Behind the shot (BTS)
iPhone only. I walked the grounds, lining up angles until the sun sat directly behind Moroni. I waited for the clouds to thin, then chose the red car as my foreground to mirror the spire and add a second “sun.” Composing a photograph isn’t easy—it takes patience, timing, and a little inspiration.
Excerpt
When life feels hot and hurried, deep roots matter. Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught us to become “grounded, rooted, established, and settled.” Today I’m practicing that—quietly, covenant by covenant—so the sun doesn’t scorch my faith.
Intro
What a coincidence—September 15. On this date in 1981, Elder Neal A. Maxwell delivered a devotional that feels tailor-made for our moment. He urged a discipleship with depth, the kind that survives heat and headlines: grounded, rooted, established, and settled. He reminded us that God’s curriculum is deliberate—patience, meekness, love, self-discipline—and that routine isn’t pedestrian; it’s providential. Real growth happens “in process of time” and “according to the flesh”—ordinary days doing eternal work. If the world’s scaffolding falls away, what stands? Holy ground and holy habits. I want those roots.
Straight line
• Deep roots > fast leaves (Colossians 2:6–7).
• After we’ve “suffered a while,” grace “stablish[es], strengthen[s], settle[s]” (1 Peter 5:10).
• The seed survives the sun when nourished “with great diligence, and with patience” (Alma 32).
• Ordinary days are eternal classrooms; portable skills—meekness, charity, self-discipline—rise with us.
Notes from Elder Maxwell (Sep 15, 1981)
• Growth without roots scorches. Disciples withstand heat because they are grounded—not trending.
• Scaffolding and applause fall away; covenant habits remain.
• God’s curriculum forms eternal, portable skills we’ll need forever.
• Routine can be resplendent: quiet covenant keeping outlasts headlines.
• Keep gospel perspective: our basic circumstances are strikingly similar—we are God’s children, accountable, loved, and capable of steady growth.
Perspective (directly from the devotional)
“A hundred years from now, today’s seeming deprivations and tribulations will not matter then unless we let them matter too much now. A hundred years from now, today’s serious physical ailment will be but a fleeting memory.”
“A thousand years from now, those who now worry and are anguished because they are unmarried will, if they are faithful, have smiles of satisfaction on their faces in the midst of a vast convocation of their posterity. The seeming deprivation which occurs in the life of a single woman who feels she has no prospects of marriage and motherhood properly endured is but a delayed blessing, the readying of a reservoir into which a generous God will pour all that he hath. Indeed, it will be the Malachi measure: ‘there shall not be room enough to receive it’ (Malachi 3:10).”
Practice (today, not someday)
• Choose one root to deepen: scripture before screens; prayer with listening; sacrament with intent.
• Trade hurry for holy: slow the reply, soften the tone, serve someone nearby.
• Write one “settled” choice: the commandment I will keep even when the sun is hot.
• Plant a small habit that outlasts headlines: five minutes of gratitude, one quiet act of mercy, one bridge-building conversation.
Final reflection
I can’t cool the world’s weather, but I can deepen my roots. If I will be grounded in Christ, the same sun that scorches shallow soil will ripen real fruit. Ordinary days, kept with covenants, become the very ground where God “stablishes, strengthens, and settles” the soul.
Pocket I’m keeping
• Deep roots before bright leaves.
• Perspective over panic.
• Ordinary days are eternal classrooms.
• Meekness travels well—now and forever.
What I hear now
“Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith” (Colossians 2:7).
“After that ye have suffered a while… stablish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10).
“Nourished by your faith with great diligence, and with patience” (Alma 32:41).
Link to the talk
BYU Devotional, Elder Neal A. Maxwell, September 15, 1981 (searchable on speeches.byu.edu).
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