer in someone’s name, a ride, a listening ear, or a temple visit offered for a friend. And when the load is ours, we remember we also “rely on help from Home.” Seen or unseen, He sees—and He sends us to see.

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  • I’d Like to Feel This Way Again

    Taylorsville Temple, pre-sunrise—benches waiting, light rising. Day 5: “I’d like to feel this way again.”

    Intro
    Before sunrise, the temple sits like a lighthouse on the ridge, and the road in feels like a small uphill each time. Taylorsville at daybreak, five mornings straight—the air cool, the world unhurried—and something true brushed past me again and again, enough to bring tears and resolve. It felt like the quiet lift this Seminary song points to—something real, not just a mood—nudging me higher. I want to live so that what I felt in those minutes before dawn can come back tomorrow, and again after that. These images (and this song) are my reminder to keep choosing the places where that feeling can find me.

    I’d Like to Feel This Way Again
    Like the snowflakes that fall on the ground,
    words in my heart sometimes don’t make a sound.
    Like spring raindrops that fall from the sky,
    tears can be joyful, escaping my eyes.

    I’d like to feel this way again;
    I’d like to feel this way tomorrow.

    Was I just lonely—did I need a friend?
    Was it convenience, a means to an end?
    Still, something touched me—I feel it, I do;
    some kind of message is trying to get through.

    I’d like to feel this way again;
    I’d like to feel this way tomorrow.

    Deep in there, words just burn within me;
    such new emotions I have known.
    Deepen their teachings; lift me higher—
    higher than all the blessings I have known.

    Sometimes the wind tries to turn me around—
    “Give up the climb, it’s so nice to come down.”
    Somehow this feeling keeps pushing me high;
    tells me it’s treasure I stumbled upon.

    I’d like to feel this way again;
    I’d like to feel this way tomorrow.
    I’d like to feel this way again;
    I’d like to feel this way forever.

    Source note
    “I’d Like to Feel This Way Again,” Seminary album Free to Choose (1987). Words & music: Ron Simpson.

    Final reflection
    For me, this lyric is about a real but delicate moment with God—quiet enough that words stumble, strong enough that tears come. The chorus isn’t chasing emotion; it’s choosing a life that welcomes the Spirit back. The questions (“Was I just lonely?”) are honest self-checks, but the fire in the words—how truth “burns within”—confirms it’s more than mood. The “wind” that tells me to turn around is the ordinary pull of ease and hurry; the climb is discipleship. And the push “higher” is grace, turning a chance moment into a new pattern. That’s why I keep coming back before sunrise. The temple on the horizon, the stillness, the scripture that settles, the small covenants kept—these are the places where that feeling returns, tomorrow, and—by His mercy—again and again.

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  • Line Upon Line

    The Taylorsville Utah Temple at dusk, framed by golden wheat and roses. A reminder that spiritual harvests come “line upon line, precept upon precept” — in His time, His way, His will.

    There are weeks that pass quietly, and there are weeks that rearrange your spirit. In the span of just seven days, I’ve walked into the Taylorsville Temple three times. Each visit has been different, but together they’ve built something remarkable — a deepened layer of understanding, given to me line upon line, precept on precept.

    I think of my journey from 1981 up to today as “college-level” preparation in spiritual learning. Now, here in Utah, the Lord has been giving me what feels more like a “doctorate-level” education: His time, His way, His will.

    It’s like watching the stars appear at night.
    First one little light shines over there
    in the western sky, and then another,
    and then another — until finally, look for yourself…

    A whole wonderful endless universe
    began with one little star.

    Line upon line, precept on precept.
    That is how He lifts us, that is how He teaches His children.
    Line upon line, precept on precept.
    Like a summer shower giving us each hour His wisdom.
    If we are patient we shall see
    How the pieces fit together in harmony.
    We’ll know who we are in this big universe
    And then we’ll live with Him forever.

    But until it happens…

    Line upon line, precept on precept.
    That is how He lifts us, that is how He teaches His children.
    Line upon line, precept on precept.
    Like a summer shower giving us each hour His wisdom.

    (From Saturday’s Warrior, 1973 — Words by Doug Stewart, Music by Lex de Azevedo)

    Final Reflection

    Tonight in the Celestial Room, I prayed not to impose my will but to listen. What I felt wasn’t a grand vision but a gentle whisper — a reminder that revelation unfolds step by step, not all at once.

    Life keeps unfolding in ways I don’t always anticipate. Some lines remain unanswered, others open unexpectedly, but together they form a pattern that teaches me to trust the timing.

    Line upon line, I see how the Lord has been shaping my path. What once felt scattered now begins to come together in harmony — not all finished, but moving toward His perfect design.

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